Translation of output (initial research)

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Hey Paul, with scripting you could do a lot more than with expressions alone, as well as add different checks to make sure if layer should be translated in the first place (consider cases like text layer is used for other purposes than actual on-screen text, etc)

To put this into perspective, in order to replace words in the project, first of all you would need to have some sort of “schema” of project structure – otherwise, where you will get translations from?

The way to think about this long-term is as follows:
1. You have template X with language Y.
2. You export its structure to have “reference” where translations should go in.
3. Translate based on 2nd point.
4. Import translations based on 2nd point.

There are a lot more things to consider like animations on text layers, multiple text values per single layer source, etc etc. Its doable if you prepare templates on your own and know what you are doing (following some rules), but can quickly become a nightmare if used with others designs, which does not comply with logic you have. Think carefully before diving into this one, haha!

[Paul Ducco]

Yes. Thanks Tomas. The groundwork (and the simplified framework you suggest) is absolutely something we’re planning. I just want to push ahead and know that it’s ultimately possible. We do have the ability to access/resource a developer for the build. But also curious to see if existing solutions may have existed.

Thanks for chiming in though. Always appreciated 🙂

[Paul Ducco]

For those who are interested, it seems Templater (by Dataclay) holds the functionality…obviously, as above a deal of planning and structure is needed to roll this out across a significant project.

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Paul, as Templater is mentioned here I guess we should separate few things and what you specifically are looking into atm:
1. Ability to just change variables with data from external input forms (sheets, csv, json, etc)
2. Ability to actually make “translations” into different languages from the project.

As from the first post it looked like the second, but from later discussions it appears more like the first 🙂 Which, could serve the purpose, but is some sort of a manual process to actually “get” those variables from the project and setup everything for localization to happen.

[Paul Ducco]

It’s a little of both. Ideally, as there is potential to translate into (up to) 100 languages, it would be a largely automated process. That said, we do have access to staffing resource whereby we can identify specific words to be used across the translations. So to this end, the variables and set up is absolutely something we have the capacity to do.

it’ll be a massive data set either way

[Tomas Bumbulevičius]

Thats interesting, Paul! What to consider additionally, is how to make it work globally across multiple templates, or any templates at all. It of course depends on the complexity of them design wise, but I would suggest thinking about either manual-markup of some sort in the templates to know which variables to translate, or automated export based on the set of rules.

Then, just export automatically all the fields and run them through the translation service.

Once that is executed, then its just a matter of workflow and preferences on “how” it can be imported back into the project (and there are many ways). Templater is an option, as well as custom automation can be, which gives ability to have additional control.

Last but not least – texts in multi-languages are trivial things. If language A has single word meaning, language B can have the same in 2-3words, and extremely longer characters amounts in some cases. In order to not ruin design and integrity, extra tweaking is required for designs. You can fit a phrase without in a placeholder by reducing its size for example – but will it remain clearly visible afterwards, considering above cases in mind? Based on past experiences, thats where it gets the trickiest IMO 🙂