5.1. Exporting Data in Various Formats

InqScribe provides a variety of ways to export data for use in other applications. InqScribe can export your transcripts in several formats.

• HTML
• Plain Text
• Tab-Delimited Text
• XML
• Final Cut Pro XML
• Spruce STL
• Subrip

InqScribe can also create subtitled QuickTime movies.

5.1.1 Exporting Records: An Overview

When you choose to export your transcript in a structured form, InqScribe must translate the contents of your transcript from a single, large text field to a series of time-based records.

To do this, InqScribe scans the transcript and notes the location of each time code. It then assumes that the block of text that lies between two time codes should "belong" to the first time code, which indicates the start time of the text block.

In practice, that means that the following transcript:

[00:00.00] Here is some text. [00:15.00] Something happened. [01:00.00] Something else happened.

will be converted to three distinct records as follows:

• Record 1: start = 00:00.00; end = 00:14.29; text = Here is some text.
• Record 2: time = 00:15.00; end = 00:59.29; text = Something happened.
• Record 3: time = 01:00.00; end = 02:00.00; text = Something else happened.

In the above example InqScribe inferred the end time of each record by taking the start time of the next record and subtracting one frame. (The above example assumes 30 fps and a 2 minute clip.). In you prefer, you can be explicit about end times. Such a transcript might look like:

[00:00.00] Here is some text. [00:12.00]
[00:15.00] Something happened. [00:55.00]
[01:00.00] Something else happened. [02:00.00]

In this case, InqScribe notices that some time codes (e.g. [00:12.00]) don't have any text after them and assumes that they are meant to be end times. This results in the following records.

• Record 1: start = 00:00.00; end = 00:12.00; text = Here is some text.
• Record 2: time = 00:15.00; end = 00:55.00; text = Something happened.
• Record 3: time = 01:00.00; end = 02:00.00; text = Something else happened.

Speaker names

For certain formats (tab-delimited, HTML, and XML), you can also export speaker names for each record. Typically you would have entries that look something like this.

[00:00.00] Jane: Hi there. [00:12.00]
[00:15.00] Dick: Hi. [00:18.00]

You can use the Export Setings dialog to define the symbol (or delimiter) that separates the speaker name from the rest of the text.

5.1.2 The Export Settings Dialog

Use the File > Export menu to select the format that you would like to export. Once you've made your selection, a dialog box appears.

Note that InqScribe will remember your Export settings on a per-document basis until you quit the application. This makes it a bit easier to experiment with different export settings without having to change every setting every time you open the dialog.

Format

Select the format you'd like to use for your exported data. Each of these formats are explained in more detail below.

Options

Each format offers its own set of options. See the documentation for each format for more information.

Some structured formats (XML, HTML, Tab-delimited Text) give you the option to Export Out Points or Export Speaker Names in addition to the In Points and text. Check the appropriate boxes to export the fields you want.

Target

The name of the target export file is shown on this line. You can edit the name of the file directly. By default, the export file will be saved in the same directory as your InqScribe document. (You can see the full path to the file by hovering the mouse over the edit field until a tool tip appears.)

You can also click the Choose... button to define the name and location for the exported file. This is particularly useful if you want to save the exported file in a different diretory.

Replace Existing File Without Asking

Normally, InqScribe will be cautious and, if the target file already exists, ask you to confirm that you want to replace the file. If you'd rather not see this confirmation dialog, you can check this box.

Advanced Settings

The Advanced... button provides access to two less frequently used settings.

Advanced Settings: Text Encoding

By default, InqScribe exports text encoded as UTF-8. You may choose to encode the exported text in another format using the Encoding popup menu.

Note: Byte order marks (BOM) are used for both UTF-8 and UTF-16 exports. If you select UTF-16, InqScribe will export the text in the byte order that matches your system (little endian for Windows and big endian for Macintosh).

Advanced Settings: Line Endings

On occasion, you may need to explicitly define the line endings of your exported file. Normally, InqScribe uses line endings that are appropriate for your platform. Use this setting to override that choice.

5.1.3 HTML

Exporting to HTML creates a basic HTML page that consists of a table. Each record in your transcript appears as a row in the table. The table has two columns: one for the start time, and one for the text. Here's an example.

