Rounding Corners in Subtitles: A Guide to Advanced Substation Alpha Styling
Subtitles are a crucial part of video accessibility and enjoyment, and sometimes, a little extra styling can elevate the experience. One such styling technique is creating rounded corners for your subtitles. This guide will walk you through the process of achieving rounded corners within the advanced Substation Alpha (SSA) format, commonly used for creating and editing subtitles.
The Problem: Square Corners in Subtitles
Subtitles, by default, are rectangular blocks of text with sharp, square corners. While this is perfectly functional, some viewers might find it visually jarring or distracting, especially if the subtitle design conflicts with the video's aesthetic.
The Solution: CSS Styling with Advanced Substation Alpha
The Substation Alpha format offers a powerful mechanism for styling subtitles using CSS. We can leverage this feature to implement rounded corners by manipulating the border-radius property.
Here's a simple example:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:05.00,Default,,0,0,0,,
{
\r\nStyle: Default
\r\nFontname: Arial
\r\nFontSize: 30
\r\nPrimaryColour: &H00FFFFFF
\r\nOutlineColour: &H00000000
\r\nBackColour: &H00000000
\r\nBorderStyle: 1
\r\nBorderWidth: 2
\r\nBorderRound: 10
}
Explanation:
Dialogue: This line defines the subtitle and its basic attributes, including start and end times.Style: Default: This line refers to the style definition that follows.Fontname&FontSize: These properties determine the font and size of the subtitle text.PrimaryColour: Sets the text color (in hexadecimal format).OutlineColour: Sets the outline color.BackColour: Sets the background color.BorderStyle: Determines the border style (1 for solid in this case).BorderWidth: Sets the border width.- ****
BorderRound: 10: This is the key! This property applies rounded corners to the subtitle, with a radius of 10 pixels. You can adjust the value to control the degree of rounding.
Refining Your Rounded Corners
Beyond the Basics:
- Different Radii: You can apply different radii to each corner individually. For example:
BorderRound: 10, 5, 0, 15will create rounded corners with 10px radius at the top-left, 5px at the top-right, no rounding at the bottom-left, and 15px at the bottom-right. - Ellipse Shape: Using a single value for
BorderRoundwill result in circular rounded corners. Multiple values allow you to create more elliptical shapes. - Combining with Other Styles: Feel free to experiment by combining rounded corners with other styles like shadows, borders, and colors. This allows for further customization and unique aesthetics.
Resources & Further Learning:
- SubStation Alpha documentation: https://docs.subtitleedit.com/ssa-specification.html
- Advanced Substation Alpha - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_SubStation_Alpha
- Subtitle Edit Software: https://www.subtitleedit.com/ (A powerful subtitle editor that supports SSA formatting)
Conclusion
Rounded corners in subtitles are a simple yet effective way to improve the visual appeal and readability of your subtitles. By understanding the BorderRound property and exploring its possibilities within the advanced Substation Alpha format, you can elevate your subtitles to a new level of style and sophistication.
