Encore timeline question

[Tiernan]

I'm hoping that enough people have had a chance to work with Adobe Encore such that someone out there has figured out the answer to my question, which is:

What configuration change do you need to make in order to tell Encore to insert code to allow you to move (via the DVD player's FORWARD button) from one timeline to the next BEFORE the end of the timeline, or back to the previous timeline (via the DVD player's BACK button)?

I understand about the default end action, but there seems to be no allowance in the interface for any buttons other than Menu. It really should just have been a matter of hitting the FORWARD button to move to the next chapter mark OR to the first chapter mark in the next timeline that should logically follow, but Encore doesn't seem to code for that.

Any suggestions?

[Skynet107]

It is possible to do what you want but you need to get a little creative.
Of course the easiest way is to join all your movies together then set chapter points and presto you are done. But if you can't do this for some reason, then set all your timelines up with chapter points, then set the end action of the first timeline to go to the second etc. Now to get the whole movie to be navigatable just by pressing the chapter forward, put the last chapter point on the first timeline 1 second before the end of the timeline, that way when you press chapter forward to the last chapter in the first timeline, it will automatically move to the next timeline and so on. The problem is, this will only work with chapter forward and not chapter back. Also make note of the MENU REMOTE option for the timelines. That sets what happens when you press MENU on the DVD's remote that helps you setup navigation properly for the DVD. I don't know of a perfect solution in Encore and I don't think there is one.

[Tiernan]

Skynet,

Thanks! Though it's unfortunate to hear/see that Encore is... erm... crippled in such a way that it can't properly allow movement between timelines, your suggestion about the chapter points is sheer creative genius!

Additionally, thanks for your quick response, too.

[Skynet107]

Glad I could help. Encore is a nice app but needs refinement!

[Tiernan]

Needs refinement? Yes indeed!

As a follow-up to your suggestion, I was indeed able to coax Encore into kind-of jumping between timelines more-or-less seamlessly, BUT... I do need to point out (to anyone else who might have illusions about Encore's functionality) that you MUST allow Encore to determine where you can put your last chapter break (approximately a second or so from the end of the timeline) OR... Encore (when you attempt to create the DVD files) will crap out after 30 seconds or so, indicating "Unknown Error" and give up entirely. The last chapter break insertion point that is available is typically slightly more than a second from the end of the timeline, and Encore will automatically place it there, more specifically after you move the slider button/arrow back from the end until the Chapter Insert button becomes available (prior to that point, it will be grayed out). I assume this is a matter of where the last I-Frame is inserted into the MPEG-2 file.

Anyway, keep this in mind when inserting chapter breaks, etc. And again, thanks for making it possible for me to avoid going mad, mad, mad I tell you... in trying to get Encore to work!

[Skynet107]

I was going to try to point out the behaivour you just described but I think you did a better job than I could have of explaining it.

I honestly believe Encore is very immature product. Adobe has a habit of released version 1.0 software that is not very good, but I think this is the worst they have done so far. having said that, the program is still very very powerful if you can tolerate the problems. The best looking, most professional DVD's I have authored so far were done using Encore.

[Tiernan]

Since we're discussing this...

Have you (or anyone else) had difficulty in assigning the menu key movement options, and having them stick and work? I've found that, on the menus I've created, that the movement from one button to the next does not synch with what the menu key movement assignments are indicated to be, AND/OR... the option to MANUALLY set them doesn't work.

Additionally, the DEFAULT KEY indicator (for menus specifically) is not the same, depending on whether you're looking at the properties from within the MENU tab, or looking at it from within the menu itself. Has this been your experience also?

Thanks for sharing your experiences and suggestions.

[Skynet107]

Yes I have experienced the same wacky logic as you when it comes to assigning attributes to buttons etc. in Encore. The program is actually very buggy. I have found ways to get around most bugs but some are show stoppers. And yes I am using a final retail copy not some beta warez version.
When assigning a default button choose the button number then press ENTER this will make sure it is set correctly. If you click the menu attributes again you may still see no default button selected but in reality it is and when you build the DVD it will work properly.

For the button routing I do it manually. It took me a little while to figure out the logic. The auto routing button feature is crap it does not work correctly at all. Manual routing is not hard once you understand the concept. Each button is represented by 5 numbers. The one in the middle is the button/link number, the ones on the outside corrospond to which button it will move to. Just drag the direction number from one button to the one you want it to go to. Repeat for all 4 directions.

[Tiernan]

"Just drag the direction number from one button to the one you want it to go to. Repeat for all 4 directions."

AH, that might be what's holding me up. I WAS counting on the automatic routing to work (good to hear that it wasn't just my incorrect configuration), but noted that it just DIDN'T work as the menu settings indicated it should.

Is that to say then, that it's necessary to manually set all 4 directions for every button or NONE will work correctly at all? I'd only attempted to set one, and it drew the line from one button to another, and then did nothing. It never even occured to me that I'd need to do all 4 directions....

