Subtitles - Changing size (only) of multiple subtitles selected.

Psalm91

Newbie Joined: Mar 29, 2009 22:43 Messages: 33 Offline

Solved by

Oct 08, 2022 17:22

Hello everyone,

I work with subtitles a lot and one of my workflows starts with importing an SRT file into a video. The SRT file has many subtitles, some with italics and some not.

PD always imports with a 16pt font, which I need to change (to 12pt for the video), however, I have hundreds of subtitles and would like to change them all at the same time. The problem is, I can't change the size of multiple subtitles at once without changing ALL of the other attributes. Whatever is selected on the Textbot/Character popup is applied to all of the subtitles.

This is obviously by design and is very useful (changing all attributes of all subtitles selected), however, I only want to change the size. I don't want to change anything else (like the font, style, color, 3D depth, etc...), just the size.

Is there any way to select multiple subtitles and change the size ONLY without affecting any other set attribute. It's too much of a pain to go through hundreds of captions individually and change the size but I need to keep all the other attributes of each individual subtitle which may be different from subtitle to subtitle.

I hope that makes sense and thanks in advance!

Warry

Senior Contributor Location: The Netherlands Joined: Oct 13, 2014 11:42 Messages: 853 Offline

Oct 09, 2022 07:00

Try this:
- Import the subtitles in PD as you always do;
- Then SAVE the subtitles to a file, making sure that you export WITH additional style information.
- Then with a text-editor change the fontsize to 12 pts (replace all?!)
- and load this changed subtitle file again, overwriting the subtitles you have in your timeline.
Make sure that you use different files names between the steps to not overwrite the original.

What I see is that PD saves the fontsize when format is included, and the color code. It does not save the font-name.
If you are happy with the font that is set by PD, then this change of font size will work for you. And if you are not happy, it only requires the set the name of the font once, then it will also work.
Some other "XML" codes may also recognized, is tested for italic. Other SubRip code like bold and underline did not work. So this is very very limited. E.g. I did not discover a way to set the font name in the file (others may?). But the above method may work for you?

There is also software to create and edit subtitles. But in the end it all depends on how PD loads and recognizes format settings, which -as said- is limited.
Hope this helps.

Psalm91

Newbie Joined: Mar 29, 2009 22:43 Messages: 33 Offline

Oct 09, 2022 19:13

Thanks Warry, that did the trick

I was unaware that you could export with Subrip style info. Thankfully, PD supports the same attributes inbound that it exports.

Much appreciated!