Subtitles

What font/size/template should I use in Livetype for subtitles?

LiveType is not the place to do subtitles. It's incredibly clunky for this. Use a Title 3D template. Everybody likes something different. I like 24 point yellow, black edge, Futura.



All the best,

Tom

I usually use the simplest font: Helvetica Bold, 18-24 points, yellow, drop shadow and outline. Legibility is king for subtitles -- aesthetics come second. I think Tom's suggestion of Title3D is spot-on -- if you did this in LiveType, you'd have to have one LiveType file or one QuickTime export from LiveType per subtitle card! Just use Title3D and copy it as many times as you need in the timeline.

I had to do just a few "subtitles" recently (to clarify muffled audio) and couldn't figure out how to do the drop shadow. Is it just a checkbox that I was overlooking? (I know, RTFM.)

Ultimately, I made two copies of the text (one white, one black) and offset them to create the dropshadow.

The main issue that I've had with LiveType is that you can't hide those blue lines from view, so the screen gets really really cluttered.

The nice thing is that you can position things really easily.

Whatever you do, use an non-serif font (without those tiny flags at the top and bottom of the letters). Those tend to look great, but are hard to read as a subtitle.

Yeah Mike, if you're talking about Title 3D, then you just missed a check box. Look for the drop shadow icon tab on the left side of the window. Click on that, and then click one of the boxes (T1, T2, etc.) to activate the drop shadow. All the controls are there.

Andy

Digital Heaven has a $10 plug in for "sub titles"... complete with free QT tutorial on their website to show an amazing number of options for the price.



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