Lua Script: Export/Import subtitles SubRip SRT format

[heda]

https://reaper.hector-corcin.com/app...port-subtitles

[X-Raym]

During the past few months, I tried to optimize the SRT management in REAPER, using regions. That was pretty nice, but I have to admit that subtitles imported has empty item (which we liked to call text items because they are not empty)... that is the best idea on the subject ever.

Why subtitling with empty item ?

• You can actually text items, not regions
• More, you can select multiple text items!
• You can have several layer (tracks) of text items
• You can see subtitles on the timeline!
• Some regions actions where not friendly at all with subtitles
• You can still have other regions, becaus ethey are just items
• Heda already made a very nice Note Reader

This is the new era of subtitling in REAPER. And subtitling at all.


Next steps?
I will transpose some scripts I wrote for regions / subtitling to make it work with our new worflow.
On my do to list:

• Merge consecutive/overlapping similar text items on selected track (if same color -aka if same character speaking)
• Merge selected text items as dialog lines
• Create text items on selected track from selected takes (almost finished)
• Create text items from regions

And of course, writing a new complete tutorial to present this worflow.
I'm feel excited

Heda, you're the man!

Note: If you want to work 0 based, without cursor offset for import/export, you can use use this script:
ReaScript: Move edit cursor to time 0 or to project start

[heda]

Thank you for your words and for sharing your excitement X-Raym
I hope we can make a video effects processor too, that displays the text from the notes, like Notes Reader does, but integrated in the Video Preview window.

I agree, that using Items is better than Regions. It is easier to edit them, and support multiline.

tip: If you don't want to have the note icon in the item visible, double click an item to edit the note. Or use SWS Notes window, to edit selected item note quickly.

Maybe I can do the HTML formatting for Notes Reader, which is part of the SRT specifications.
Bold – <b> ... </b> or {b} ... {/b}
Italic – <i> ... </i> or {i} ... {/i}
Underline – <u> ... </u> or {u} ... {/u}
Font color – <font color="color name or #code"> ... </font> (as in HTML)

[X-Raym]

Or use SWS Notes window, to edit selected item note quickly.

This is the better solution for editing several items successively.

HTML formating for note reader would be very nice, indeed!!

[X-Raym]

Idea: Optionnal function (or fork) for the export to srt script, with font-color markup based on item color

[heda]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

Idea: Optionnal function (or fork) for the export to srt script, with font-color markup based on item color

Another option would be a separated script that adds the markup to selected text items based on the item colour. Maybe you have more control this way.

Notes Reader for SRT is almost ready

[X-Raym]

@heda
It could be nice but it will not auto update if item color change.
So, another idea: color text in note reader from item color, without coloring the background.
I personnaly like the export with font color based on background item, as a separate script, :P

Damn, there is so much things to do with these subtitles.

[X-Raym]

I am trying the export script on Mac OS and it the writting part doesn't work.
I tried to replace \\ by / in the script, and I tried several path type including file:///Users/username or just /Users/username but it doesn't work.

/Users/username/Desktop/HeDa_Export SRT.lua:81: cannot open file 'file:///Users/username/sub.srt' (No such file or directory)

As long as we doesn't have a proper write file window, maybe we could use the display output in the console trick, as you suggest me for my export subtitles from regions scripts.
It then would be easy to copy paste the result in an empty file and save it.
--
I was trying to make the font color part of the script, but I dont.
Here is how far I get (but I don't know if it works or no). LINE 99:

        -- FONT COLOR, by X_RAYM
        color_int = reaper.GetMediaItemInfo_Value(item, "I_CUSTOMCOLOR")
        if color_int > 0 then
            R = color_int & 255
            G = (color_int >> 8) & 255
            B = (color_int >> 16) & 255
            color_hex = string.format("%02x", R) + string.format("%02x", G) + string.format("%02x", B)
            ShowConsoleMsg(color_hex)-- debug
note = "<font-color:#" .. color_hex .. ">" .. note .. "</font-color>"
        end

[heda]

I don't have a mac so I can't test that.

