Getting Started with Transcribe

Creating a new project

Enter the project title.

If you are planning to work with an existing subtitle file, select a template for your Project Settings from the drop-down menu or define your own settings later.

Click Create to initiate the project.

Open

Getting ready for work

Import project/subtitles file

If you already have a subtitle or script file, you may import it via the Import menu or just drag and drop it into the browser page. Also, you can upload a project file (.json) from another user.

In the Project Settings, you can define settings for a pre-uploaded file or apply one of the templates according to the language and video frame rate (fps).

Open

Opening video file

To import a video, simply drag the file over the window or click the Open video/audio file button on the toolbar and choose one of the following options:

·      Browse your computer (to open a MP4 or MOV file from your computer);

·      Load a video from a URL (e.g. paste an S3 or YouTube link);

·      Select a media file saved in your Dropbox;

·      Load an empty video (green screen).

If your video has embedded or burnt-in timecode (e.g. 01:00:00:00 or 10:00:00:00), you need to specify the timecode of the first frame as Media Start Timecode.

OOONA supports the formats which can be played by the Google Chrome browser natively. We recommend working with MP4 files (h.264 video codec) due to their cross-platform compatibility.

Analyzing with OOONA Agent

When opening a video file from your computer, the OOONA Agent (if installed) will automatically generate audio waveform and shot-change data. Also, it will offer the user to change FPS settings on the project if they do not match the video's FPS.

Downloading OOONA Agent

If you don't have OOONA Agent, you can download an installation file for your operating system here. Otherwise, make sure to uncheck Analyze with OOONA Agent box.

Creating the script

Understanding the Working Area

A – Shot number.

B – Timecode indicating the beginning of the cue (HH:MM:SS:FF).

C – Total duration of the cue.

D – Timecode indicating the end of the cue.

E – List of the customized columns in the final script file.

Every parameter can be exported as a column in the dialog table, while each cue represents a row.

Customizing columns

There are three types of custom columns: text, select, and checkbox. Name every column (e.g. “Speaker”). For the “Select” type, you can also add options for the drop-down menu or leave it empty; in this case, the select menu will be updated after adding a new parameter to the table.

You may choose as many columns as you like.

Basic Hotkeys

Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts. Here’re the basic hotkeys of the default schema:

You may learn more shortcuts or customize them in the Hotkeys menu.

Timing

To spot your cues:

1. Go to the start of the video file;

2. Play the video [Ctrl+NumPad5];

3. As soon as you hear speech, pause the video [Ctrl+NumPad5];

4. If needed, rewind video a few frames [Ctrl+NumPad7];

5. Set the cue in-time by pressing [Ctrl+Enter];

6. Play the video again;

7. As soon as speech stops, or when you think it should be the end of your cue, pause the video;

8. Set the cue out-time by pressing [Ctrl+Enter];

9. Create a new blank cues by pressing [Enter];

10. Repeat steps 2 to 8. 

You may also click and drag the cursor on the timeline to time the cue in focus.

Review Mode vs Work Mode

Once your script are done, you can review your work by switching to Review Mode. It will update the visible cues on the video according to the current video time and will also automatically select the same cue row on the table. Work mode will show the currently selected subtitle on the video and will not change the selected cue when the current time changes.

Export

To download the script file, click the icon above the cues table. This will open a dialog window with export parameters, including the design of the title page.

You may also download the project file (.json) with all the settings and send it to another user.

Click the support bubble in the lower right corner to ask any question or share your feedback with our team.