Encore 2.0 urgent help with linking please!
 

ok this is kind of an urgent request. I have to have my showreel in by tomorrow morning (about 20 hours) for a potential new job (well actually i already work there but I want a new, better job heh).

This is my first shot at dvd authoring (well, apart from some very basic disks I made in some dodgy thing like power producer or something)...i'm quite used to using photoshop and programs like that though.

I haven't had a problem figuring out the menus and buttons and timelines etc, and have chosen to use a menu template and then alter it in photoshop for a more stylised, professional look. I've altered the buttons, the background, everything, and it seems fine.

However, I'm having this bizarre issue with linking. All I want is one main menu, with 4 or 5 different buttons each linking to a different video file. When I view the flow chart of the project , it appears that all my buttons link to their correct piece of footage (all of which I've imported as an asset and then made into a timeline, with only a single chapter)

But when I go to preview it, every single button takes me to the same piece of video...namely my first one. I've tried makign the buttons normal and i've also tried making them chapter buttons.

I had the idea of perhaps making one long piece of footage and putting in different chapters and linking to those instead, but it appears Encore doesn't want me to set chapters manually...the little tool in the timeline stubbornly remains greyed out and I can't add any further chapters.

Can anyone think of anything I might be doing wrong? Even something pretty obvious?

If i can't get this figured out, I'll have to resort to some crappy program with basic presets...and that will look crap :-/

I wish I were there to help, but alas no where near, Well I am on Brisbane St., but in Florida.

I have only done one very complicated DVD setup and that was a while ago.

Are you using separate timelines, or separate chapter markers. I can't see what is happening, but pickwit or whatever they call it to each chapter marker and try that.

How exactly is your timeline setup and what have you done so far.

So much info needed, and so hard to explain.

Mike

more info
 

thank's for the fast reply!

hmm. I'll do my best to provide information...the trouble is I don't have the program in front of me as I am currently at work (damn weekend shifts). Won't be able to take another stab at it for about 5 hrs.

Here is what I did.

I selected a fairly basic looking menu pre-set from the library (I think it was one of the general ones, not education or anythng. It was very blue and corporate looking anyway). i opened the menu in photoshop and started making changes...different background and added a section of transparency (so that I can play a video behind it..works well).

I kept only the text portion of each button and added some glow (which could be why I'm also having trouble makign the buttons select in the colour i want..least of my concerns right now though). After messing around with the program for ages, i decided i'd just start fresh in case i stuffed something up. Started a new project and selected the menu I had saved.

I imported each clip i want to use (combination of avi and mpg) as an asset. I also made a timeline with each clip.

I then tried two different ways of connecting my videos with their relevant buttons. First, I merely dragged the asset on top of the button. This appeared to work, but I soon discovered the aforementioned problem (that it will only play one video).

Second, I tried the picker thing (where you drag an arrow thing across from the properties tab to the media you want to connect). I wasn't sure whether I was meant to be choosing assets or timelines, so I tried both.

None of this solved the issue. When I view the flow chart, it looks fine. The dvd project first goes to the menu, then after that are my 5 menu buttons, which point to five corresponding videos, which then point to my menu again (kind of grey/transparent lookign since it's a reference to media already in project).


In a nutshell, the symptoms are:

Previewing - the navigation seems all over the place...looks like all buttons are selected, then one, then the third etc when i use the arrow buttons (could be cause i'm still working out the button colouration). I end up having to use the mouse.

When I click on a button, it takes me to the wrong video - the one for my first button.

And that's about all the info I can give I think...

oh and also i can't seem to set chapters as the tool is greyed out.

I thought perhaps it has something to do with the pickwhip tool changing my button names...i think there is an option somewhere to turn this off. But that really shouldn't affect the related media?

Would it perhaps be worth re-rendering my videos into one single mpg clip and using that?

Also, I noticed just before i left for work that there is an option somewhere for 'main asset' (or might have been 'main video', not sure). Doesn't appear to let me clear it though..I tried selecting a different video and it STILL only plays the first one.

Sorry I had to go to bed! Maybe the best plan is to start again and reimport your assets. When I did my last one I used separate timelines. If you do that, you will not have the problem of linking to the same video. Each timeline will be its own video, then you just have to set the end function. That's what I did.

Sorry I can't help more, but just cut all links and start again.

Mike

Susann,

Any luck, did you get it done? Sorry I could not help more. I'm still learning too.

Mike

Thanks Mike, sorry it's taken a while to get back.

I ended up doing exactly what you said..I started from scratch, re-imported my assets and opened the original menu in photoshop and made all my changes.

Instead of making a normal menu though, I rendered all my files into a single mpeg and turned it into a chapter menu.

Ended up working fine...tho I was up till 4am doing it!

Thanks for your help!

Not overly conviced at the program's transcoding ability though...by that time it was hard to tell whetehr it was my original encode or Adobe's transcoding, but while the still segments of video all looked beautiful, i got hoizontal pixilation lines whenever there was much camera motion.

But by that stage of the night I really didn't care! heh.

Susann,

I'm glad you got it done one way or another. I'm getting ready to do another complicated DVD myself. Usually mine are very simple with just a nice cover photo and a simple video. We tend to forget what we had learned previously. I am going back through my training DVDs etc., preparing for the task. I guess I just need to do one a week or so for a while just so that I will remember!

Best of luck----Mike