As for the automatic color from item, sometimes you can have multiple lines at the same time when two people speak at the same time for example. And you have one line in one color and the other line in other color. What do you do then?

The best would be to do each actor (color) in one track.. then a function that merges all items in one track with multiple lines if needed and colored formatting where needed. But that's too much for now

[X-Raym]

@heda
I tested it on a mac for you, that's how I now it doesnt work. Note: it's not my computer. :P

Totally right for multiple character dialog item.
I can create a fork of my merge text item that handle font color form original items color.
That said we more often used font color for more basic things than representig each different characters. It is more used to represent other sounds for non hearing people.
All of the dialog subtitles are often pure white, for contrast with picture.
That why be your current script to export without color from item background will be the most used
I can create probably create script that add font color from item background for select text items.

Edit: I succee to write a file a mac, with a script modification. I will try to improve it.

[X-Raym]

I did succeed to write the code on mac!

So, several things can be corrected:

• scripts broke because of a nil value in 112 (I had empty text items on my track). It would be nice to have a condition such as

  if note = nil then note = "" end

• path exportation is wrong. Line 168 replace by

  filenamefull = retvals_csv .. track_label .. ".srt"

  The final of the folder path / or \ can be added by user. It will allow cross platforms support.
• Default user path could be OS dependant (just like in with my debug functions script in lua). The default user path on mac would be /USERS/username/

AFter that it will be working on windows et mac more nicely, and there shouldn't be any more error with empty text items.

EDIT: I propose you modification via direct editing in github. So you just have to "validate the commit" :P -- I saw a mistake, forget to add 0.3 in changelog, and to put a signature :P

[Samelot]

Just curious.. Do you guys have careers in video editing / post-production?

These scripts are great and i plan to incorporate them.

[heda]

Originally Posted by Samelot

Just curious.. Do you guys have careers in video editing / post-production?

These scripts are great and i plan to incorporate them.

are you hiring?
I do video fx/production/editing for music videos, among other things

I'm happy to hear that you will be using them. A lot of subtitling scripts are coming, right X-Raym?

[X-Raym]

@heda
Oh yes! The subtitles scripts release night is coming!

Btw, a new fork proposition!

 * Change log:
 * v0.4 (2015-03-05), by X-Raym
    + contextual os-based separator
    + negative timing fix
    + no item selected => export track all items as SRT, starting from time 0 in the project
 * v0.3 (2015-03-04), by X-Raym
    + default folder based on OS
    + user area

@Samelot
Oh yes, I have a really deep background on video, especially with Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator and DaVinci resolve :P I used the first three since 10 years, and I made my studies in multimedia I also started to learn 3dsMax and Boujou, but I really prefer audio-video than 3D

[Samelot]

You sound like quite the expert

I was mostly wondering if you guys were getting paid to subtitle videos online, and that's why you were making these workflows. Haha

I'm skeptical, but I think if you can do it fast enough, some (minor) profits could be made. They're pay rate is low so some form of beating the system would be necessary. That's where Reaper comes in.

[X-Raym]

@Samelot
Thank you a lot
I'm not paid for subtitlting, when I do it, it is more for help things I like or for y personnal work.
But I think that subtitling and translation is very important.

---
Annoucement:
Thanks to Heda, I'm now in charge of the SRT exporter script. And I have lot of new things for you guys!

In one word: Multitracks subtitling is born!