Thanks again for your insights....

[Skynet107]

You have to set every direction manually for every button. A pain yes. Auto routing uses terrible logic. It will work but probably not correctly. I left auto routing on for one DVD I made with Encore and now it has a menu that is impossible to navigate.

[Tiernan]

In trying to setup the menu button movement, I've run into another wall, as the buttons just won't take the manual configuration (won't respond to my attempts AT ALL). Since I'd originally used the automatic setting, and Encore had filled in the movement options already. would that prevent it from allowing me to manually set them? Did you have that problem originally also?

[JoboFutz]

I had the same terrible experience with Encore. My first tip for you is to not use Encore because it just plain stinks.

There is a small radio box that you must check to turn auto routing off. You have to do this on every menu, it's not global.

[spoonmasta]

man.....im so sick of encore....I Love the interface, I love the way program works...i just hate all these bugs and limitations:

Can any other Program Match Encore's abilities?
By this i mean, any other program professional and easy to use like Encore but without the bugs?

The thing that i want to do that Encore can't do is to make precise chapter makers, and to be able to jump back and forth between timelines via the remote Foward and Back button...

The thing that i love the most is its ease of use when it comes to creating proffessional menus and buttons

Can anyone suggest another program? im fluent with Photoshop and Adobe After Effects, that's why i chose Encore, and it was a disappointment

[Tiernan]

I wish I had a suggestion about what other apps might work somewhat like Encore. Even after all these months of using it pretty consistantly, I still run into bugs and errors that come up with NO EXPLANATION whatsoever. I did go and get the 1.01 update yesterday, but havent had a chance to truly test it yet, but I'm hoping that, given the long list of fixes that they listed, that most of the errors I've had in past will go away.

Good luck!

PS Has anyone tried nesting timelines (ie assembling one timeline and then moving other timelines underneath it)? I tried, and it doesn't seem to work, but the format of the menu list seems to suggest that it should, so...

[rallynavvie]

Which version of Encore are you running? Make sure you've patched to v1.1 because a lot of those "unkown" errors were fixed with that patch. As for chapter marks you can really only set them on i frames on MPEG2 in any program so it mostly depends on how you encoded your files.

The auto-assign is crap. Never ever use it even if you only have two buttons.

I had many problems with Encore when I first got it, but after working with it enough I haven't had a single error with it in maybe 3 months. Good luck trying to get a legal copy of Maestro or Scenarist for what Encore cost. Otherwise switch to Mac and use DVD Studio Pro 2. That program f'in rocks for DVD authoring. Or just learn what Encore doesn't like to do. Some things I've learned:

- encode to MPEG2 with TMPGEnc (or another MPEG encoder) to elementary streams, Encore likes to work with these files (.m2v and PCM or AC3 audio).
- use Photoshop or DVD Menu Studio to create your menus, don't rely on silly templates
- only use subs from an app that supports Encore; I think there is a converter out there for non-Encore subs too, though I author mine directly in Encore
- render your motion menus with Encore right before building your DVD files/image
- save often, also save revisions as you go; this is good advice for any program that saves project information and not the project as a whole (otherwise you'd run out of hard disk space fast )

[mp3boy]

hi

I was wondering, exactly how to turn off this auto routing thing? I am desinging Persian (right to left) and its absolutely wrong.

please help me, I couldn't fin That Checkbox you guys mentioned

Seyed Mohammad

PS: ENCORE SUCKS, but at the same time I like it.

[Tiernan]

> I was wondering, exactly how to turn off this auto routing thing? I am desinging Persian (right to left) and its absolutely wrong.

> please help me, I couldn't fin That Checkbox you guys mentioned

When any one of your Menus are selected (especially when the 'Menu' tab is selected in the 'Project Menu' to the left), the "Properties" palette should show 'Menu' and the "Automatically Route Buttons" checkbox is at the bottom of that palette.

As he said above, NEVER, EVER trust auto routing, or use it. Even with version 1.01, it doesnt work consistantly anyway.

For that matter, it's generally still safest to assume that Encore could generate some sort of irretrievable error at any moment, so ... save often!

[Tiernan]

Additionally, I thought I should follow up on a few of my previous posts...

1) I still don't believe there is any such thing as nested timelines, so.. don't even worry about it

2) Speaking of timelines, per the Adobe site, timelines do not/can not automatically link to one another. It's necessary to manually link them and, once you move "forward" to the next timeline, it's not possible to move "backward" (via the DVD remote)

3) The reason that the buttons wouldn't take the manual re-routing was that, though I could SEE them on that particular menu (especially with the "Show Button Routing" button selected, they were in fact "in the background" (i.e. not on the frontmost layer, to use use the Adobe vernacular).

I hope this information can be helpful to others...

ENJOY!