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motion menu problem
Hi. I’m a completely new user of Adobe Encore and AfterEffects. This is my very first project. I was hoping someone could give me some help on it. I am creating a dvd tutorial that begins with a motion graphic and then opens to a menu where you can choose to play the tutorial or go to a submenu of sections.
I created the initial motion graphic in AE, rendered the .avi (I know I could use dynamic link, but I found it easier just to render it). I imported it as a timeline. I put it on a blank menu. Then I took a .psd still of the last frame of the avi and imported that as the real main menu. I pointed to the .psd as the end action after the motion graphic plays (no loops)
My problem is that there’s a black screen between the end of the .avi and the beginning of the .psd. The black screen is not part of the original .avi. I’ve tried to shorten the length of the .avi, and I tried making the blank menu a white background to see if it was the blank menu. It’s neither of those things. It’s probably something very simple, but I just can’t figure it out.
Can anyone help?
Thanks,
Audrey
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8 Replies
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Rather than using a timeline and a menu, do this with a single menu, use the clip you produced in AE as the video background, and then set the Loop Point to the timecode at which the buttons should become active.
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You probably have the end action set to stop.
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Hi thanks for the solutions. The first solution didn’t really work that well for me because I need the background movie to stop before the buttons are pressed. I tried looping from the 2nd to last frame, but there’s a difference there. I thought perhaps I’d try to remake the movie so that it had a number of duplicate frames. And, this might solve the problem, but it’s frustrating because I’m sure there must be a better way.
The second solution, I do have the end action set to stop. Then I set it to the still frame, but that didn’t work either because it went black before hitting the still frame. I still don’t know what to do at this point. Remaking the movie to add some additional frames in at the end is one way… but to remake the whole thing because I need to get a still frame seems like I’m missing the point somehow.
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You are having the same problem I am having. I posted a thread just above yours so keep an eye out for it. First off, the last frame of you animation has to match the static menu. Second, you must delete every layer of every item except your subpicture layers. Then you will have what you want but you will be having the same problem as me. Read my thread.
Maybe you wont have the same problem I am having. It should work.
Tony
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Hi. I’ve been having the same problem. I animated a Psd menu in AE 7.0 – 8 seconds – made it an Encore timeline and made sure its final frame was the same as the static menu screen. The menu itself was linked to a piece of music and lasted over 5 minutes. The problem is there is a jump rather than a smooth transition between the animation and the static menu picture. Other than that, the whole DVD works correctly. I hope there is a solution or workaround to this.
(By the way, this is my first message on this forum!) -
After speaking to a Encore guru, I got my menu to work. What I wasnt understanding was that the Loop Point is where the buttons become active. In my case, I had a 19 second sound clip and a 22 second animation. I had to go back into AE and lengthen the 22 second intro to 1 minute. So, my first play now played the intro with sound and gave about 30 seconds of silence after that. By that time, the watcher is going to press one of the menu buttons (Play movie, etc).
I also had to make another main menu that one would access by pressing the main menu button while navigating the dvd. There would be nothing more annoying than pressing Main Menu and having to watch that first play opening every time.
So, lengthen your menu video and make the buttons (loop point) active when you want them to be. There will be a quick black screen when it does switch to the static main menu but most people will not ever see that because they arent going to sit there and watch the menu animation end and sit there doing nothing. You can make it last 2 minutes if you want.
Tony
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Many thanks for the advice. I will lengthen the animation and check when the buttons become active, and see if that works for me.
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Ok. Just be sure that you set your loop point when you want the buttons to become active. Good luck.
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