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Introduction to the DVD wizard

One of my earlier annoyance with the whole process of adding subtitles was that the creation of subtitles is in the middle of it. First, you need to demultiplex the DVD, then create the subtitle, and finally, multiplex it and restore the menu. So I couldn't start the whole process and do something useful with my life. This is where the DVD wizard (Tools menu, or CTRL-W) kicks in: It allows you to create a SUP subtitle file at the start, after which the wizard will demultiplex it for you (using PgcDemux), multiplex it again with the new subtitle (using MuxMan), and finally, add it to the existing DVD to keep the menu (using VobBlanker, v2.1.1.0 or later). Note that the current version works well for most DVDs, except when the movie is split across multiple PGCs (for example, a TV-series that consists of multiple episodes). If that is the case, you need to do the work manually.

SubtitleCreator DVD authoring wizard

Just a quick guide as how it works:

  1. Open the wizard (CTRL-W),
  2. Select any file from the original DVD, press next (if the original contains subtitles, they will now be extracted, so you can use them to synchronize the subtitles)
  3. Select the new subtitle language and subtitle: the main window will appear again, and you can select a Profile, position the subtitle, and do some editing of errors (press CTRL-Z to go to the next error). In addition, I normally use the Synchronize menu to open one of the extracted original subtitle SUP files: select matching pairs left and right (near the beginning and end: double-click to find the nearest subtitle in the other window) and press synchronize.
  4. After you are done, create the subtitle and return to the wizard. Pressing START will use PgcDemux to extract the audio, video and subtitles; Muxman to join the audio, video and subtitles, including your new subtitle; and finally, use VobBlanker to restore the menu.

Technical information

Well, you are probably not so interested in this part, but in case you hit trouble, maybe some insight in what's happening behind the scenes can help you.
When you first open the DVD, SC scans the directory and looks for the biggest VOB files (which probably contains the movie). Next, SC opens the corresponding IFO (information) file, and extracts information about existing subtitles, audio, chapters, and subtitle colors (subtitles can only use a colour palette of 16 colors, and in any region of the subtitle, only 4 can be used at the same time, which includes the often transparent background) etc.
After creating the subtitle (*.SUP) file, SC calls PgcDemux via the command line. Next, it generates a Muxman project file (in the SC_TEMP directory), containing the IFO Colour Palette, files, and chapters. Although the output of Muxman leads to a playable DVD, you often we like to keep the menu too. So in the final step, SC generates a VobBlanker project file, which replaces the movie PGC with the new DVD created by Muxman.