 * Change log:
 * v0.6 (2015-03-06), by X-Raym
    + Multitrack export support -> every selected track can would be exported
    + Selected items on non selected track will also be exported
    + If no track selected, selected items notes can be exported anyway
    + Better track and item selection restoration
 * v0.5 (2015-03-05), by X-Raym
     # default name is track name - thanks to spk77 for split at comma
     # default folder is project folder
     # if empty fields, back to default values
 * v0.4 (2015-03-05), by X-Raym
    # contextual os-based separator
    + negative first (selected) item pos fix (consider first (selected) item start as time = 0 if cursor pos is after)
    + no item selected => export all items on first selected track as subtitles
    + item selected => export only selected items as subtitles

So, I reorganize the code and rethink the script for several puproses:

• Multitracks subtitles export
• Export only selected items of non selected track

So here it is. An actual multitracks/selective SRT exporter !!


I renamed the file with a less generic name, so you can easily distinguish this way to export SRT than any other, which whould be based on custom actions for exemple.


Download here:
My REAPER Scripts / ExtremRaym
Click and download an browse for: Text Items and Item Notes\Subtitles



Cheers
And many thanks Heda for the hard work he put in it! This is the man who made it possible!

[Jae.Thomas]

I plan on trying to do some subtitling for some jobs as an added value feature.

if this yields some profit, as my videos have in the past, I want to donate. Where would I donate to?

[Jae.Thomas]

so is X-raym's version of this the most updated one?

thanks to both of you!

[X-Raym]

@Jason
This would be very kind of you! Really

This is the new page which gave access to all my scripts.
It leads to my dropbox account, so you will be able to browser folers and downlads scripts (or folders) individually. My GitHub account is now reserved for developpement.
I put a donation button on it. It is pretty raw for the moment, but it works. For donate to Heda, I think he will give you all necessary infos
I will add screenshots and infos later!

Thank you again, Jason

Edit: Exactly. it correspond to v0.6 of the script! It is on my dropbox!

[X-Raym]

OMG!
HEDA!

There is table.sort function in Lua, that allow sorting datas!

Look at this, it is a comparaison between the GetSelectedItem function order and what it does if we use table.sort!




In the actual version of the script exporter, I did a whole thing so that it look for selected items in position order and not in track + position in track order, involving actions in background to put all selected items one one track only

Lua is so cool, really

[X-Raym]

I just remembered that I had prepared screenshots of all functionalities of the SRT exporter v0.6 (renammed 1.0, cause it works well :P) !

So, the text of the pop up windows has change, but you will have overview of the capacities:

Offset From Cursor Pos



Track Selection




Item Selection




Mixed Selection (track + item)




Empty Track Detection




No Selection Detection

[mrlimbic]

Item notes are really useful for storing metadata. I use them in Vordio to store an ID for each item which is later used to reconform the sound edit to a new version of the visual edit. I also use them to display useful information to the sound editor such as scene and take.

However, I recently started worrying about conflicts with other tools that use item notes and also not stopping people from writing their own notes.

So in the end, instead of taking over the whole note, I started prefixing lines with a header for each line. Each header I can use to store different metadata.



This way Vordio can ignore all lines that don't contain a header that Vordio uses.

I just mention this because it is an easy way to avoid conflicting with other people's tools.

[X-Raym]

@mrlimbic
Thanks for the tip !

In case of a subtitling workflow, no prefix is needed. We use empty items for that: it items without audio and without MIDI, just the text notes.
+, the srt exporter is selective, you can choose what items/tracks to consider or not.

[mrlimbic]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

@mrlimbic
Thanks for the tip !

In case of a subtitling workflow, no prefix is needed. We use empty items for that: it items without audio and without MIDI, just the text notes.
+, the srt exporter is selective, you can choose what items/tracks to consider or not.

Yes, you are right that empty items won't affect my tool.

It is just a general worry with so many wonderful scripts people are writing that there may be note conflicts unless we try to come up with some standard for not affecting other scripts/tools.

[X-Raym]

@mrlimbic
Other text (empty) items related scripts I know also work with certain tracks. As long as your organize your tracks and items right (grouped tracks for subtitles, grouped tracks for region for heda's regions and marker from item script, etc...), you will have no conflict

It's all about project organization.

[X-Raym]

Question: Actual export text encoding format is ANSI, do you think it could be UTF-8 ?
It can be useful for some languages.

