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Old 10th November 2017, 12:14   #1277  |  Link
r0lZ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
Well in my opinion if font change is allowed by SRT, and if the SRT file being converted have a font change tag, the conversion to ASS 3D should respect that.
The primary goal of SRTtoASS3D is to convert text based subtitles to 3D, not to convert SRT to ASS. However, I agree that if it's possible, the conversion should preserve the formatting (in the extremely rare cases where formatting is present in the source SRT).

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
Otherwise the tool is limited and doesn't support SRT in full. The SRT to 3D ASS conversion itself should always be tested for specific use. We cannot or shouldn't try to have a foolproof tool at the expense of its functionality because it will never be foolproof. You already have a number of warnings to advise about the 'safe' settings.
Yes again, but IMO the conversion should produce the best 3D. The liability to the original SRT formatting is not as important, especially because it is almost never specified (except italics, well supported). Anyway the font type and size are usually not specified, and the only way to produce good 3D subtitles is to select an easily readable font and a font size more or less compatible with the guide.

In the font selector of the GUI, there are only 3 fonts offered by default, because they are the 3 font faces present in all incarnations of Windows, Mac and Linux, and I can probably safely assume that all players can deal with these fonts. But with that 3 fonts, I have already faced a big problem. As you can see when you use the selector, they have not at all a similar width for the same height. When the user analyse the subtitle guide, the program suggests the best font size for the current font. But if the user changes the font after the analyse, he should change the font size as well, as otherwise some subtitles may not fit any more in the empty space between the objects in the foreground. To remain compatible in most cases, it is therefore necessary to keep the same font during the whole movie, even if that means that the original formatting is abandoned.

Of course, it is possible to keep the font changes in the final ASS file, but I will have to add a big warning explaining that it's dangerous and strongly not advisable. Is it really necessary to do that, especially when we take into account that 99.99% of the SRT files do not specify any font ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
To ensure the user has more control over the formatting you could replace the existing "keep formatting" checkbox by or even better add the new checkboxes permitting for individual formatting from SRT: italics, bolds, underline, color, fontName.
If I implement the font change, I will be forced to do it, because of course the font name change must be disabled by default.

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
You cannot be sure and to be honest it is not you who should worry if the font exists.
Well, I'm not sure. I know that it is possible to embed a font in the final MKV if it must be used by an ASS stream. But that option is currently not implemented, and will probably never be. So, in the best case, when the specified font is not available, the player will use the default font specified in the header of the ASS file, or it will use its own default font, with unpredictable results. Again, I don't think it's a good idea.

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
I don't understand why you mention the font size. If it is not supported by SRT, the conversion cannot consider it as it cannot respect illegal tags.
I don't know if SRT supports the font size change. IMO, it is terribly stupid to support the change in the font type, color and other formatting but not the size, probably the most important thing to control. But the SRT format is totally stupid anyway, so I guess it might be the case. I wonder simply if I have to support the font size change, and if it's the case, what is the SRT syntax for the font size.

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
I never used the individual position from the guide file setting as it offers me the settings I don't personally like, and I know what I like and how I want it.
The guide file is used ONLY to position the subtitles on screen, and I strongly suggest to use it, except when the analysis tells you that all subtitles are approximately at the same Y position and centered horizontally. In that case, as long as they are at approximately the right Y position, the resulting subtitles should never enter in the foreground objects (if the font size is not to big of course).

I have added the analysis to offer to the user the possibility to produce the ASS subtitles as close as possible to the original subtitles from the BD (similar color, size and position), and at least select a font size more or less compatible with the content of the 3D movie. You are of course for forced to do the analysis, or accept its recommended values. (Personally, I use often a much darker color than the original one.) But if you don't remove the subtitle guide from the GUI, it will be used to position the subtitles at their right positions on screen, and that's extremely important when the original subtitles are carefully placed on screen to avoid entering in the foreground objects (like in Avatar, for example).

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
By the way I often come across subs in which dialogs in one sub picture are placed in different X position and without the usual hyphens to denote different persons talking. The XML/PNG guides from the project don't seem to honor that X position difference. I originally thought that was what having the guides were for.
I'm not sure I understand you. Indeed, in a 3D movie, the translation of a specific phrase can be placed in a specific position so that it will not enter in a foreground object, or to show clearly that it's the translation of a sentence spoken by a specific person. SRTtoASS3D should respect that. Technically, SRTtoASS3D analyses the coordinates of the bounding box containing the original subtitle (specified in the XML file) to know where it should place the text of the ASS stream.

Of course, when there are TWO sentences displayed at different X positions AT THE SAME TIME on screen, they form a SINGLE subtitle, the box contains the two sentences, and it is impossible for SRTtoASS3D to know that the first subtitle is, say, on the top left and the second on the bottom right side of the box. In that case, the program assumes that the two output subtitles must be centered in the box, and they will appear on top of each other. You may lose the indication of who is telling what, but at least, the subtitles should be in a place where there is only a little risk to enter in a foreground object, and it's what is really important when converting a subtitle in 3D.

In other words, SRTtoASS3D is unable to analyse the actual text of the original subtitles to ensure that his translation is placed exactly at the same X position. That would require a sophisticated OCR and automatic translation of the original text, and of course, it's beyond the scope of this little conversion tool. Therefore, it can only grab the position of a specific subtitle from its bounding box and apply it at the subtitle displayed at (more or less) the same time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by konikpolny View Post
That's OK, the most noticeable (and irritating) warning is the one upon the start. The others when I change a setting I don't mind so much .
OK, I'll do that. I just hope I will not forget some warnings...
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Last edited by r0lZ; 10th November 2017 at 12:24.
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