Aeneas is a tool used by Scripture App Builder to synchronize text with audio. It is able to analyze an audio file and compare it with the words of the text, to produce (in many cases quite accurately) timing files to enable highlighting of words in the text when those words are being said on the audio.
If you use HearThis to record text verse by verse following your Paratext project, the timing files are created automatically. But if your audio has already been recorded, Aeneas may be a good choice for rapidly producing timing information.
Installing Aeneas is a separate operation from installing Scripture app builder and it is a rather complicated process. A step-by-step process on how to install Aeneas and the different things it needs to work is described in this document (also available from the Scripture App Builder help menu, look for 7 - using Aeneas for Audio-Text synchronization.
Installing Aeneas and its prerequisites
Windows Installation
To set up Aeneas on Windows, there are several programs and modules to download and install: FFmpeg, eSpeak, Python, and Aeneas. These can all be installed with a single setup program.
- Go to the Download page on the Scripture App Builder website and download the latest Aeneas setup program for Windows. You will find it under the heading Audio Synchronization Tools.
- The filename will be something like aeneas-windows-setup-1.7.2.exe.
- Double-click the file you have downloaded to start the installation wizard.
Follow the instructions in the wizard. You can accept all the defaults. On the Select Components page, you need the Full Installation which should be selected by default.
On the Ready to Install page, click Install.
You will see the wizard running several different installers: FFmpeg, eSpeak, Python. It will also install three Python modules.
Before the wizard completes, you should see a command box appear for a few seconds which verifies the Aeneas installation.
An important detail about audio files
To use Aeneas, you need to have separate audio files for each chapter of your text, even if you have the whole book in one file as is standard with Paratext. If your audio files were made by Faith comes by Hearing, they probably already come this way, one chapter per file. If the audio files are not one file per chapter, Aeneas will fail totally to synchronize. If your audio file has more than one chapter in it, use an audio editing file like Audacity to split it up into individual chapter files.