[heda]

mmm no idea... I didn't check that. I always assume on modern OS everything should be UTF-8
here is some information about Lua and UTF-8
http://lua-users.org/wiki/LuaUnicode

[X-Raym]

@heda
Thanks for your answer.

Well for the moment, SRT exporter is ANSI.
I just read your doc, and some other page... That's quite hard. I didn't find a way to tell that the export file have to be utf-8.
Can you take a look ?

[heda]

Sorry I have a bug to kill this morning
but I annotate this in the txt of things to look at.

[X-Raym]

Thanks for the note I wonder what cool things there is in it !

I guess it is something to look with the io libraries. I found this page that gave some infos of why it works with ansi on windows.
http://lua.2524044.n2.nabble.com/Lua...td4285043.html
Maybe some infos for you in it

Meanwhile, good luck for the bug !

[X-Raym]

Are SubRip SRT kind of standard for subtitles? Asking out of curiosity.

They are !

ANd sure, empty items can be used in a lot of things. I'm still, surprised there is only one native actions for them in REAPER. They are so useful !

[X-Raym]

1. Lyrics (up to Karaoke)
2. Dialog Line for ADR
3. Regions (thanks to heda's script (with several set of regions possible)
4. Infos (for the composer for exemple)
5. Chords
6. Placeholder for other items

ETC... :P

[X-Raym]

@TonE
Be aware of two things:

• The workflow presented in this video was the previous v5 worflow, without text items. Text items are not faster to put in place, but fare more powerful.
• I am talking about professional subtitling with break lines put at semantic places in the dialog lines (according to group of words, punctuation...); This can only be done manually. Of course there is subtitle editor that make do automatic job for "cleaning purpose" but then you will have to manually fine tune the result.

I use Subtitle Edit for subtitling fine tuning.

An detailed article about the text item workflow will came out when Rv5 will.

[JeremyCherfas]

Hello. I am very excited by the possibilities of X-Raym's workflow for subtitling but I seem to get stuck with the very first step, importing the SRT file.

I installed HeDa script import SRT but when I run it, with a correctly formatted SRT file, absolutely nothing happens. No error message, nothing hangs. Just ... Nothing.

Probably there is something simple I am missing, but I cannot see what.

I am on OSX

Thanks for any help.

Jeremy

[X-Raym]

@JeremyCherfas
Can you post your SRT somewhere so we can test ?

EDIT: Note that IMPORT may need you to select a track.

[JeremyCherfas]

I've come back to this, starting again from scratch.

Two basic questions, for now:

Is there a way to render the subtitles on top of the video image within Reaper? It would make it easier to fix long lines, etc.

On a similar line, how can I burn the subtitles to the rendered video file from Reaper, if I do not want to use an SRT file?

Thanks

[X-Raym]

Is there a way to render the subtitles on top of the video image within Reaper? It would make it easier to fix long lines, etc.

This would require creating video item processor with Text preset and enter a text manually for each of them.
Maybe their creation can be scripted but for the moment, no solution exists.

On a similar line, how can I burn the subtitles to the rendered video file from Reaper, if I do not want to use an SRT file?

Rather use dedicated software to see if subtitles are not too long (like Subtitle Edit). Then, NLE vidoe editors or even some converters can take care of the print.

[JeremyCherfas]

I'll keep plugging away. Converting the notes to a text processor would be a good solution for me.

[X-Raym]

Hi Heda,


The IMPORT srt script need a small update to prevent error:

                line = ''
                repeat 
                    line = f:read ("*l") -- read next line with the text
                    if line and line ~= "" then textline = textline .. "|" .. line .. "\n"; end;
                until not line or line==""

This works as expected :P


It could also be way more efficient with SWS API functions but that's okay :P

[heda]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

It could also be way more efficient with SWS API functions but that's okay :P

Thank you X-Raym. It is never late to fix old bugs

Which SWS API functions are you referring to?