Captioning and Segmenting in MAGpie

The previous page introduced the interface of a video editing software that can be used for captioning video, Media Access Generator (MAGpie).

Note: MAGpie only works after downloading in a specific order. Please refer to the MAGpie website for detailed documentation on Installing MAGPIE (browse to website)

This page discusses some techniques specific to using MAGpie for captioning including:

Note: Before getting into captioning, you should be familiar with the Interface of MAGpie. It is also advisable to read this page before doing the Lab: MAGpie.

MAGpie Captionator Window

In the previous page, the Project Properties and Project Track for the video to be captioned were set in MAGpie. Once these are done, you are presented with the 'MAGpie Captionator' window, which will be used to add and edit captions (see Image 29) .

Note: If you are working with video, a second window containing the video will also appear.

Image 29: 'MAGpie Captionator' window

There are several aspects of the 'MAGpie Captionator' window that you will be using when adding captions:

Playback Toolbar.
Track Tabs.

Playback Toolbar

The playback toolbar is located just below the menu bar in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window. It will be used to control the play of the video when synching the events of the video with the captions and in verifying the correct placement of the synching. The playback toolbar consists of seven buttons, a time meter, and a slider (see Image 30).

Image 30: Playback toolbar in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window

From left to right, the controls of the playback toolbar are:

Stop (solid black square),
Pause (two vertical lines),
Step backward (minus sign),
Step forward (plus sign),

Note: Stepping forward and backward increments the video by very small amounts- usually an individual frame.
Slow speed (small blue triangle pointing to the right),
Normal speed (medium-sized green triangle pointing to the right),
Fast speed (large red triangle pointing to the right),

Note: The speed buttons represent three different ways for you to playback the audio or video file you are captioning.
Time meter indicating the exact time of where the video is,
Slider which can be moved around to provide rapid access to different times in the audio or video file.

Note: The different controls of the playback toolbar can also be accessed through the 'Playback' menu.

Track Tabs

In the previous page, you selected a Project Track.

"Captions" for working with video closed-captioning.
"Audio Descriptions" if adding sound or voice descriptions to your media.

Note: Audio description benefits individuals who are blind or visually impaired and become important when information is conveyed in non-audio form, such as human actions or printed text. For specific information and techniques, refer to Adding an Audio Description.

Working with Multiple Tracks

In MAGpie, you also can have multiple tracks. Typically, multiple tracks are created by adding an audio description to an existing project that already has a captions track.

To create a new track:

Go to the "Track" menu.
Select "Create New Track".

Each project track is represented by a tab located just below the playback toolbar in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window (see Image 31).

Image 31: Track tabs in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window

Some considerations if you are working with multiple tracks:

To switch between tracks, use the tabs.
You can only work with one track at a time.
When exporting to publish your final media, all tracks will be merged by MAGpie.

Adding Captions

Having become familiarized with the aspects and tools in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window, it is time to add captions to the project. MAGpie offers two ways to add captions.

Import from a transcript file in text format (.txt).
Manually enter into the ' MAGpie Captionator' window.

Importing captions

It is recommended to use the time-saving option offered by MAGpie of adding captions by importing them from a transcript file. To import captions, the transcript must be in the correct format:

A text file (.txt) that has blank space between each sentence(s) or line that represents one caption.

Note: Microsoft Word documents will not work.

An example of captions in the correct format (, 1 KB) is available for your review.

To import captions from a transcript file:

Go to the 'Captions' menu and select 'Insert captions from file.'

Note: You could also go to the 'Tracks' menu and then select 'Import Track'; this will add an extra track (displayed as another tab) in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window. However, it is recommended to use the 'Insert Captions' option because it appends to the current track.
Browse to the location of the transcript file.
Select the 'OK' button to import the transcript file.

Manually entering captions

It is possible to enter captions manually into the ' MAGpie Captionator' window. However, this process is more time-consuming than importing captions from a transcript file.

To manually enter captions into MAGpie:

In the ' MAGpie Captionator' window, select the column named 'Caption.'
Enter the text of the caption.
When you need to enter another caption, select twice the 'Enter' or 'Return' key; this creates a new row in which to enter the next caption.
Repeat steps 1-3 until all captions have been entered.

Segmenting Captions

Once the captions have been added, you have another option to explore in MAGpie, segmenting captions. Sometimes you may want to give the user a little bit more information about which text is being spoken at any given time by highlighting the text as it is being read. Segmenting allows this highlighted detail to be given to the captions on the level of sentences, lines, words, or individual letters; similar to the highlighting done by a karaoke machine. There are benefits and drawbacks to segmenting the captions of your audio or video file.

Some benefits of segmenting captions are:

Provides the user more information about which text is being spoken at any given time by highlighting the text as it is being read.

Note: This is especially good for long captions.
Offers the ability to break the captions down to a sentence, line, word, or an individual letter.

Note: This is good for teaching how to "spell out" words and is especially helpful for individuals who have a reading disability.

Some drawbacks of segmenting captions are:

Time consuming process; as the level of segmenting becomes more detailed, more time is required.
Precise timing is needed and becomes more intricate as the level of segmenting becomes more detailed.

There are four levels of segmenting that can be applied to break down the captions. In order from most broad to specific, these levels are:

Sentence: Breaks the caption into individual sentences according to both a period at the end of the sentence and the first letter of the next sentence capitalized.
Line: Breaks the caption into lines based on whether or not the 'Enter' or 'Return' key was selected in the caption (to make new lines).

Note: Be careful not to confuse this with words wrapping to the next line from a lack of space.
Word: Breaks the caption down word by word.
Manual: Offers the ability to break the captions down to the letter.

Note: A good use of this is for teaching phonics and how to "spell out" words.

To segment captions:

In the ' MAGpie Captionator' window, select the row number that you want to segment under the column named "Row."
Choose the type of segmenting (sentence, line, word, or manual) for the selected row by either:
- Right-clicking on that row,
- Or, going to the 'Captions' menu.
A new 'Segmenting' window containing the segments appears below the ' MAGpie Captionator' window.
You have the option to insert time markers by selecting the 'play' button from the playback toolbar, then F9 to synch up the captions.

Note: If you have chosen the 'manual' option for segmenting captions, you should see only one row with the entire sentence. If you do not see the sentence, then move your cursor over and highlight the sentence. Break this sentence down as desired by: highlighting the desired segment and selecting the 'Return' key.

To discard segments:

Right-click in the segmented row to discard.

Note: Be certain to right-click the row in the ' MAGpie Captionator' window.
Select "Discard segments."

Display Options for Segmenting

When you initially create a project, the setting for how the segmenting of the captioning should be displayed was selected (see the previous page, Project Properties). However, you can view or edit these settings at anytime.

To view the display setting for segmenting:

Go to the 'File' menu, and then select 'Properties.'
The 'Project Properties' window will appear.

If you are interested in more detail about the way a segment is highlighted, you can select either the whole segment or part of the segment. When a segment is selected, the Font options, which are located immediately below the toolbar, become available.

Note: Highlighting part of the caption in the 'Project Properties' window and then changing a font attribute will change the way the font appears while that segment is not currently being spoken. Alternately, highlighting and changing font attributes in the 'Segmenting' window will change the way the currently spoken segment appears.

The next page discusses synching and publishing the captioned project using Media Access Generator (MAGpie).

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Interface of MAGpie

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Synch/Publish in MAGpie