Mulitple captions blocks and other major Captions issues

Report · Mar 15, 2021

There are times one has say a pair of people, two talking heads, and it's cleaner to have a left side and right side caption/subtitle display to clearly show the user which person goes with which text.

There is NO way to do this with the new captions/subtitle process. Being as the multiple captions track setup only allows one track to be visible at a time, and there is no way to set side-by-side viewing, this needed option is not available.

-------------

Edit: As answered by staffer @Trent Happel down below, if you right-click a line of text in the "text" panel, an option is to 'add caption block'. Select that, and type your second block's text. Then go to the Edit tab of the Essential Graphics Panel (EGP) and select each line, placing it as you need.

------------

Also, with say 708 captions, there is clearly a limit to the characters per line which is not mentioned in the information provided. When you hit that limit, it simply doesn't show anything past that on-screen though it does show in the Text panel. And this is even when the text is set to start at the left edge. The end character visible is just at the middle of the screen so there's a LOT of screen left, but it doesn't show.

-------------

Edit: Staffer Trent Happel's further comments list that the current "recomendation" standard for 708 captions is apparently 32 characters per line, but the PrPro staff is allowing 42 per line, which is the maximum that fits in 16:9 viewing screens.

-------------

And it doesn't auto-line break as the Subtitles option does.

Neil

Report · Mar 15, 2021

^^ Thank you Neil! I'm considering cancelling my subscription. This new update is egregious and the new "caption tracks" give users no wiggle room to resize captions in the essential graphics panel the way that we need to.

Report · Mar 15, 2021

In many ways for me, it's a huge advancement. I've avoided captions because they were such a freaking pain. Now, yea, I can start doing them. My needs are pretty simple.

That said ... it needs a lot more adjustability ... user options ... yes, freedom.

Neil

Report · Mar 16, 2021

Not sure if it will fit your needs, but there is a way to make multiple blocks per Caption. In the Text panel, right-click over the Caption segment text and choose "Add new text block to caption". This will add another text block to the Caption segment, that you can then modify location, etc.

Yeah, 708 does have a character limit... that we currently do not provide feedback on (sorry). Validation and error handling is definitely something on our radar.

Report · Mar 16, 2021

Trent,

Thanks so much for the reply ... so, right-click in the Text block area, then add the 'second' block text. Then go to the Edit tab of the Essential Graphics Panel (EGP) to position that line of text/captions.

Well, so it can be done, but is still subject to the X number of characters per line. What is that number, btw?

Neil

Report · Mar 16, 2021

I think recomendation is 32 characters per line for CEA-708 for compatibility, but we allow 42 to be seen per line (the max for 16:9). BTW, PPro is following the Caption format specifcations, we aren't making these up 😉

Report · Mar 16, 2021

Thanks for the reply, Trent!

Yea, I know, when there are b-cast standards, ya gotta follow those standards.

Neil

Report · Mar 17, 2021

@Trent Happel

Trent, I played with using a second text block. Are there any options for manipulating these blocks? For example, at first, I could not find a way to select only one block until I used the Set horizontal/vertical position controls to sepeate them. Then I could select one block or the other, and use the grid controls. On repeating the steps, I found that I just needed to select the block in the Program Monitor before using the grid operation.

You can set different properties including font color, etc, but the track style, if applied again, overrides all, including position.

I'm thinking of the users that want different blocks for different speakers. So not just multiple blocks, but blocks grouped across the tracks (speaker 1 vs speaker 2). And then applying 2 different styles to the different groups rather than just a style per track. Etc. And all flowing from the different speakers in a transcript as an option.

Are such functions on the radar?

Stan

Report · Mar 17, 2021

Yeah, the easiest ways to select blocks would be from the Program Monitor or going to Essential Graphics panel, click on Edit tab and you can see the blocks listed, that you can select.

Yes, you caught one gotcha in that Track Style will apply across the track.

The options you are proposing for different speakers is an interesting idea. We have heard from a number of users asking for multiple active tracks for multiple speakers. I'm hoping more folks will chime in with feedback on their preference for multiple speakers.

I forgot to mention before that we encourage everyone to also submit feedback to UserVoice, so that we can get a better count for requests.

Thank you.

Report · Mar 17, 2021

> going to Essential Graphics panel, click on Edit tab and you can see the blocks listed, that you can select.

Very useful.

Yes, there are some themes in the regular forum as to options users want. One group of requests are options that are were possible using Effect Controls applied to a caption stream that was in a video track - and no longer possible - such as fade in/out of captions, and moving captions all the way to the edge of the frame.

I'll continue to recommend uservoice, particularly for feature requests.

Stan

Report · Mar 17, 2021

@Trent Happel it feels like you guys made arbritrary, sweeping guidelines for captions with the 15.0 update. The combining of srt files into a "caption track" repeals artistic control that used to be in the hands of the users with titles in the essential graphics panel and instead gives the system more power in pursuit of a "more convenient workflow". You basically eliminated one step in favor of adding numerous steps for users to make appealing captions. Instead of allowing a simple transform option on captions, you put up guardrails on text boxes and force users to adhere to your standards with specific "zones" and "alignments".

The fact that you're winking based on the idea that "PPro is following the Caption format specifications" shows me that you guys are uninterested in giving more freedom to users and allowing them to fail and instead interested in adding more safety nets as if you were teaching an intermediate software class to senior citizens.

I hesitate to recommend the proposal of adding different speakers because it feels like you guys will mess up that feature as well by adding overbearing measures to add a speaker. If Adobe is in love with the caption track, simply map all of the same options and freedoms you have for video tracks onto caption tracks. I overlooked all of Adobe's flaws (playback issues, exporting nightmares etc.) based on the idea that I had total freedom with the essential graphics panel to make any kind of titles and graphics I want, but this is making me reconsider my subscription altogether.