Created attachment 158966 [details] illustration of alternative solution (convert subtitles to video text media FX) Hello, Firstly I want to quickly say that Kdenlive rocks. I used Sony Vegas for 10+ years, and feel so dumb for not discovering Kdenlive sooner. It's so much smoother and more stable to work with. I love it. The issue: I am working on a long video series that constantly has 2 or more people talking. Consequently, I want to have subtitles in multiple colours, both for immersion but also so hard-of-hearing and deaf people can distinguish who is talking. It's quite common to see this in news broadcasts etc. in a public space, so I was surprised to see that Kdenlive currently only supports a single Subtitles track, and only allows for a single, global colour for the subtitles' font. Whilst I can use the transcription plugin to generate initial subtitles in a single colour for several people, the only solution to get more colours is to convert one of the two people *manually* as a video track text media FX. This would cumulatively add up to thousands of hours across the series, which is prohibitively time-consuming. The solution: If it was possible to have multiple Subtitles tracks, I could simply set each one to a different colour, and drag the transcription-generated subtitles to the appropriately-coloured track. Alternative solution: If it was possible to click and drag subtitles onto a video track (i.e. converting them into a 100% identical video text media FX event), this could also work. I attach an illustrated screenshot indicating what I mean. I think both these solutions are worth adding as they shouldn't be too difficult, and would make the program that much more powerful for people who work with complex subtitles a lot. Thank you very much for your time and consideration!
Created attachment 158967 [details] an example of what I am trying to have the power to do
Created attachment 158968 [details] an example of how i am currently achieving multiple sub colours ('fake' subtitles using video text event FX, extremely time-consuming)
Created attachment 158970 [details] A photoshopped image showing what multiple subtitle tracks could look like
Created attachment 158971 [details] illustration showing alternative solution (to convert subtitles into video text media FX events)
On the To-Do list: https://invent.kde.org/multimedia/kdenlive/-/issues/1022
Close via https://invent.kde.org/multimedia/kdenlive/-/merge_requests/451
Hi - my request has not been resolved. I believe it was merged with some other, semi-related subtitle feature requests, but the solution for those (which is now in the official release 24.05.0) doesn't solve any of the elements I described in my post and supporting illustrations. What I am trying to do is have layers of different subtitles of *different colours*, so you can tell who is talking even if the viewer is deaf or is watching the video muted. I provided images to describe what I was trying to achieve. What was actually added in 24.05 was a drop-down menu so different sets of subtitles could be loaded: but only *separately* one at a time (presumably for multiple renders in different languages) - not several at once; and *only* in the *same colour*. Consequently this solution does resolve this feature request at all - I still cannot display different people talking in different colours within the subtitles layer. I previously suggested two solutions, both of which I provided attached illustrations of how to achieve: 1) To have *multiple* subtitle tracks displaying *silmultaneously* and in *different* colours (the current solution still only allows for 1 at a time, and only in 1 colour) OR 2) To be able to convert subtitles directly into regular text media events (more complicated solution which I think will be hearder to code, though I am not an expert). I think solution (1) that I have put here would be the easiest to implement. Rather than (or in addition to) having the drop-down menu for subtitles, currently only one of which can be selected at a time - instead let *multiple* of those layers display *at the same time*, all visible on screen as *separate tracks silmultaneously*, and all with *independent* colour selections. If this could be added I would be very grateful as I think it is very nearly there already, and it would save an incredible amount of time in editing. I must emphasize that since I use the audio transcription function to produce many hours of subtitle audio at a time, doing it manually as individual text events is not feasible. As previously mentioned this is a very common feature that gets used a lot in media when it is displayed in public spaces such as gyms, waiting rooms and cafeterias, as well as in many mainstream TV shows broadcast live or streamed on demand (e.g. my partner is watching Love Island right now, and it uses multiple, different-coloured subtitle tracks to distinguish which person is speaking), so it would be a useful and appropriate addition to the Kdenlive suite. I am very keen to see this feature added because I have been waiting over a year now since I first opened this thread to edit a series that would rely very heavily on the availability of this function. While I was a bit sad that my request was marked as closed/complete when it clearly was not resolved, I of course appreciate that miscommunications of this kind are bound to occur when managing so many similar threads on what is a very large volunteer-driven project. So, I have high hopes that this can finally be added in the coming months. If anything I have said is unclear or could benefit from further clarification or illustration please let me know. Many thanks to the team for your work!
Multiple subtitle tracks as separate tracks is on the roadmap as mid-term goal.
(In reply to emohr from comment #8) > Multiple subtitle tracks as separate tracks is on the roadmap as mid-term goal. Oh that's awesome, I'm very excited to hear that. I can't wait to see it added. I'm only a casual videoeditor but this would be a huge boon for my workstream as I have a couple of projects lined up that would be sluggish without this functionality. Thank you for replying and for the update :)
Multi subtitle tracks will be possible with the upcoming version 24.12. Even more adjustments will be possible with the new ASS subtitle format editor. Like styles where you can set color, background, position and more. And you can set the position of each subtitle separately.