How does the whole process work?

[Elric]

Hello everybody

I'm new to the forums, but I've been watching ANBU & AONE Naruto episodes from 1 - 62 plus the special leaf... and I really would like to thank ANBU & AONE for this great fansub with a great quality video and translation!

But I'm wondering tho, how does the whole process work? How to do this fansubbing?

Who did the capturing of the episodes (from tv right?) and how did you insert text/subscript to the video? What program and codec did you use to make this great video? And such and such I don't know next

anyways I'm always interested on this video/multimedia thing, I'd tried to make/encode some videos but then the quality isn't that great and the file size is too big. Or the quality is great but the size, its really really big...

I really want to know how to make great quality videos with less size and what program/codec used, etc etc

THANKS A LOT! hope my question isnt too long

[NoI]

guess I'll help you out a bit

A typical fansub involved these steps

1) a Japanese person captures a raw and puts it up on a filesharing program, typcally one known as "winny"
2a) a raw hunter from the fansubbing channel scours winny looking for said raws
2b) if the channel has someone in japan to capture the raw for them, he uploads it
3a) translator gets the raw and goes to work on it
3b) sometimes a 2nd translator will double-check the work of the 1st
4a) at this point usually an editor will correct the english
4b) they may have a 2nd editor look over the script once the 1st edit is done
5) a timer will make sure the words line up with the video
6a) a typesetter will set the fonts/colors/screen position of subtitles
6b) someone will time and typeset the karaoke that you see in the openings and endings
7) an encoder will take all this stuff and mash it together and make it look pretty
8) a quality checker will look over it to make sure it's good to go

As far as subtitles, 99% of fansubs use SubStation Alpha to do their subtitles. you can enter subtitles, time them, chose fonts, colors, screen positions, and special effects with this program.

As far as codecs, DivX5.x and XviD are the 2 most commonly used but some people will use RMVB or WMV9.

As far as getting videos high quality at small sizes, you can take a look at www.doom9.org and learn some things

[Minako-chan]

*baps noi for revealing the entire process* as for higher quality in smaller files, try a little something called VBR encoding its supported in both DivX5 and XviD and it works miracles. As for RMVB and WMV9, according to rumors, they seem to have VBR support (anyone around that can verify?) but generally aren't as good as DivX5 or XviD...

Notepad is the shiz to use alongside ASS (Advanced Sub Station, AKA TextSub) but its not as user friendly (???) as the Sub Station Alpha program (I dunno, I like Notepad more...) Yes, SSA is a dead project, but Gabest gave it life for the fansub community, hence why it still exists.

Neways, NoI, nice list, but its inaccurate...

5) The timer syncs the lines to the audio of the raw the encoder is going to use.

6) In the majority of groups, they have a styler that typesets the first episode and then a normal typesetter does the actual ep from then on, but the kara and stuff don't get retypeset unless certain circumstances are in order (like Naruto ED3, remember the first couple releases with it on them? crap...then the official lyrics were used and it looks a lot cooler&#33 and as for timing the kara, most stylers do that themselves, but AonE has a kara god known as Turles.

9) (Yes NoI, u forgot the one that is the most important...) DISTRO!!! After the QCer approves of the encode, it is uploaded to an FTP, where bot handlers download it and send it to the computers they rooted for XDCCs and then...THE RELEASE!!!

Hope this straightens out the confusion that NoI gave...

[kira_blade]

me and my friends are starting our own fansub group and i was wondering, what is a good way to get raws? so far i've cornered it down to 3 different ways

1. off winny (i cant read kanji, and i couldnt find winny?? anyone kno a link?)
2. buying HK dvd's in chinatown (not the best quality i heard)
3. getting it from #L33t-raws (they have great quality, but sometimes hard to get)

what do you think?

[BadGuy]

Just want to add something to no1's post:

As far as SubStation Alpha goes. It's a deserted project and just the script type still stands. Don't try searching for the original substation alpha it will take you ages. You might want to try and find alternatives like Medusa on doom9.org forums and just use their interface to do the whole subtitling. I myself prefer just using notepad. As I haven't really found a GUI that will do what I want.

