Setting the Subtitle Color
You can set the colors that subtitles are displayed in. As you type text into a subtitle, you
are actually creating an overlay graphic, exactly the same as an overlay graphic you might
create with a graphics application. As with an advanced overlay, a subtitle contains four
colors that you map to the actual colors that are displayed in the finished title. Each color
also has a transparency setting. For subtitles, however, the function of each of the four
colors is fixed: Color 1 is the text, color 2 is the first text outline, color 3 is the second text
outline, and color 4 is the text background.
You usually set the opacity of color 4 (the text background) to 0—other opacity settings
apply color 4 over the entire picture (except where the text is). Color 2 (text outline 1)
and color 3 (text outline 2) let you apply a text border to help improve the contrast with
the video underneath the subtitle. For example, you could set the text to be white and
the outlines to be black, making it easy to read the text over light or dark video content.
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Chapter 19
Creating Subtitles
You choose the colors that appear for each of the four overlays/text functions from a
16-color palette, exactly as you do with the standard menu creation method. You can
define the colors in the palette either in the Colors pane in DVD Studio Pro Preferences
or by clicking Edit Palette in the Colors tab in the Subtitle Inspector.
Note: The subtitle Color Palette is independent of the menu Color Palette. Changes you
make in one do not affect the other.
To set the text colors
1
For each of the four overlays/text functions, choose a new color from the Color pop-up
menu. See
Color Mapping Palette
for details on setting the color palette.
2
Adjust the opacity (0 is completely transparent; 15 is completely opaque) for each color
you set.
Note: The Mapping Type setting only applies to imported graphics, and does not affect
subtitle text.