So I’ve been doing a few translations recently on videos for clients and figured scripting the process would make my life approximately 1 billion times easier.

This is the first script I’ve developed for the task (based on a script I found floating round the net, written by !Rocky).

It has 3 input options, that you specify on the first line of your subtitles file

= timecode/decimal/marker

Then just write in your subtitles, with a blank line between each line as you’d like it to appear on-screen. To have multiple lines on-screen at the same time, seperate the lines with a pipe. If you’re using decimal or timecode make sure you put the in/out times above each line in your file.

00:02:15 – 00:08:30
Character 1 talks|Character 2 interrupts

00:09:00 – 00:15:30
Character 2 launches a flying head butt

Then create a new text layer in your comp, adjust its position. If you are using the marker option, add markers (Numpad *) where each subtitle line should be shown/hidden. With the text layer selected, run the script, and select the subtitles file.

Marvel at how much time you have saved.

Get the code here.