Using Subtitler with DVD Studio Pro 2

Belle Nuit Subtitler creates still image files, which can be used as subtitles for DVD authoring.

Why use Subtitler? While it is possible to import STL textfiles directly into DVD Studio Pro 2, the approach with Subtitler has some advantages:

We following instructions apply both to DVD Studio Pro 2 and 3. You cannot import subtitles into DVD Studio Pro 1 and 1.5.

  1. Select text color to white, level 100%, soft 0.
  2. Select border color to black, level 50%, width 6, soft 0.
    Note: It is important that the border is not too fine. It would be exagerated for normal video subtitles, but because of the lack of antialiasing, it needs to be thick to avoid flickering.
  3. Set the file format to TIFF-DVD. This will create a TIFF with key colors white, red, blue, black.
  4. Export the subtitles.
  5. Export an STL Graphic file into the same folder as the rendered subtitles.
  6. Import the STL file into DVD Studio Pro: Select a subtitle track, control-click on it and select Import on the context menu. The import will replace all titles on the track.
    Note: You cannot import from the file menu. You must use control-click on the subtitle track.
  7. Transparencies and colors may be wrong. Select the first title in the timeline and go to the property window, set mapping type to chroma. Then set:

    KeyColorOpacity
    TextBlackYellow or white15
    Outline 1RedEdit Palette to mix a color between Yellow(or white) and black13
    Outline 2BlueBlack11
    BackgroundWhiteWhite0

  8. Click on the Apply to Stream button.

If you choose not to have a border or an underlining rect, then your palette settings may have to be slightly different. Look at the RGB values in the palette comment of the exported STL file.

STL format specification

If you need to create the STL file by hand, refer to the DVD Studio Pro 2 manual to the details of the STL format.

You need DVD Studio 2 for this workflow. Earlier versions do not support the STL format.

Importing problems

DVD Studio Pro often experience importing problems, when they first work with Subtitler. There are two things to remember:

Using STL Text

If you prefer STL Text, you can also export STL Text and import that file into DVD Studio Pro. DVD Studio Pro 2 supports only MacRoman characters. Later versions of DVD Studio Pro support Unicode, but the file must be an RTF file. You cannot yet export directly an RTF file from Subtitler. Export as STL file with Unicode, then open this file in TextEdit and save it as RTF file.


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