FAQ: Workaround: Nesting to Apply Effect Controls to Caption Track
Updated 3/14/24.
"Upgrade Caption to Graphic," was introduced with PR 23.1 - Dec 2022. This is a huge advance. See:
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/working-with-captions.html
This changes one or more captions to regular graphics text on a video track. There they can be moved anywhere on the screen or animated.
When upgraded, the captions are removed from the caption track, so if you need to export srt or similar, duplicate that caption track before converting.
Instead of positioning each item separately, you can select all the new graphics items in the video track, right-click and “nest,” then set the position of that nest.
Original post:
Kudos and Credit to @shandries who corrected me when I said this could not be done.
While I rarely use these methods, some users consider the absence of the options discussed here deal breakers. Adobe may, or may not, choose to add some of the features discussed. In the meantime, here is a workaround. The new Caption Track is not a Video track, and you cannot apply Effect Controls to captions (e.g. position, opacity). But nesting the Caption Track in another sequence allows use of Effect Controls, as was possible prior to PR 2021.
General Procedure:
Turn off visibility on all non-caption tracks in a sequence with captions. Then nest the sequence. The nest is now a video track, and you can apply Effect Controls to move the captions closer to the frame edge, animate the captions, and fade them in and out. Only the ACTIVE track of captions will show. You can nest multiple caption sequences to see more than one track.
Note that in export, the Captions tab shows no options, since there is, in fact, no “Captions Track” in the sequence being exported. The captions do burn in.
Sequence 1: a Caption Track and a Video Track. The video track will be turned off before nesting. The video track can be a nest of the main edit sequence. The video track is only needed in order to have video and audio for timing captions and to define the sequence length. More than one caption track can be included, but ONLY the Active Caption Track will show in the nest.
Sequence 2: (After listing this out, I realized that this step is optional. Sequence 1 can be nested in the production edit sequence. Sequence 2 as its own sequence might be useful for using the render status bar for locating individual captions. See Fade Each Caption In/Out below.) A nest of Sequence 1. Only the active Caption Track as set in Sequence 1 will show. Effect Controls are applied here. If the video track from Sequence 1 is not turned off, it will also be affected by the Effect Controls.
Sequence 3: Nest Sequence 1 (or 2 if used) in the actual production edit sequence. Multiple nested caption sequences can be added.
Specific Uses include adjusting track position beyond those allowed for captions, fading the beginning, ending, or every caption in/out, animating on or more caption position, and, perhaps most importantly, showing multiple caption tracks in one sequence.
To Adjust Caption Track Position
In Sequence 3 (or 2 if used), select the nested caption sequence clip in the timeline. In Effect Controls -> Video -> Position, increase the y value to move the captions down, for example, to the very bottom of the frame. Or reduce the x value to move the captions to very left edge. Note that this applies the effect to the entire Caption Track unless keyframing is used. (See Animate Captions below.)
Simple Fade In at Beginning of Sequence/Fade Out at end
Find the first caption in the timeline. Advance to the point where you want the caption at 100% opacity. In the Effect Controls, set a key frame. Move to the beginning of the caption and set the opacity to zero. This should set the second key frame. To set end fade out, find the end of the last caption. Back up the desired amount, set key frame. Move to end of caption and set opacity to zero.
Fade Each Caption In/ Out
In my set up with CUDA on, I can see each caption as yellow in the render status bar. If I change to software only, it is all red. This might require setting markers for the beginning and end of each marker. If so, in Sequence 1, with only the active Caption Track targeted (e.g. only, for example, C1 selected, no other caption track, and no video or audio tracks), use the up/down arrows and the M keyboard shortcut to add markers. Then in Sequence 2, set opacity keyframes to the markers. If applying to actual clips in a timeline, we could use some copy/paste. Is there any way to make this easier?
Animate Captions
Similarly, you can keyframe position to move individual captions as you wish.
Show Multiple Caption Tracks
As noted above, just add multiple nested Caption Tracks to the final sequence. Only the active Caption Track from each nest will show. Each track can be positioned in its original sequence, within the limits of the caption positioning options, or Effect Controls can be applied in Sequence 3 (or 2 if used).
Stan
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