How to Subtitle - Creating an ssa file

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DigiSub - Step 2 - Creating an .ssa file

Some hints and tips, you do not need to read this now to finish this guide, but it can be helpful later on. Timing (apart from any translating that might be needed) is the most important thing when subtitling something. There is nothing as frustrating as having text even a fraction out of place. Be it too soon, or too late, text that is out of sync is as bad as sound being out of sync. Another big mistake a lot of people make is placing too many lines on screen in the same sequence. An unwritten rule says you should never have more than 2 lines of text on the screen at the same time, rewrite your text into two lines and split your time to make it ft if you have to.

Step 2 From the timing menu select time from wav.

Step 2.1 You will notice that the top of your ssa screen changed completely. An 'open' button has now appeared, select it to import the wave we just created in Virtual dub. Depending on the size of your wave file, and the speed of your computer it might take a while for ssa to completely import it. Do not panic if the progress bar is full and nothing happens, it can take up to 30-some seconds on my 1.2Ghz.

After you have loaded your wave file the top part of the screen (control part) will look like the picture below.

The wave file displayed here is the complete wave file we imported and the display is to small/compressed to do any accurate timing. Use the zoom slider to zoom in and make the display more detailed. Take a few minutes and play around with the functions here. Everything basically speaks for itself.

To make it easier to distinguish between noise and the start/end of music or speech use the y-scale slider to change the height of the peak volume (your loudest part of the visible wave) so that it is barely in the black part of the screen.

Step 2.2 The first thing we are going to do is select the part of the wave we want to add text. Scroll the wave to the part you want to subtitle. Now click your LEFT mouse button to select the START of the subtitle, a YELLOW line will appear. With your RIGHT mousebutton, select the END of the subtitle, a RED line will appear. Click on the Play Selected button to listen to the part of the wave file between the two lines. You can keep replacing them (moving or sliding DOES NOT work) until you are satisfied with your selection.

Step 2.3 You are now ready to add your text. In the white box enter the text you wish to display during the time period you selected in step 2.2. After you have entered your text click the grab times button.

After completing step 2.3 the bottom part of your screen should look something like the image below.

You have now prepared the subtitles for a part of your movie, to complete your movie you will need to repeat steps 2.2 and 2.3 for your entire show. Ofcourse, when you are done, you will have a rather boring font, not to mention the same font every one else uses, and you want something different right ? The next part of this guide will teach you to change the appearance of your subtitles and how to position your text.

Go to Step 3 - Changing the appearance and location of your subtitles.