4. Project Settings

In the styling window, clicking on the first entry Project Settings brings up the project-wide settings. Their meaning is explained in this article.

Resolution & Frame Rate

You can select the frame size from a list of common ones, or, if needed, enter a custom pixel width and height. Similarly, either choose a preset frame rate, or enter a custom one as an integer (e.g., “10”) or fraction (e.g., “25/2”).

Timecode Format

At various places, Cinecred presents or reads in timecodes. You decide on the format: SMPTE, a clock, or just a plain frame counter. The frame rates 29.97 and 59.94 also admit SMPTE Drop-Frame timecodes. For any other fractional frame rate, use the Exact Frames in Each Second format, which per second just enumerates all frames, starting from 0.

Runtime Fine Adjustment

Sometimes, it’s necessary to peel a few seconds off your credits. For example, say you added a forgotten name last-minute, but now the scroll takes ever so slightly longer and no longer matches the already recorded music. In such cases, the Runtime Fine Adjustment setting allows you to specify a target runtime, which is then matched by slightly compressing vertical spacing in your credits roll. Of course, increasing the runtime is also possible.

Attention! As implied by the name, this setting should only be used for minor adjustments to the runtime. Bigger adjustments will heavily shrink or grow the vertical spacing and thereby make the credits look wonky. Instead, change the scroll speed or card timings to get the runtime into the right ballpark.

In case there are multiple scrolling sections, this setting will affect all of them in the same way. If you need more control, use the @Page Runtime column in the Credits spreadsheet.

Grounding Color

This setting defines the background color of the entire sequence. If you need a transparent background for manual compositing, that option is available upon export provided the respective format supports transparency.

Unit “Vertical Gap”

As explained in the section about vertical gaps in the Credits spreadsheet, vertical gaps between blocks are not given directly in pixels, but instead in a custom unit. This setting defines that unit.

We advise to set the unit to your main font height. For example, if most of your fonts are 32 pixels in height, set the unit to 32 pixels as well. That way, a vertical gap of 1 unit—which is automatically inserted for each blank line in the spreadsheet—has the same height as one line of text. Of course, it’s entirely reasonable to deviate from this recommendation if that helps your design.

Language

Even though it’s not always necessary, it’s good practice to specify the language and optionally dialect your credits are written in. The chosen language is then used to choose the right variant of a character, for example from the Serbian instead of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, and in all language-sensitive operations, for example in uppercasing.

Uppercase Exceptions

Cinecred can automatically uppercase text. However, some portions like nobiliary particles should usually be exempted. This setting enumerates those exceptions, with each line declaring one pattern.

A very simple pattern just consists of the text that should not be uppercased. For example, the pattern “ra” causes all occurrences of ra to remain in lower case, and as such, Sarah would become SAraH.

You can restrict where the pattern applies by adding a placeholder to the beginning and/or end. The placeholder “#” requires any uppercase or titlecase letter. The placeholder “_” requires either whitespace or the beginning/end of the text. Here are some example patterns and their effect:

• Pattern “_von_”:
  • Ronny von Tommy → RONNY von TOMMY
  • von Tommy → von TOMMY
  • Cleavon Tommy → CLEAVON TOMMY
• Pattern “_Mac#”:
  • Johnny MacRonny → JOHNNY MacRONNY
  • Johnny Macbeth → JOHNNY MACBETH

By default, this setting already lists a rich selection of nobiliary particles. If you miss one, you now know how to add it.