Quick way to make 100 menu links?

[Joe Bowden]

Why do it in Photoshop at all? Do it in Encore…far quicker.

[Mike Costantini]

Thanks but this does not actually help me to accomplish it. I’m trying to find a way to create these links without having to create each and every one of them. In another forum, someone suggested I use the actions (macros) in Photoshop.. How is it done in Encore?

[Joe Bowden]

There is no way to make links in Photoshop for Encore menus – you must link buttons in Encore.

That said, in Encore 2.0 and later there is a Chapter Menu feature that automates this process.

Keep in mind the DVD-Video format limits 4×3 menus to 36 buttons per menu, and 16×9 menus to 18 buttons per menu. There is also a chapter limit of 99 per timeline. Which all means you will have more than one menu and more than one timeline.

But Chapter Menus in Encore 2.0 and later automate nearly the entire process.

[Mike Costantini]

I was thinking that was something different but that just may work for what I need to do. let me see if I understand:

I create one menu exactly as I want it, say, the first 36 chapter links (assuming they fit nicely) Then the chapter menu feature will create the other menus with the rest of the links?

The menus are not exactly the same though. There’s going to be:

Introduction
1,2,3,4…100
Conclusion
Credits

How does the chapter menu feature account for those things (intro, conclusion, credits) ?

[Joe Bowden]

That’s the idea. Name your chapters (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), and when you run the command from a menu with chapter buttons, it will auto-create them.

If you wanted to have special buttons in one or more menus, you would add them manually after auto-creating the chapter menus.

[Mike Costantini]

I think I’ve almost got it.. One more question. I should only name chapters 1 through 100 (spanned over two timelines), then run the chapter index function. AFter that has completed, I should go back and put in the chapters for the intro, conclusion, and credits. In other words, any chapter on the timeline(s) will be used when the chapter index runs so it’s best to leave those three other ones off the timeline until the function is done?

[Joe Bowden]

This feature works only with a single timeline, so you’ll have to jigger it a bit for that requirement, but that’s the basic idea.

One thing I would do is not add the maximum amount buttons to the source menu, so you can easily add buttons to the generated chapter index menus later.

[Mike Costantini]

By “jigger it” I am guessing that you mean figure out how many chapters I am going to have on each timeline, then create the chapter index accordingly? I won’t put the max number of buttons, just whatever looks good, and of course, save room for the next, previous and home buttons too.. Man this has turned out to be quite the undertaking..

[Joe Bowden]

Yup, that’s what I mean…note also this feature will handle next, previous, and main buttons – just add them to your source menu (check the Help on how to set these up).

Sounds like some work, but it’s really quicker than doing it all by hand, and next time it’ll be a breeze. 🙂

[Mike Costantini]

Will do.. I’ll let you know how it goes,, thanks for the help!