Project files have been updated to version 9.2 (codename: “Touch-Up”), first post has been updated, please PM me for temporary download links until the files are available at some more permanent locations. This update is a cosmetic update–no actual translations were changed in any way from 9.1–so graphical subtitles are the only things changed, with matching subtitles and their related files getting the most attention.
Rough summary of changes from 9.1 to 9.2:
- More improvements to matching subtitles. All matching fonts are now designed to work at normal weight, which should make things a little easier for people using them for other purposes.
- Graphical-only alien subtitles for Star Wars are now nearly as good as those for Jedi (and the ones for Jedi were/are nearly perfect).
- Included instructions and a new font for those who wish to create matching subtitles that mimic the appearance of international 35mm prints (much thanks to thxita, Leonardo, and Laserschwert for reference material, font help, and advice).
- Using these instructions, created reconstructions of the Italian theatrical alien subtitles for Star Wars and Jedi, and the German theatrical subtitles for Jedi. These are the only subtitles for which I had references, so no other reconstructions of international alien subtitles are provided. People could use these instructions to create them using the current Project Threepio translations, but these translations are unlikely to be identical to the theatrical translations.
- Fixed a very minor bug in image resizing operations which was probably not even noticeable outside the Italian alien subs for Star Wars, but it technically affected all 720p subtitles.
- Included instructions for how to correctly extract subtitle images from graphical subtitle files, since it’s actually easy to extract image files that look good at first glance, but have subtle software compatibility issues (i.e. extracting alien subtitles for use with a video editor).
Reconstructed alien and matching subtitles are both generated using the same scripts, which means they’ll produce almost identical results. There is a difference regarding borders on the letters, though (it’s always been there, I just haven’t mentioned it before). Different from the drop shadow, the border is thinner, fainter and completely surrounds the letter on all sides. It is usually completely invisible unless the text overlaps a bright background, and you only really see it in the alien subtitles when the second Greedo subtitle overlaps the lamp on the table, along the upper-left edges of the letters. On the English subtitles, this border is minimal and the edges of the letters are not very distinct. On the Italian Star Wars subtitles, there is no border at all (and no drop shadow either), so the letters simply disappear into the glow of the lamp (yes, really). Since matching subtitles must work against all types of backgrounds (consider Tantive IV, Hoth, etc), they have a border even when you’re trying to match the style of the Italian subtitles, and that border is even more distinct than the border on the English subtitles. So if, for example, you created matching Italian subtitles to go with the reconstructed Italian alien subtitles, Han’s lines would be readable in the parts that overlapped the lamp, and Greedo’s lines would not. In other words, matching subtitles don’t really match 100%, but that’s intentional. The inconsistency is because the ultimate goal of alien subtitles is theatrical fidelity, while the ultimate goal of matching subtitles is still readability.
Also, I’m looking for a new MySpleen seeding volunteer. My own Internet connection is tragically not remotely up to the task, and marvins doesn’t seem to be active anymore, at least at the moment.