[Elric]

Thanks so much for the explanation looks like a great hard work involved in making fansubs, i really appreciate it

Btw, what program did they use to encode the video? the codec is either Xvid/DivX right...

I've tried to encode m2v to divx using Gordian Knot, the result is PERFECT... (51MB - 49 Sec) but is there any way to make the file size smaller but keep the quality great? (DivX 5.02 codec I believe)

And did anyone notice if you're encoding using the latest DivX 5.1.1 Pro Codec, and open it in other player than divx player, there's a divx logo on the bottom right...?

Thanks a lot.

[Minako-chan]

1. Get Asian Language support and Winny2 Site

2. U would be gay to get HK DVDs...

3. Their raws come from Winny...

and I think that u should just join an existing group, too friggin many small groups that are gay...

[NoI]

yes, if you open a divx5 file in another player there is a divx5 watermark that lasts for about 10 seconds. It is not actually part of the video file, just a line of code.

and as for programs to encode to xvid or divx5, you have virtualdub and virtualdubmod

[Minako-chan]

NoI: that watermark is easily turned off. Go to Decoder Configuration in your DivX directory, click on the Quality settings tab and check "Disable logo"... An easy turn off and it works...at least in 5.0.5... ;

And Elric, Gordian Knot isn't a very good encoding tool like VirtualDub.

[NoI]

well, I never said it couldn't be turned off, I just witheld that information

anyway, for those that are interested in learning fansubs, this page ought to still be up though I doubt it's been updated in many months. Funny thing is, most of the stuff can still be current even after all this time since very little has changed between then and now...

http://pepper.idge.net/digisub.html

It doesn't give any incredibly helpful information about encoding or typesetting, but it will explain some of the behind the scenes things about translating, editing, and timing.

for encoding, best to look at places like
http://www.doom9.org
http://www.avisynth.org

for typesetting, if you install vobsub2.16 or higher, 2 files, called ass-specs.doc and ass-quickref.txt, which explain how to do everything, are installed with it

[Minako-chan]

ass-specs doesn't really help you and ass-quickref is only good if you get what Gabest is saying without much explanation... If you want a really good source for TextSub, msg me in IRC and I'll DCC it to you...


myuuuuuuuu

[Aryu]

hmm BadGuy, so your telling me that im the only one using SubStation Alpha? I've never tried anything else and im kinnda satisfied as it is. Though when I've styled anything I also prefer working in notepad. Easier to edit things from there.

[hiddenpookie]

opoo lucks like i learned sumthing to day weeeee! kool looks like a long process all just sit bak and download while they do the hardwork <<<<<lazy boi

[BadGuy]

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Aryu @ Jan 7 2004, 02:24 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> hmm BadGuy, so your telling me that im the only one using SubStation Alpha? I&#39;ve never tried anything else and im kinnda satisfied as it is. Though when I&#39;ve styled anything I also prefer working in notepad. Easier to edit things from there. </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
true true HAHAHA I just use them for styling aswell. I also prefer notepad for the &#39;subbing&#39; it self (that includes typing the text and laying out, adding effects and timing). I use medusa for styles aswell it&#39;s decent as in it can do what xombi sub does but it supports more types of audio (ogg &#092;o/). but it&#39;s only able to save as ASS and not SSA but that&#39;s pretty much same same. The idea of all subbing programs is pretty much all the same. Just some different layouts.

I only use these programs for timing (karaoke ) and styles

[complich8]

ahead of time? WTF?

[umdiddly]

all that work for this?&#33;?&#33;
i think downloading it is too much work&#33;
which reminds me.. you guys should fed-ex me a cd, like ahead of time, that way i dont hafto download AND i get it the same time as normal release.

speaking of which, have you looked at the pineapple market lately? stocks are riddiculous.

[BadGuy]

Pineapple market? WTF&#33;

[Minako-chan]

that is anyone&#39;s guess...

[Aryu]

Are those new copies any great BadGuy? I dunno if I should try them out.

[itachi_]

Aryu, are you the one from the AonE team that subs Naruto?