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Adding Custom Chapter Markers to files...

G

gpspad

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 4, 2014
696
47
I want to add chapter files to home movies like the DVD's do. So you can skip to various sections of the video easily. I have been editing them with iMovie v10, but they took that capability away and all I have is the newest version.

I played around with subler, but I can't seem to figure out how I would add custom chapters to the files. It just wants to import them from an online database or create them at even intervals.

Anyone have any work arounds, or am I doing something wrong with subler?
 
I use FCP X for this (it works much like the classic iMovie 06). If this is mostly a one-off thing, you might get the free trial and put chapter markers in all your videos before the trial period ends.

If you are willing to spend $5, a program in the app store is called Chapter Marker and looks good. They have a demo movie. Another called mChapter has a mix of extreme positive and extreme negative reviews.

Online, there's about 5 programs that offer to do this for free. But who knows what (else) you get hidden in "free" software.

There is a format for chapter markers you can make with a text editor, then use Subler to import that file into a video file to add chapter markers. They are in a format like this...

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=A New World
CHAPTER02=00:06:17.960
CHAPTER02NAME=You are not in Kansas anymore
CHAPTER03=00:07:53.598
CHAPTER03NAME="This is your Avatar now, Jake."
CHAPTER04=00:12:04.890
CHAPTER04NAME="This is why we're here..."

You might download a few examples from the chaptersdb website (choose the "text" option for the download and use that to teach yourself the format). Then it's "import... file" in the Subler "file" menu to import it into your movie file.
 
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Thanks, I get the idea. Maybe I am just better off learning FCP X instead of iMovie if I want to keep going with this?

Ill use a txt file and subler for now, but it doesn't make sense to do extra steps when the right program can do it while Im doing the other editing. Can't see doing the bulk of work in IMovie, then using FCP X just to put in chapter markers in.

Ill check out the after market program and see how easy they are to use...
 
Also iSubtitle is great for adding chapter markers visually at current playhead point.
Haven't tested how iSubtitle fares with chapters recently, but Subler does it really by the book - it also creates and adds a separate JPEG track with chapter mark thumbnails. They will display perfectly on QuickTime/iTunes/aTV UI.
 
Subler is the only one I tried that adds Chapter Markers with Thumbnails (images to each chapter in the chapters menu when played with QuickTime or iTunes).
 
gpspad said:
Thanks, I get the idea. Maybe I am just better off learning FCP X instead of iMovie if I want to keep going with this?

Ill use a txt file and subler for now, but it doesn't make sense to do extra steps when the right program can do it while Im doing the other editing. Can't see doing the bulk of work in IMovie, then using FCP X just to put in chapter markers in.

Ill check out the after market program and see how easy they are to use...
Click to expand...

I went from iMovie 06 to try to make the dummied-down iMovie 08/9 work for me... and basically clung to 06 until FCPX came out when I realized how relatively weak the "upgrade" was. While there are plenty that will bash away at FCPX, I personally view it as iMovie 06 significantly evolved into a better movie editor. Those that complain are often people who were accustomed or heavily invested in FCP before X and found X to be as radical of a change as those of us who tried to go from iMovie 06 to 08/9.

The free trial will give you plenty of time to try to adjust from iMovie to FCPX and chapters are very easy in FCPX. For basic home movie editing, FCPX is overkill but, get used to it and use the features you need. You might bump into some other situation down the road where having unused tools well beyond iMovie available to you could come in handy.
 
priitv8 said:
Just a curious piece of information: before taking a plunge on spending $300, you might also want to check out DaVinci Resolve by Blackmagic Design, which is free!
Click to expand...

I'll take a look at that.

What started all this is that I have these workout dvd's. They are great but have aweful music. I started ripping the dvd's without the music soundtrack, then used iMovie to add my own soundtrack. The next step would be to add chapters in between the sets and be able to switch between music on and music off.

I could do all of this with multiple programs, but don't I loose quality each time I play around with the file?
 
iDento said:
Subler is the only one I tried that adds Chapter Markers with Thumbnails (images to each chapter in the chapters menu when played with QuickTime or iTunes).
Click to expand...
I know it's been a long time since, but I'm stuck trying to add chapter markers with thumbnails to my audio file. Are the thumbnails auto-generated by QuickTime based on its time or are they user selectable?
 
For Subler, you have to create/use a txt file with the information in it and then import it as a text track. It's a simple format, but getting the times right is kind of a pain since it's manual.

Example of txt file contents:

CHAPTER00=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER00NAME=Chapter Name You Want
CHAPTER01=00:05:44.544
CHAPTER01NAME=Chapter Name You Want

Then you just load the video into Subler, Choose File -> Import -> File... -> choose your txt file. It will show as "Text Track" in the main window where you can make further edits. Save and you're set.
 
Ploid said:
I know it's been a long time since, but I'm stuck trying to add chapter markers with thumbnails to my audio file. Are the thumbnails auto-generated by QuickTime based on its time or are they user selectable?
Click to expand...

Do you actually mean AUDIO file and not video file? Or was that a typo?

Besides the Subler approach, I'd do as recommended in #2 and import the audio track into FCPX and then put the chapters where I want them. The export would be a video file with a blank screen video. Then I could open it in a number of apps and strip out the video track... or just leave it as a video file with no picture (black screen)... though I'm not so sure that Chapter Markers can exist without a video track to which to point.

I'm not sure if the chapters would be preserved by opening such a track in QuickTime and then saving it back out as "Audio Only." I would guess that would NOT work but it MIGHT. Update: tried this option and it does not work, so the FCPX method would be my way to do it... though Subler is free and the text file option will work too.

Update: I took a video with existing chapter markers, opened in Subler, deleted the video and 5.1 surround sound audio tracks, then saved as an audio track. That worked. But neither Quicktime or VLC will show Chapter marker options. If I open it again in Subler, the chapters track is still there. So this would make me believe that you could use the Subler append (chapter track names) method but being able to actually use them seems like it would be some audio player beyond Quicktime or VLC that will offer the chapter options as part of the playback system.

Obviously there is SOME way to attach something like Chapter markers to audio because one can import albums that flow songs together and the track identity of the song will change in the transitions. So there is an audio-track way without a video track... but those may not be called Chapter markers but something else.

Audacity offers some editing tools to assign labels to tracks. However, it's unclear if this offers any benefit outside of Audacity. For the audio file I quickly made with Subler, importing it into Audacity to see if the chapters track would become Audacity labels did not work. Still it might be worth doing some simple experiments to see if that might be a way to get what is desired?

That same audio file would also import into MetaZ but MetaZ would not "see" the chapters track either.

Perhaps the audio cousin of FCPX- Logic Pro- offers a way? And possibly the podcast creation elements of GarageBand might offer something? Update: Found this which may do the trick. And I see one OLD reference which may no longer be true that says one can create Chapter tracks for video or podcasts but not audio (only). If that's still true, making the audio track into podcast audio may be THE way... which- I believe- is basically also the FCPX way by baking in a still image(s) or blank image (video) track too.
 
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