Pac Subtitles in Final Cut Pro
by Kristian Fjord
on
Jan 16, 2008 at 3:47:53 pm
Hi all.
I have a question regarding subtitles in Final Cut Pro
I am currently working with a project and we have an external compagny to make subtitles for the project.
The project is going to be made available in 7 different languages and what they do, is sending me a .pac file for each of the 7 languages.
Earlier I have used Belle Nuit subtitler to import the .pac file and then export targa images from Belle Nuit, and then importing thoose targa files into Final Cut Pro.
It's very time consuming seeing that the movie is around 20 minutes long, and I have 7 video layers containing hundres of targa images.
I see the option for importing some kind of XML subtitle for FCP, but I don't know how to convert my original .pac file to a file that is recognized by FCP.
The main issue is that this external compagny have made very detailed information in the .pac files, with timecodes for when each subtitle is supposed to be displayed in the movie along with the length of each subtitle.
It is therefor very important for me to know if there is a way to convert this .pac file (with all TC data) into a file that can be imported into FCP, and therby pasting all subtitles on a video track, with the correct length and duration.
I really hope that someone can help me on this, because the targa way, is kind of like starting from scratch without me using the timecode data that the .pac file contains, and I'm manually correcting the length of each targa image. That can be a bit hard with languages you have no idea on how to speak or write :D
It would also be great if some of you have experience with using subtitles in general in FCP, because another option could be that the external compagny can send me another file instead of a .pac file, and thereby avoiding the converting to a FCP recognizeable file.
Re: Pac Subtitles in Final Cut Pro by bouke vahl on Jan 16, 2008 at 8:29:16 pm
VideoToolshed to the rescue!
Download Subbits from my site.
Install the text plugin that comes with it. This is the free part :-)
Before you buy it, run it and try. (the demo is identical to the paid product, with the exception that you are limited to 8 titles on export.)
Subbits can read PAC files, and it can translate them to FCP XML. You end up with EDITABLE titles in FCP.
There is a little trick to get it working, you first have to make a template in FCP using the included text generator. (this defines the look of all your subs)
If you run into any problem, do not hesitate to contact me.
Re: Pac Subtitles in Final Cut Pro by Frank Lewis on Mar 26, 2008 at 7:18:14 am
Hello,
I'd like to know if .PAC or .890 files can be imported into
FCP without conversion. If not, which is the easiest, rather
the simplest way to import into FCP.
Re: Pac Subtitles in Final Cut Pro by Bouke Vahl on Mar 26, 2008 at 1:24:43 pm
Frank,
Pac and 890 are not public, the formats are owned by Screen and Cavena.
However, i've reversed engineerd the .Pac format.
And, i've made XML support for FCP as well, so this is what you need:
http://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=12
Re: Pac Subtitles in Final Cut Pro by Frank Lewis on Mar 27, 2008 at 6:13:36 pm
Hello Bouke!
Sincere thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I do have another query for you and I hope you can help me out on this.
I have been given .PAC files with the time code and other attributes. The glitch is that the subtitles are in the Arabic font. When I tried to import the .PAC files through the demo version of Subbits, the characters appeared funny. They were half Greek and half Eastern European characters and some special characters. How can I address this issue? Is it possible for me to view the subtitles in Arabic through Subbits? If I were to export them (as it is)into FCP XML will they appear in Arabic on the FCP, which is the output machine as I neet to have the subtitles burnt on the digi.
Also if I have subtitles in plain text format with the Timecode can I import them into Subbits and export it as XML?
