What's the best way to do quality subtitles on an Elements film?

Thanks to Steve Grissetti and The Wine Snob for their advice on Keyframing...
I'm doing a 35 minute project with a LOT of subtitles. I would like old school white on black background subtitles over my images if possible, but I can go lower quality if necessary.
- Is it possible to do this in Elements?
- If I have to use an external program, what is the most compatible with Elements? I'd like it freeware, or less than 100 dollars, and relatively user friendly.
- What's the best Dummies Guide to subtitles out there?
Thanks in advance again.

PrE does not support full Subtitles, like Encore does. Before I give you the method, let's do a bit of background.
Real Subtitles are text/characters that can be turned on, or off, rather like their first-cousin, Closed Captions. In Encore (or other authoring programs), one creates a special text file, that is Imported into the authoring program, and then linked to a Menu, so the user can turn Subtitles on, or off, or select the language to display.
In PrE, we cannot do that, but we can create what are called "Lower Thirds." These are captions in the form of Titles. PrE has several Lower Third templates to use, or one can just create them in Titler. Doing this from a template (whether it's from the PrE Library, or is created, and then Saved for later reuse) insure consistency. To do this in Titler, first create a rectangle that spans the width of the full Frame, and is tall enough to hold your text, but not obscure too much of your Frame. This will be your background, and I'd do this with a black Fill, and no Stroke. To accomplish this, choose a Style for the rectangle with Fill. You can then use the Color Palette icon to change the color to black. If your chosen Style has a Stroke, just turn Stroke off. Now, create a Text Block and a nice sans-serif font adequately sized to get your text into the Text Block. Set the text color to white. Keep the text short. Also, time the Duration of the Title to give the viewer enough time to read it 1.5x. I like Arial Bold, with enough Leading to make it easily readable. When done, place your Title above your footage Clips, say on Video Track 2. You can add Transitions to these Titles, to say Cross-dissolve them in and out.
Good luck,
Hunt

Similar Messages

What is the best way to throw text in a 5 minute film in final cut pro

Does anyone know what the fastest way is to put 3d text (like the templates in motion) on a video in final cut pro?

Use live type, you can do some real nice effects with text. Live type has backgrounds you can use, plus you can add your own which is what I do. Then you can use a live type font or standard type with fades, motion paths, glows and all sorts of neat stuff.

What Is The Best Way To Connect Ipod To Stereo Reciever With High Quality?

I recently purchased an 80 gig and am a newbie. I ripped all my music at around 280kbps to retain good audio quality when playing in my car and home theatre system. There are tons of accesories out there (docks, jacks, etc) which is the highest quality to connect my Yamaha receiver. I would think a connection to the bottom of my ipod would be of a higher quality rather than using the headphone jack. Any suggestions would be great. I was thinking about using the monster itv link but mostly for audio. thanks

OK - So now that you have all completely ignored the original question - in hopes of proving your manly-hood....
Does anyone have an answer to the original question....
"What is the best way to connect to a high end home stereo to retain the best sound?"
For sure any connection going through the headphone jack will be a big step back - enough so that you would easily hear a sound quality loss in doing so.
For the few of you who would like to argue/bicker/rant on the nominal sound quality loss....keep on doing so, but for those who actually have some respectable advice we would love to hear it.
For the record, I tend to hear just outside the normal human auditory range...
To help myself put it to rest already... a few years back I decided to conduct my own little listening test.
I took 6 different common ripping modalities (from lossless - to - 128kbps in both MP3 & AAC.... then transfered all of them in order to a blank. Used the same song for each - the song chosen opened with a few clean crisp bars of high freq. music, followed by an instant explosion/drop into a tight & low bassline.
The final cutoff that was achieved before I was unable to detect an audible difference was 198 VBR AAC. Having convinced myself that there was the ever sooooooo slight difference b/t 198 & 256, I went with my current ripping status of 256.... Just incase my audible range should become finally honed with age (yeah, like that is really going to happen) !
This test was run over a Yamaha DSP receiver, running at a constant 110w per channel (w/a max of 220w). The speaker setup was a full surround set of Klipsch Reference Series..... each speaker housing 2 x 6.5 woofer (each housing 2 x 1" Titanium tweeters) And sitting along side the 5 surrounds was/is a 150w continuous 12in. Subwoofer.
Now I am hardly stating that I have hearing as good as some of you extremely technically profound music enthusiasts out there, but for the majority of people making comments about sound quality, and lack there of - when played over a $120/40w Audiovox radio.... I'm sorry, but I would have to side on that of......"Hogwash, that you can hear a difference!"
So.... if possible would someone please offer some advice on a dock or cable connection that will allow us to enjoy the music we ripped at whatever
so-called range we did!
For those interested in seeing who could hit the further bullseye with their eyes closed, You win!!! Now can you help us?
MBP Mac OS X (10.4.9)

What is the best way to copy a DVD i made from iMovie? It was HD720 and I don't want to lose any quality in the copies.

