Apple DVD Studio Pro 4 - Manual (Page 447)

How Subtitles Switch Streams
When the viewer switches from one subtitle stream to the other, two things must happen
before the second stream’s subtitles appear:
• The subtitle clip currently showing must reach its end. No subtitle actions, including
switching streams and turning subtitles off, can occur until the DVD player finishes
showing the current subtitle clip.
• A clip on the second stream must start. If a subtitle clip on the second stream starts
before the subtitle clip on the first stream ends, it does not appear, and instead, the
next clip on the second stream is the first from that stream to appear.
For most standard subtitles, this happens relatively quickly and the viewer quickly starts
seeing subtitles from the selected stream. At most they might miss one subtitle clip.
These rules become important if you create a long subtitle clip that is the same length
as the track because you will never be able to select it or switch from it. Having a single
long subtitle clip is useful if you want to place a logo in a corner of the image. For this to
work, its subtitle stream must be selected before the long clip starts, and once selected,
you cannot switch it off or switch to a different subtitle stream.
Note: Subtitles that cross chapter markers are automatically split into multiple subtitle
clips at each marker when you build your project.
Subtitle Preferences
DVD Studio Pro contains a set of preferences that control many aspects of how subtitles
appear on a stream, whether manually created or imported (unless specifically overridden).
It is recommended that you take some time and configure these preferences before you
start working in the subtitle streams.
The preferences cover the following areas:
• Fade and length: The General pane in DVD Studio Pro Preferences contains the default
settings for the fade in and out settings as well as the subtitle length. The fade settings
apply to all subtitles except those configured to provide buttons over video. The length
setting applies only to new subtitles you create in DVD Studio Pro.
• Font and position: The Text pane in DVD Studio Pro Preferences contains the default
settings for the font used with text subtitles and the position settings for both text and
graphic-based subtitles. Depending on the type of subtitle file you are importing, these
settings may be overridden during the file import.
• Color mapping: The Colors pane in DVD Studio Pro Preferences contains default settings
for the color mapping used when importing subtitle files and creating subtitles in
DVD Studio Pro. Depending on the type of subtitle file you are importing, these settings
may be overridden during the file import.
See Setting DVD Studio Pro Preferences for more information.
447 Chapter 19 Creating Subtitles