[Jen Musselman]

Eric,

I have a fix to the end action (your first question). You can fix it by changing the duration of the clip in the XML file that Encore creates. It turns out if you change the duration (I just removed the decimal in mine and rounded off to whole #) – it will work out. Just open the xml file, find the reference to the offending video/menu and change the duration. Doing this fixed this problem for me and the clips always returned to the menu after playing.

For the whole thread, go to the Adobe Forums:
https://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.3bc4c83e

As to your second question, I have the same error but I can’t find a solution to it. It’s possible that Flash cannot encode setting a button to be highlighted as an end action; there are limitations for similar things listed in the guidebook. But if someone is able to do this, I’d love to know too!

[Jen Musselman]

Update: I have installed Encore (from the same installation disc) onto a Mac running 10.4.10 and IT WORKS.

So apparently my Leopard Mac is having a brain freeze when it transcodes. What a pain.

Are any of you running Encore on a Leopard Mac, and successfully using Flash export? I can’t figure out what the problem is over there. I’d love to hear from anyone who uses this successfully on a Leopard Mac. Thanks.

[Jen Musselman]

Woo-hoo! Yes, Jeff, this works absolutely perfectly. I have to play around with the feather (got WAY too much of a feather the first time) but this process DOES work.

Thank you to everybody for your help. I can stop pulling my hair out about this now! Sooo relieved 🙂 And hopefully the directions will help someone else in the future too. Thanks again!

[Jen Musselman]

David, I just tried it using Photoshop 7 on a Windows XP machine, and it works the same as with CS2 on my Mac.

After you’ve made the Layer-Add Layer Mask-Reveal Selection, hold down Control and click on the mask thumbnail on the layer. I am using the black arrow “move” tool for this. “Marching ants” will appear around the box on the menu screen and there should be a double line around the mask thumbnail indicated that’s what’s selected (and not the regular graphic thumbnail in the layer).

Then click on to the Gradient tool in the tools palette. Make sure that the “black-white” gradient is the gradient showing in the toolbar at the top. Click and drag the gradient tool across the selected shape and let go. A gradient will appear on the shape, and the mask thumbnail will show the gradient. The graphic thumbnail on the left in the layer should still show a solid black box.

Sorry if my terminology for any of this is incorrect.

Joe–haven’t tried what you suggested yet, but I will and will let you know how it works. Seems like there should be a way to soften/shade the mask’s edges right from the beginning though. Thanks.

[Jen Musselman]

David, what version of Photoshop are you using? Are you on a PC? I have a PC in the studio here with Photoshop 7 and I’ll see if the same process works or not on that.

[Jen Musselman]

After you do the Layer-Layer Mask-Reveal Selection step, the box automatically becomes deselected after the mask is applied. (If not, deselect.)

Then click on the mask thumbnail on the layer while holding down the control key (same as in your tutorial, but clicking on the mask box rather than the graphic box). Doing that, you’ll get “running ants” around your graphic again but the mask will be what’s selected. Then use the gradient tool and drag it across the selection. You will see in the mask thumbnail in the layer that the gradient is on the mask. The black box graphic remains a solid black box.

Does that help?

I’m using Photoshop CS2 on a Mac, but as far as I know, this can also be done on a PC, and I know I’ve applied gradients to masks in Photoshop 7.

Thanks.

[Jen Musselman]

Here is a link to a PSD file I am working with to test this stuff. It is zipped:
https://www.timelessdvd.com/feathered.psd.zip

The “Video Instructions” layer was done alongside your video tutorial.
The “Mask with gradient” layer was done on my own. It is partly the same process. However, the difference is that after the mask was created, I selected the mask rather than the original box and dragged a gradient across the mask.

When brought into Encore, a chapter is linked to both boxes. The “video” button has hard edges, no feathering visible. But the “gradient” button has the exact gradient shading that is visible in the PSD file.

Note that I have not adding a highlight yet–for this testing, it’s not necessary. And I do understand that highlights have to be solid–that I have done before.

I’d love to know what I’m doing wrong with the soft edges! Thanks so much for taking a look at this.

[Jen Musselman]

Hi David,

I have followed exactly your steps that were in the video. Made a shape in Photoshop–in my case, a square black box. Selected it. Went up to Layer-Layer Mask-Reveal Selection. That gives me a mask box on my layer with the black box. The mask box shows the black box in white with the screen in black (in other words, a reverse image, like yours).

I select the original graphic on the layer again, go to Select-Inverse, then Feather (5 px), and hit delete. The original black box shows a feathered edge on the screen. However, when I bring the PSD file into Encore, it has a hard edge.

I was under the impression that to have a feathered edge in Encore, you had to apply the feather/gradient to the actual mask, and when I do test this out by using a gradient fill on the mask, the thumbnail in Encore is shaded accordingly.

I will try to get the PSD file uploaded somewhere if this still doesn’t make sense. Thanks for your response.

[Jen Musselman]

Well, I’ve tried both methods and neither one has really given me the results I’m looking for, which is a soft, gradient-ish edge around the video thumbnail. (As an example, the scene selection menu for the film “Whale Rider” uses this effect, and I know I’ve seen it elsewhere as well.)

David, I watched your video and saw that what you did worked. However, I followed everything you did and it didn’t work for me. The thumbnail appears in Encore with a normal hard edge–I guess that’s because the mask has a hard edge. Only the original shape is feathered in your process, not the mask. Again, I did see that it worked for you so I have no idea why your process didn’t work for me. I am using Encore 2 though, and I see you were using an earlier version–I don’t know if that matters.

I also tried the blur on the mask, and that worked a bit, but really didn’t give me the nice soft edge–rather, it made the whole thumbnail look a little faded in Encore. (These tests were done on two different buttons, not combined.)

If anyone has any more insight into this, please let me know. I’ll continue trying to figure it out and post if I get results. Thanks.

[Jen Musselman]

I am using a layer mask, but you’re right, I think a blur would work–hadn’t thought of that. I was trying to use the feather option and so that’s probably why I wasn’t getting anywhere. Thanks! I’ll try it and post again with results.