What is the best way to copy a DVD I made from iMovie? It was HD720 and I don't want to lose any quality in the copies. I need to distribute it to about 20 people. It's 42 minutes long.

You will need to save it as a video to the camera roll.
Import it into windows as you would a photo.
Then purchase DVD authoring software, and create a DVD.

What's the best way to output a high quality ready to send to the printer PDF?

I'm designing a photo book for a friend and we're having output issues. We're working with a professional printer but for some reason our prints keep coming out soft or pixelated. The images are 300 dpi and formatted correctly for an InDesign document so the issue is likely output.
What's the best way to output the HIGHEST quality PDF you can out of InDesign? Everyone seems to have different answers.
Thanks in advance!

Check a couple things.
One would be for broken links. If there are broken links then ID will use the preview image instead of the linked image.
Another would be to select an image that prints poorly in the Links Panel and check the effective resolution. If it is below your stated 300 dpi then the image has been enlarged greater than 100%.
Then just use the PDF/X-4 profile for your PDF.
Mike

Since I believe you can't create a Photo album (book) in Apperature, what is the best way to transfer my pictures from my Apperature Library to iPhoto without loosing any picture quality?

Since I believe you can't create a Photo Album (Book) in Apperature, what is the best way to transfer my pictures from my Apperature Library to iPhoto (in order to create my book) without loosing any picture quality ?

Since I believe you can't create a Photo Album (Book) in Apperature, what is the best way to transfer my pictures from my Apperature Library to iPhoto (in order to create my book) without loosing any picture quality ?
Why do you think that? You can create printed Books in Aperture with similar themes as in iPhoto, and with more options to create custom themes on your own.
See this page - http://www.apple.com/aperture/what-is.html - scroll down to see the example books.
But if you prefer the iPhoto themes and layout, you can open your Aperture library in iPhoto, if you have both the current version of iPhoto and Aperture. Simply use the command "File > Open Library in iPhoto" and you can create your book in iPhoto.
And switch back to Aperture by using the command "File > Open Library in Aperture".
See: Aperture 3.3: Using a unified photo library with iPhoto and Aperture
Regards
Léonie

What is the best way to export a movie to avoid losing quality?

I need to get a movie I made on a DVD somehow, but I seem to loose quality in color and overall sharpness when I take it into iDVD and burn a disc. This movie will be projected very large, so I need the best quality possible. What is the best way to export it for the highest quality?

There's been a ton of testing reported here on this issue, but I don't think there is a consensus on the "best" method. For one thing, it depends on what you're starting with.
In my experience with DV video and hi-res photos, it was tough to beat the result I got exporting "large" to the media browser. (Because of my DV footage, HD was not an option.) This made a H.264 file. I could only get a slight improvement by exporting via Quicktime to a H.264 file at double the resolution of the "large" file made by iMovie. Of course this took longer to export and for iDVD to encode. Overall, I'd say it wasn't worth it for the barely visible improvement. That improvement was only detectable in the slides, BTW, not in the DV video.
Many recommend exporting to AIC, which should be an essentially lossless export out of iMovie. This is what the share to iDVD supposedly does, I got poor results with any flow that used an AIC file exported out of iMovie for use by iDVD. Never figured out why, but my results were always better if I compressed to H.264 on the way out of iMovie.

What is the best way to encode and compress?

I just finished an hour and a half long video of comedians performing. The client wants this to be put on dvd so he can mass produce it. What is the best way to compress this and encode it? Should I buy compressor or can I do it in handbrake? What are the best best settings to make sure it doesnt lose quality? Please advise...

You should be able to get up to 2 hours at least.
The best way is to export as a Master File and drop it into iDVD, Toast or some other DVD authoring app.