00:00:00.00	JOHN: OK. Throughout our project, our variable was the amount of wiring.
00:00:04.05	At least in our first test we were going to use the amount of this kind of wiring... what we'd vary in each of our straws.

InqScribe outputs very basic HTML. In most cases, you will probably want to copy the table's HTML out of this file and paste it into another page. But the export process saves you from having to manually convert each record to HTML.

5.1.4 Plain Text

Exporting as plain text creates a text file containing the exact contents of your transcript. You have the option of filtering out the timecodes.

Note that in some cases, it's easier to copy and paste the text of your transcript instead of exporting as plain text.

5.1.5 Tab-Delimited Text

Exporting tab-delimited text creates a series of "records" (see the Overview above). Each record consists of a time field and a text field. Fields are separated by tab characters; records are separated by end of line characters appropriate to your OS.

If there are return characters within a text field, they are converted to vertical tab characters (ASCII 11). Tabs within a field are converted to spaces.

5.1.6 XML

Exporting to XML creates an XML file that contains several entries like this.

<scene in='00:00:00.00' out='00:00:04.04' speaker='Jane'>
    The first line.
</scene>
<scene in='00:00:04.05' out='00:00:08.00' speaker='Dick'>
   The second line.
</scene>

The out and speaker attributes are optional and depend on whether you've indicated that they should be exported.

Note that InqScribe 1.5 exported a slightly different XML format. See the importing section for more details about this older format.

5.1.7 Final Cut Pro XML

InqScribe supports export to Final Cut Pro via FCP's own XML format. Because of the complexity of this format, it is best for you to generate a template XML file based on a sequence in your project. InqScribe can use such a template to generate a series of subtitles that match an initial model subtitles that you create.

Here is the process for exporting to FCP in a nutshell.

1. In FCP, create a new sequence with a single text generator that will serve as the template. Adjust this text generator's attributes (font, size, position, etc.) to suit your needs.
2. In FCP, select the sequence (and just the sequence) and export it as an XML version 1 file (InqScribe can handle FCP XML version 1, 2, and 3 files, but practically there's no difference in terms of subtitle support.)
3. In InqScribe, select File > Export > Final Cut Pro XML... to bring up the export dialog. In the dialog, click the "Load From File..." button and select the XML file that was just exported from FCP.
4. Choose a target file, and click the Export button. InqScribe scans your XML file looking for potential template generators. If it can't find any, it'll complain. Otherwise, it grabs the first one that it can find. InqScribe then uses this template generator item to create as many new generators as there are subtitles in your transcript, and exports a new XML file.
5. Now go back to FCP and import this new XML file into your project.
6. If you need to change the appearance of the subtitles, just go back to your original template sequence and modify the sample text generator there. Then export that sequence, and repeat this process.

If you just want to see what the subtitles might look like in FCP, there's a shortcut.

1. In InqScribe, select File > Export > Final Cut Pro XML... to bring up the export dialog. In the dialog, click the "Use Default" button.
2. Choose a target file, and click the Export button. InqScribe use the default template to create as many new generators as there are subtitles in your transcript, and exports a new XML file.
3. Open your FCP project and import this new XML file into your project.

Note that the default option may or may not work for you because it makes a lot of assumptions about your project settings. For best results, we recommend exporting your own custom template from FCP and using that instead.

5.1.8 Spruce STL

STL may be used to export subtitles to DVD Studio Pro. STL files look like this.

00:00:00:00,00:00:15:10,Start of video.
00:00:15:11,00:00:17:12,Puts down toy.
00:00:17:13,00:00:25:18,Picks up toy again.

STL time code is 30fps. You can fit multiple lines of text in one record by using the '|' character to separate the lines.

You may also insert your own STL commands at the top of the file via the Commands field.

5.1.9 Subrip

Subrip is a straightforward format that can be used, among other things, to subtitle content on Google Video. Subrip files look like this.

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,365
Start of video.

2
00:00:15,366 --> 00:00:17,432
Puts down toy.

3
00:00:17,433 --> 00:00:25,632
Picks up toy again.

Note that the format is essentially 1000fps, and that commas are used to separate seconds from frames, not periods.