Creating Fansubs - Questions and Answers

[ladholyman]

I agree with most of gunblaloom's points, but I do have some different opinions.

Fansubbing isn't a job. It doesn't get you money or recognition or girls/guys. At most, I can only call it a hobby. If you don't enjoy typing out translations or clicking buttons or watching video streams, fansubbing may not be your thing.

Learning the technical aspects of fansubbing is not tough. Grab a subtitling program along with Vdub / avisynth and you're good to go.

If you're starting a new group, the only advice I can give is to give the translator the leadership position. If no one is willing to translate, your group is doomed to failure. But I've been proven wrong before.

As for "reputation" and "ridicule," it's all relative. I've translated some 50 episodes of Keroro Gunsou off Chinese Region 3 DVD subs. To some people, the very thought of double translation puts Doremi-fansubs as a subpar group. But to others, they're glad to get their weekly frog alien mix.

Pick projects that you are motivated in doing, and if other groups are doing it better, faster, prettier (it's all relative), then by all means drop the show. There's no need to waste work.

If you find that you are having trouble in any aspect of the process, then ask for help. And there's nothing worse than a fansubber who won't listen to criticism.

[Ikki-Kun]

Lately I have become interested in manga editing and also anime fansubbing. I have learnt how to clean manga, etc. and im now interested in learning how to do anime fansubbing.

The only problem I have is that I don't know a single bit of Japanese. Would this be a problem if I were to learn how to fansub? I obviously can't translate anything, but im interested in things like putting the script onto the episode and timing it, etc.

Any feedback would be much appreciated. If this topic is going to get deleted would someone maybe PM me or something?

Thanks =)

[Maceart]

Well if you're not a translator, there's always a host of other jobs you can do/learn. Timing is probably one of the easier ones, although QC is not too bad either as long as you have an eye for the english language and can catch grammar mistakes fast.

[Ikki-Kun]

Hmm, sorry for these n00bish questions. But:

Does the translator add the script to the episode? Or is that done by the timer?

[Medalist]

It's done by the encoder.
--------------------------------
The timer and typesetter compose the script more after translation script has been done. The Timer times the lines to when the voice goes.

[Maceart]

Here's a really rough sketch of the crucial steps from a raw file to an encoded file with subs.

Translator takes the raw and types out a script of everything said in the episode.
Timer takes the script and attaches times to each line.
Editor takes the timed script and look it over for grammar/spelling/translation errors.
Encoder takes the script and puts it in the video file.

[Medalist]

But remember that method symbolizes a way that "some" do it. But yes that sums it up and answers your question + others.

[Ikki-Kun]

Originally Posted by Uchikatsu

It's done by the encoder.
--------------------------------
The timer and typesetter compose the script more after translation script has been done. The Timer times the lines to when the voice goes.

also: Please don't double post Ikki

I didnt double post =\

Here's a really rough sketch of the crucial steps from a raw file to an encoded file with subs.

Translator takes the raw and types out a script of everything said in the episode.
Timer takes the script and attaches times to each line.
Editor takes the timed script and look it over for grammar/spelling/translation errors.
Encoder takes the script and puts it in the video file.

=D Thanks for that. I just needed to know how things work. So the timer just decides when a line should show up and then makes a timestamp to show? And then the encoder puts the script onto the video file and it gets encoded in AVI (175mb etc,)

[sakura-h]

This is a question / request to all the experienced encoders out there.
I have been looking all over the internet for some kind of guide or sth. like this that shows various video problems (blur, noise, etc.) but haven't found anything.
So, if you know any, I guess you could share it with us, otherwise it would be very useful if somebody could make a topic with some attached pictures describing the problem in each. It would also be useful if you let us know which filters are best for each situation, as the avisynth filters seem countless.
I know it might be a little too much to ask, but I ask for it anyway.

[[darkfire]]

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/

This is a very old guide and very out of date, but it does give some basics. Don't follow it to heart.

http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guid...spostqual.html

This section deals with avisynth filter's in particular. For more info go to www.doom9.org search first ask questions later.

[sakura-h]

There aren't enought words to thank you, [darkfire]. Thx a lot anyways! XD

[xxanimefan4_ever]

another guide: Schintilla's guide to Avisynth about like filters, side-effects, some screenshots too.

Filters, Plugins, and the like

[raziel666]

I'm trying to do an encode from yesterday, but when I load my avs script, I keep getting the first frame as green (I tried loading the script on vdub and it's the same) and the rest of them are ok. The raw is an Xvid one, and I noticed afterwards that the same thing happens with all the xvid/divx raws I try to open with avisynth. This does not happen if the raw is wmv, with which I've worked so far.
This is the avisynth script:

avisource("raw.avi")

Does anyone know why this happens?

[TheFluff]

Does the same thing happen if you drop the file as it is (without going through avisynth) on Virtualdub? If you then (still in vdub) go to File -> File information, what is listed under "Decompressor"?

[raziel666]

When I drop the file as is in VDub, I get this from File->Info:

FourCC XVID
XviD MPEG-4
Decompressor ffdshow Video Coderc

When I open the file via Avisynth (AVISource) in Vdub I get this:

FourCC YV12
ATI YVU12 4:2:0 Planar
Decompressor I420

Maybe it has something to do with the YV12 codec? Which one is recommended? I think I have the Helix YV12 codec which I read about somewhere in doom9...

[Nosferatu Zodd]

Thanks for the tip on replacing vobsub with vsfilter guys.
www.videohelp.com has some nice step by step tutorials that really helped me when I was learning to hardcode subs to Asian films and has been a lifeline with my stumbling attempts at handling different video formats.

I'm one of those who's on "a 1 way ticket to being ridiculed by the fansub community" working as an encoder with a startup group. I use virtualdub to get the job done and to do some simple tricks such as having the group logo fade in and out for the credits and pop up with a silly little animation at certain points of the episode, as well as resizing the video slightly. Right now I'm lucky in that the raws we have are high quality but I still feel I should be doing more. I seem to recall the first step in attaining wisdom is realising you lack it so maybe I'm on the right path.

[Shounen]

Just taking this out of the blue~

If you plan on being or becoming an encoder:
First learn of about different codecs (flaws etc)
Then you should work up yourself to avs scripting,
and learning about different filters.
Next up is IVTC and Decimating/DeInterlacing. (belonging to avs, i.e filters)
Then probly about different aspects: 4:3/16:9...
(and keeping the mod16 rule if your going for h264..)
And finally about containers (AVI, MKV MP4...).

I'm sure there's alot of guides out there, but theys are more like guidelines rather than rules.

(DVD tip: NTSC material is always eaiser to work with than PAL)

[[darkfire]]

And finally learn how to use YATTA

[Harukalover]

Originally Posted by Shounen

(and keeping the mod16 rule if your going for h264..)

Keep that rule for any video encode period. Or at least do so for any DCT based codec. (XviD, DivX, H264, etc...)

Also aspect ratios should be one of the first things to learn, along with how TV is broadcasted.

[Medalist]

"Knowing 'how' is nothing if you can't do it."

Besides those insightful words from some guy in the 50's ...Knowing how to use multiple programs for specific things is always more supreme then just using Vdub or something. Like I may use x264 cli encoder to encode the video and BeLight for Audio. And then crop in Yatta. Then mux in MeGui.

As an encoder or Raw Provider(who should be co-operative (if not the same perso n does it) ) You should know the average channels that are sometimes labeled in filenames for raws. And what the usual raw from that channel and capper(s) in question do "quality" wise...and thus all your knowledge of filters will be tested I guess.