I am trying to make a pdf of a file and I need to get the file size to be no bigger than 10MB. What is the best way to do this

I am trying to make a pdf of a file and I need to get the file size to be no bigger than 10MB. Even when I save it, the image quality at minimum the file size is 10.9 MB. What is the best way to do this

@Barbara – What purpose is that PDF for? Print? Web?
If web purpose, you could convert CMYK images to sRGB. That would reduce the file size as well.
A final resort to bring down file size is:
1. Print to PostScript
2. Distill to PDF
That would bring file size down even more. About 20%, depending on the images and other contents you are using, compared with the Acrobat Pro method. If you like you could send me a personal message, so we could exchange mail addresses. I could test for you. Just provide the highres PDF without any downsampling and transparency intact. Best provide a PDF/X-4.
I will place the PDF in InDesign, print to PostScript, distill to PDF.
Uwe

What is the best way of monitoring HD content in FCP?

I hope to get the Mac Pro listed below, What is the best way of monitoring my HD edit from FCP?
Can I output to a HDTV, or is a computer monitor better?
Do I need a capture card to output the signal, or is my below system adequate? i don't need one for capturing as i have will be using a Panasonic AG-HVX200 with P2 card, Can i use this camera to output to a TV/Monitor?
Message was edited by: calihal

Well, given your situation, the best option is the Matrox MXO and Apple Cinema Display. I have a full review here as to why it is a good solution.
http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ross_shane/MXO.php
This will cost you $995 for the MXO, and $900 for the Apple display. So under $2k. The other options are more expensive. Broadcast quality HD LCDs start at $3500. And other capture cards range from $295 (decklink Intensity) to $3500 (AJA and Decklink). And HDTV will still require a capture card, like the Intensity with HDMI out, but won't be suitable for broadcast quality. It will, however, be perfectly fine for seeing what your HD footage looks like on an HD set that most people will have in their homes. So I take back my initial statement and say that if you have a tower, the Intensity and HDTV is your best option...if you aren't needing full broadcast quality. If you just need to see what it looks like.
Shane

What is the best way to connect a MacBook Pro to my HiFi system ?

Hi,
I'm new to Apple support communities having just bought my first Macbook Pro (a 17" 2.5GHz i7 model) and this is my very first community post.
Im a bit of a Hi-Fi enthusiast, so, with my new MacBook Pro I've taken the opportunity of completely reloading my iTunes library in high quality Apple Lossless format. Took a while but now I've completed the task Im pleased I've done it.
My question is, what is the best way to connect a Macbook Pro to a high quality Hi-Fi preamp - my Hi-fi system is musical Fidelity, and the pre amp (an A5 CR Pre amp) and this pre amp, which has superb audio quality, only has analogue phono inputs ?
I'm interested to understand what both the wired and wireless connection options are. I'm guessing one option must be to use the headphone output, but I have no idea if the output from the headphone socket on my new macbook (which is presumably designed to drive headphones) would be at a suitable level for a phono line level input ?
Ive also read a few comments about using digital connection - and my second question would be - what is the audio digital connection on my macbook ?
Aplogies if this question has been asked lots of times before but I've looked through some previous posts and can't find any answers in simple and straightforward language concentrating on the issue of connecting a MacBook Pro to an analogue phono pre amp input ?
Thanks in anticipation of some advice.

What is the best way to connect a MacBook Pro to my HiFi system?
Look at the back of the reciever and see what your connection options are, the front headphone jack is output usually.
The Mac's analog audio in/out ports doubles as a optical in/out ports.
The analog won't over power your amp, it's just a headphonejack, like a powered mic, just enough power to get the signal to the destination in one piece.
Since you have a analog amp, your stuck with inferior analog connections, however you mentioned you wish to listen to the best sound quality of your lossless music.
To do that your going to need a decent surround sound system with Toslink optical import jacks, a Toslink stereo jack to regular Toslink adapter, Toslink cable and enable the optical output in your System Preferences >Sound
Another method is to use a Airport Express, it also has duo analog/opical out port. Then set up the Airport Express for iTunes streaming using the Airport Utility, then in iTunes setup the lower right corner one can set the connection.
I recommned a Harmon Kardon surround sound system, with their 100 watt satelight speakers and the 200 watt subwoofer. Enable the "concert hall" and other neat effects which will turn your 2.0 (stereo) iTunes music into 4 channel speaker sound filling the room with music and sending the lower channels to the subwoofer.
It will likely bring tears to your eyes that you can actually hear the full quality of your music as intended, I almost quarranty you will never want listen to music on a crappy iPhone or iPod again.
If a surround sound system is out of your budget, you can get by using the Harmon Kardon "Go Play" portable stereo and a analog stereo cable.
If your going to use your analog amp to power reference speakers, then there are various analog adapters of all sorts to make the appropriate connections once you know what they are, check out Radio Shack online for them.

