Jon Geddes
Forum Replies Created
-
I thought he wanted the AE composition to be the menu… reading it back, I understand now that he wants it to be a video on the dvd.
You can ignore the part of my post about the blank menu and editing it in Photoshop. Everything else should be relevant.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
When it ends up on the DVD it will be mpeg2. You can either export as mpeg2 out of After Effects, or export as Quicktime MOV and then have Encore transcode it to mpeg2. Personally I prefer to export as quicktime mov, then let encore transcode. It’s best to let After Effects do the downscaling, as it uses a superior algorithm than Encore. You can create a new composition with the SD resolution, then drag your HD comp into that and scale it down.
You will then need to import a blank menu into Encore, set your After Effects render as the background, and add the button highlights in Photoshop (go to ‘Edit > Edit Menu in Photoshop’). Make sure you follow the instructions the the Encore help files for naming the layer groups and layers with the appropriate prefixes for Encore.
I am the Senior Designer and Owner of Precomposed, an industry leader of DVD/Blu-ray Motion Menu Template Kits designed in After Effects, and provide complete walkthrough video tutorials (for free) on how to customize everything from the AE project to the Authoring in Encore or DVD Studio Pro. Even if you don’t use our products, I’m sure you would learn a great deal from watching the product tutorials, available from the Tutorial section of our website.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
What bitrate did you encode your videos at? Try and keep it under 25 Mbps
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
I highly recommend you read this article:
https://www.precomposed.com/blog/2009/07/hd-to-sd-dvd-best-methods/
It discusses the problems of common NLE’s with downscaling HD to SD (with sample images) and provides an alternative workflow for near hollywood studio quality downconversions using completely free software.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
Sub-picture highlights are 2-bit graphics. It is part of the dvd spec, and not specific to Encore. This means that each pixel is either 100% opaque or 0% opaque. You cannot have smooth gradients or semi-transparent pixels around the edges to smooth it out. Any pixel with a opacity of less than 50% in photoshop will automatically be 0% opacity once authored. You can of course change the opacity of the entire subpicture highlight in the Encore menu color set configuration, but this will not help with anti aliasing around the edges of the highlight. When deciding on a graphic for the subpicture highlight, it’s important to keep this limitation in mind, and do very simple shapes. You will notice all Hollywood dvd’s have to abide by these same limitations. Maybe try a simple box or underline instead of whatever you are trying to do. Good luck.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
I think you clearly determined it is an issue with the Premiere Dynamic Link function. I don’t feel it is ready for prime time and would advise against using it.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
Not possible with dvd’s in general… so no, you cannot do that in Encore or any other authoring application.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
That is a long movie to fit on a single layer disc. I calculate it out to be around 3.7 mbps. You might want to consider using a different mpeg encoder that will give you much better results at lower bitrates (such as HCEncoder), or split it up over 2 discs, or place it on a dual layer disc. Good luck.
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
Are you serious? I just experienced some serious Deja Vu
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/964041#964041
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com -
I provide detailed instructions in this thread:
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/2/967400#967469
Jon Geddes
http://www.precomposed.com