[Jeff Nelson]

That is correct. I think someone else advised me to make a separate timeline for each chapter, that this is the only way to play, say, chapter 6, without also playing chapter 7. But I guess I’m supposed to encode each chapter separately? And then do some sort of playlist in order for them all to play together? I had already encoded this to mpeg before going into Encore.

[Jeff Nelson]

no text

[Jeff Nelson]

Ouch. Since the piece in question is nearly 3 hours long, that’s a lot of re-rendering time…

But maybe I don’t have a choice? I went and split this up into chapters by shortening the main piece, and suddenly my project is 30 GIGS in size! Before doing that, it was right around 8.5 gigs. So each time I make a new timeline with the same mpeg, it’s counting that as NEW footage? Oy…! The chaptering thing is SO easy in DVD Architect. Here it’s a real challenge.

How is it that my project grew to 30 gigs when I didn’t add any more footage?

[Jeff Nelson]

Thanks again. Okay, is there an easier way to do this? I’m copying my timeline and then chopping off everything to the right which isn’t part of the current chapter. To do this, I have to click on the end of the timeline and drag it to the left and try to land right where the keyframe is, to make the out point correct. This is tedious and hard to do, especially with a 2-plus hour timeline. I get close, then have to adjust the video and sound numerous times to get them on just the right frame. Is there an easier way that I could just put in the timecode somewhere and make the end of that timeline exact? Or is there a “cut” procedure by which I could just trim off the end of the timeline, rather than this cumbersome dragging thing?

[Jeff Nelson]

Many thanks, Timothy. Very helpful.

Now for another question. I have a long piece with 10 chapters and want to have a submenu which lets you play only each individual chapter and not the whole thing. I know how to set a link to start at, say, Chapter 3, but how do I tell it to stop playing at Chapter 4 and return to the menu? Do I have to just shorten the timeline, and thus make a new timeline for each one that I want to have end before the full show? (In other words, make Chapter 3 one start at chapter 3, and then shorten the timeline so that it ends at the chapter 4 marker?)

Thanks.

[Jeff Nelson]

Okay, thanks. This is very helpful. Still have a couple questions just to make certain I understand.

I understand that I need 2 menus — a first play timeline and then the menu itself. That was question #2.

But on question #1, I have the video and I put the text links into the video. Do I need to remove those text links from the video and do them in photoshop? Or can I use the video menu and somehow put a layer for each link that I have in there? I’m still not clear on this.

The first way I did this is I set up a video background and built the links menu in photoshop. When I put that in, the links were showing up even before the loop point, so it looked weird to have the links sitting there, obviously, while it played up to the point where they were supposed to appear.

So assuming I can use the video the way I have it now — with the links moving into position, how do I create a clear layer or whatever in photoshop which I can use as markers for where those links are on the screen? (I’d rather not bring after effects into the equation if I don’t have to, trying to keep it simple, though if that’s the only way…)

Thanks.

[Jeff Nelson]

I made a video opening/menu. The first 30 seconds is a one-time play, then I have the menu come up on the same video. The buttons appear on the menu 30 seconds in (in the video I created).

Now, I want to add functionality to those buttons, and I don’t know how. I assume I can outline where each button is on the page and make them links to features in the DVD. I set the loop point for where the buttons appear, and it loops correctly back to that point.

But:

1) How do I get those buttons to be active? I need to somehow map out where they are on the screen and what they link to, so that when it hits the loop point, they’ll work. I can’t see the buttons in the menu editor, only the first frame of the video which doesn’t have any buttons in it. (I can create the button position in photoshop — is this what I do? And if so, what do I create since the text and click area in in my video, and hence I don’t need to add any text if I create it in photoshop?)

2) How do I make it so that when someone completes viewing a selection, it comes back to the loop point of my firstplay menu, and not to show the first 30 seconds again? Is this clear what I’m asking here? The firstplay menu isn’t a timeline, I’ve put the video into the menu, so I don’t know how I would set a Chapter marker to say “play from Chapter 2” in order to not replay the first 30 seconds each time. Is this possible? Or do I need to make my main menu separate and not have the first 30 second piece on the same video?

This program looks like it has a lot of promise, but I’m having trouble with the Help section, can’t find clear answers to what I’m seeking.

Thanks.

[Jeff Nelson]

Thanks, appreciate those ideas and will use them.

[Jeff Nelson]

windows workspace. Thanks.

[Jeff Nelson]

Thanks, but I may not have been clear. I know how to open the effects window, but it used to be inside of the Monitor window, as a tab next to Clips. Any idea how to get it back in so it’s a sub-tab on the Monitor window, rather than its own free-floating window?