TPSS 491/711 Class #12 – Intro to Adobe Encore for DVD Authoring.

In this class you get a brief introduction to Adobe Encore, a DVD authoring program. Start the Encore program and at the opening splash screen select New Project (Figure 1), at the Basic panel for a new project provide name for your project and location on the external hard drive for all associated files. Also, select Authoring Mode as DVD and Television Standard at NTSC for viewing on devices in U.S., select PAL for Europe and other locations (Figure 2)

After naming your project select OK and you will be taken to the default authoring workspace. After you get experience working with Encore you may want to configure the workspace to your preferred look and location of windows (see figure 3), also look at other workspace configuration for specialized tasks. On the upper right side of the workspace find the Project panel. The Project panel is where you will import and organize the media assets for your DVD authoring project. To the right of Project panel is the Menu panel where most of the editing is conducted. On the far right is Properties panel where linking attributes of selected graphic elements, in the Menu panel, are assigned. On the lower right side is the Library panel, templates for the many DVD menu themes are reviewed and selected for placement into the Project panel.

Figure 1, Open splash screen for Encore, similar to Premier Pro, select New Project.

Figure 2, window for naming a new Encore project and setting basic presets for NTSC TV playback. 

We start in the Library panel to scroll through the different sets of menu templates to select one that is closest to theme of the DVD’s content. In this exercise we selected the Education Set and used the :Classic Education Menu”. To add this menu to the Project panel,

click the menu add button . Clicking the add Menu button will place the name of the menu in the Project panel and add the image of the menu into the Menu editing panel. Right click the Classic Education Menu in the Project panel and select “Set as Frist Play”. This will make the main menu the first thing that plays when the finished DVD is set into a consumer DVD player or computer. You can start editing the various elements on the menu by selecting them and changing their locations or other attributes. In this exercise we start by changing the title of the DVD to Student Presentations 2012. There are several ways to select objects: 1) direct selection by clicking an object or dragging a marquee around a group of objects, 2) use the Layers panel to select objects in a set so

that each one can be modified individually. To change the text of an object, use the text tool and click on the text line you want to

Figure 3, Encore default workspace.  You need to understand the major panels and what editing functions occur in each one. 

 

modify, backspace to remove the text and type new letters. To change the text style, select the text and in the Styles panel, review and

select a text style and click the Apply Style button . To change the font Family and size, with text selected use the Character panel to identify attributes and make changes. For this exercise, copy the last button set called “Additional Features” and past it at the bottom of the list to make a 5 button set in the main menu. The button sets will be renamed to match the names of the student presentations: 1 = Plastic pollution, 2 = Aquaponics, 3 = GSO grants, 4 = Traditional Tools and 5 = Native plant seeds. With all the button titles changed to match the student’s presentations we want make folders in the Project panel that corresponds to each presentation. With each folder selected the matching presentations will be imported as a “Timeline”. The files to be imported are the MPEG2 and associated wave files. Right click in the Project panel and make folders to match the button names in the main menu. Importing the MPEG2 video and wave files will automatically produce another asset call a Timeline with the same name as the MPEG2 video, see figure 4. With the menu buttons renamed and properly located it is time to import the video/audio assets as a timeline (video and audio and combined) and then link menu buttons to them. Right click a folder and select Import As > Timeline, find and select the MPEG2 file and it’s associated wave file and select OK. Repeat this step for each folder and corresponding student’s presentation. With all the video/audio assets imported into the project, we need to link the buttons on the main menu to their corresponding timeline assest.

Double click the Classic Educational Menu in the Project panel to bring the image into the Monitor panel for linking buttons to the timelines, see Figure 5 for main menu Monitor panel with bottom button selected. Selecting a button in the Menu monitor panel allows for linking to the associated timeline using the “link whip” or through pull down menus. If you drag the link whip of the selected button to timeline asset in the Project panel, a black highlight will be placed around the selected asset. If you use the pull down menu, select Chapter 1 of the timeline asset you want to link to. In this exercise use the pull down menu to select 01_Plastic Pollution and Chapter 1. After setting the link for the first button, select the timeline for this button and return to Properties panel. Use either the link whip or pull down menu of the selected timeline to set the End action to the related button on the main Menu page. Repeat these steps for the other 4 buttons and related timelines.

Figure 4, Folder with MPEG2 video and wave file imported, timeline asset is automatically produce with same name as video file 

 

Once all the buttons and timelines are properly linked it is time to check the project for any link errors or assets that have not been used but were added to the project panel. To check the project for errors use File > Check Project > Start, any errors or broken links will be described in the Check Project Panel, if “No items found” is reported at the bottom of the panel then you are ready to make the DVD folder, using: File > Build >. In the Build panel select the Format as DVD, Output as DVD Folder and set the destination of DVD folder to a location on the external hard drive, click the Build button and the Video_TS folder will be produced with all the files need to make a DVD play in a consumer player or on most computers able to play any Hollywood DVD. Copy this Video_TS folder to blank DVD to make a playable DVD for consumer players and most computers.

Figure 5, Project panel, Menu Monitor Panel and Properties Panel are used to link Menu buttons to related timelines and to link the End Action of the time line back to related Menu button.