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Hi,
Can anyone help.
The new subtitling/captioning option in Premiere Pro 2021 doesn't allow you to move captions to the bottome of the frame. Previously, the freedom to do so was provided by the Effects Control tab. The new version means you have to work with the Essential Graphics panel and it doesn't allow you to drop your captions/subtitles below a certain point, it seems.
Regardless of the anchor point I choose or the value I enter on the verticle axis, Premiere Pro refuses to place captions as
Does anyone know how to place the subtitles/captions lower in the screen?
R
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FOLLOW UP:
It seems the problem is only with captions that run over two lines.
It is possible to manipulate the captions as long as they are over a single line.
R
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Yes, Caption Tracks being on their own and NOT video tracks meant they were not subject to workarounds that used the Effect Controls. See my comment below for a general workaround to this issue.
I don't think there is really a difference between single and multiple line captions regarding the bottom (or top, left, or right). There are a variety of other differences, particularly paragraph alignment.
PR 2021 moved the minimum distance from the actual edge of the frame, compared to PR 2020. In 2020, using only the Caption controls, you could get to about 90%. With 2021,you can get to 95%. For most users, that will be fine.
If not, see "To Adjust Caption Track Position" in this post:
Stan
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Hi Stan,
Thank you for this workaround. I'm very grateful.
It definitely works for captions that appear consistently on a single line.
Bests,
Roger
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That's good. What do you see as not working, for example, with multiline captions?
Stan
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Hi Stan,
It's more a case of when captions alternate between running over one and two lines, depending on the amount of text being shown.
In the previous version of Premiere Pro, the combination of the Effects Control and Essential Graphics tabs meant that captions stayed centred on a particular spot, regardless of whether a caption was one or two lines. It meant that as the video progressed, we were able to place the text on a narrow coloured background strip, and the text would never venture outside that strip, regardless of whether a particular piece of captioning was one or two lines.
I haven't been able to replicate that in the new version. The text jumps about, depending on whether it is a single or double line. If I set it up to accommodate a single line, the text jumps outside the strip as soon as a caption appears with a second line. And if I set it up to accommodate a double lines of text, then single lines of text don't fit properly on the strip.
So our solution now is to manually adjust for individual segments of captioning.
It's a shame. Before, we'd simply centre the caption where we needed it and Premiere Pro would centre it regardless of the text going over one or two lines.
It's a shame. From a personal point of view, I can't see that this change has improved the captioning function really. It is less flexible than before in terms of effects and I can't see (yet) that the new function is superior and let's us do things we couldn't before. But that is, of course, a highly personal perspective based on our workflow.
Thanks again for your help,
Roger
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So the background box stays the same size, and the one-, or two-, line text is centered vertically in the box?
In the Text Panel (or drag in the timeline), select all captions on the track. In the EGP Text section, not Align and Transform, set the vertical "paragraph" alignment to centered. Then make your adjustments in the nested sequence.
Note that this is centering on the bounding box, which can be adjusted in the EGP Align and Transform section. But if you only have one and two line captions, I don't think you'll need to.
This paragraph alignment always confused me because you see nothing if there is only one line. And when you adjust a multiline caption, you don't see the bounding box point of reference.
Captions were painful before, and I think more users than Adobe knew, were using the Effect Controls to get the workflow they wanted. Put in feature requests for what you need. Adding more flexibility for the background would make this even easier for you than before. And there are many users that want more flexibility in the background settings.
Bug report/Feature request:
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911233-premiere-pro
Stan
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Cheers, Stan.
Apologies for the slow response.
I haven't yet had time to implement your suggestion, but I will certainly do so. I'm grateful for your time.
Thank you also for the feature request link.
Bests,
Roger
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You can do the following:
- Create new Sequence (bigger in width)
- Copy Sub to new caption
- Import new Sequence to old Sequence
- Adjust sub by new sequence to fit position in old sequence that you want
Good luck!
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Prem pro version 23.1.0
I had this issue on a single line captions track (not sure about the 2 line option - but guessing same issue would occur). I'm working on a project where I'm dealing with VTs sent to me with name straps and graphics already burnt on the mp4s, so now I need to add subtitles to these VTs. In some cases I needed to move the subtitles lower (to the bottom of the frame) to avoid getting in the way of the graphics already on the mp4.
See screenshot 1a and 1b. (I have not included the actual footage for privacy reasons but you get the point). I could not change the 'align and adjust' settings any lower as it was, however.. I did find a workaround. (Note: I did try just adding a text graphic to the sequence, but then realised this would not work as I may need to export the SRT file as well as the burnt in version).
Screenshot 1b shows the number values (0,0,0,0) if you select the position as the 'middle bottom' of the square grid icon thing.
BUT.. if you select the 'top middle' square grid thing, (screenshot 2b) and then enter the numbers similar to these numbers, you will then be able to move the caption track to where you desire. (2a shows this more clearly).
This way you don't have to create a nested sequence. The exports (burnt in) work fine too. Not checked the SRT file with video combo yet, but guessing it would be fine!
Note: it works best inputting the number on the right first, and work your way left. So type in -572 first, then hit 'shift and tab' twice then insert 974.
Hope that helps somebody!
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patboyle,
Absolutely too cool! Congrats on finding a very odd workaround! My tests and comments:
The PR 2021 caption workflow did improve the vertical limit so text could go down to 5%, rather than the previous 10% limit.
In this test, I am using Minion Pro with font set to 48, in a 1920X1080 sequence.
As described below, I did not find numbers that allow 2 lines of captions (at my font size) without stopping the position from going below the 5% limit.
Also, note that PR does not export position information in srt sidecar, so this has no chance of working for that sidecar. I did not test any caption types that might carry this information. Its usefulness may be limited to burn-in.
My version of the steps you described:
Stan