What is the best way of compressing a large 3 hour final cut file

What is the best way of compressing a large 3 hour final cut file. I shot the play and it is in final cut and I rndered it so now I have a 22gb file that I need to put on a dvd . Any suggestions
Thanks
Macbook Pro
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
with Final Cut Pro 7.0.3
using Lion as operating system

Presuming your menus aren't complicated(include audio or video) the total size for the MPG-2 and AC3 files should probably be under 8GB for a dual layer disk. The inspector will tell you the estimated size. 2-pass varible bit rate would be recommended.
Trying to fit 3 hours on a DVD-5 will only bring very noticable quality hits. Compressor will let you change the average bit rate so that you can fit 174 minutes but trade-off isn't worth it in my opinion.
Be aware that dual-layer -R and +R media may not play well for everyone everywhere.
I presume you are not making 1000 or more copies? If you were replication could solve this.
One other alternative would be to break-up the show into two parts and spread it across two DVD-5s.

What is the best way to make my file in FCPX Compatible for a DVD.

I am working with a file that is about 53 minutes in length. The video is broken up into 14 3to5 minute videos. During my project, as I completed each video, I saved a master file and shared as APPLE PRO RES so that I wouldnt lose anything as this is my first time working with FCPX. This made a hi-def quicktime file of each video (came out great). Now I need to put the entire project together. My individual master files are about 4g a piece and I would imagine putting them together, will be way too large to make a dvd with.
My question is what is the best way to put it all together and export/share? I have all of the original projects still in FCPX, do i copy and paste them into one big file? Then share, and If I share what format should i share with? I need to take the file, throw it on a external HD and put on my laptop to create the DVD in IDVD. Needs to be decent quality for the DVD. I have read that I can create a DVD right from FCPX, but that would be impossible as I am working on a new imac with no burner!
ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

jpqb48 wrote:
My question is what is the best way to put it all together and export/share? I have all of the original projects still in FCPX, do i copy and paste them into one big file? Then share, and If I share what format should i share with?
All sounds good.
Create a new project and paste your 14 videos (projects) sequentially into it, Perhaps insert a gap clip and put in chapter markers if you want. Share>DVD. Should create a high quality disk.
Good luck.
Russ

What is the best way to connect Cambridge DAC to imac

What is the best way of connecting a Cambridge Audio DacMagic to the imac without losing sound quality?

Morning Acousticare,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Thunderbolt cables should not exceed three meters for maximum performance. The Apple Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable (2.0 m) is two meters in length.
For more information on this, take a look at this article:
About Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt cable (2.0 m)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4614
Hope this helps,
Mario

What is the best way to connect my guitar to the usb port on my IMac

This is for use with Logic Pro X
what is the best way to connect my guitar to the usb port on my
I-Mac

As has been said really, the less you pay the less quality, and flexibility you'll have on your sound.
For example, you could run on a 'Rocksmith Real Tone Cable' if you just wanted a cheap way of getting your guitar into the computer for some fun. Probably cost you $30 (I live in UK so can't be sure). If you're starting out then this could be considered the best option for dipping your toe in the water without spending too much.
You won't get a really nasty sound out of that if you can process it yourself in Logic afterwards to clean up, but it won't be great either. I imagine it could get quite noisy so you'd need to get heavily gating your guitar sound, if you're playing something clean that's not ideal.
Longterm, you're far better getting a decent audio interface, as you need something to play sound back through, if you have different input sources you usually have to create an aggregrate device on osx to use multple sources at once esp if you're using the built in audio chip on your mac to listen.
All this can add latency and possibly sync issues (i.e. drum tracks not in time with audio etc.), although generally it's not too bad, but it's something worth knowing if you want to do things on the cheap without buying a dedicated interface.
What kind of money did you want to spend? Are you thinking super duper cheap, and then see how it goes and maybe spend more in future if you enjoy it? Personally i would say £100-150 would get your something good to start with, like that Presonus audiobox, there's a lot of options like that available.
My local music shop always push the alesis io2 on new users, gotta say i'm not that overly impressed with it. Line 6 stuff will be good however, but limiting. Although i beleive you get their software for free with it?

What's the best way to do quality subtitles on an Elements film?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for