precomposed

authoring & packaging solutions

Authoring Your Motion Menu in Encore

Quick Reference Guide

Starting a New Project in Encore

1. Open Encore and select New Project.

2. Name the project and select a location.

3. Confirm the following settings:

a. Select Blu-ray or DVD Authoring Mode depending on your project

b. Set Television Standard to NTSC or PAL depending on your region

Note: In Encore CS5, the settings below can be accessed by clicking on the
Default Transcode Settings button.

c. Set dimensions to 1920x1080 if you are creating a Blu-ray disc

d. Set codec to mpeg2 (this is not the codec of your videos, only menus)

e. Frame Rate should be set to either 29.97 (NTSC) or 25 (PAL)

f. Under Advanced Settings, set Max Audio/Video Bitrate to 20 Mbps (Blu-ray) or

8 Mbps (DVD). Audio Transcoding should be set to Dolby Digital

Note: The dimensions and frame rate set here for the Blu-ray disc are for the menus
only, as your videos can be SD, 720p, HDV, or full 1920x1080 and can be mixed on a
single disc, as long as they are placed on separate timelines.

4. Click OK to continue.

Clearing Your Cache

Note: It is recommended to clear your Encore Cache before authoring a new project, especially
since the motion menu assets will have the same names from previously authored projects.

5. To clear the Encore cache, go to Edit > Preferences > Media and click Clean Database

Importing Assets and Organization

6. In the Project panel, create a new folder right-click > New > Folder and name it
Menu_Assets or similar.

7. Import the rendered menu assets into the project by right clicking in the Project panel,
then navigating to Import As > Asset.

8. Create another folder in the project panel and name it Menus or similar.

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 9. Import the button templates by selecting the new folder, then right-click > Import As >
Menu. Navigate to the Encore_Menu_Templates folder, and under the folder of your
format, select all the menus and Open.

Note: Only CS4/CS5 users should import the Pop-Up_HD.psd when creating a Blu-ray disc,
as Pop-Up menus are not supported in Encore CS3.

10. Only if you are a CS3 user, you will need to place the rendered intro animation into a
timeline. Select the rendered Intro asset, then right-click > New > Timeline.

11. Configure your First Play by selecting the first menu the disc will begin with, then right-
click > Set as First Play. CS3 users will normally set their Intro Timeline as the first play,
and CS4/CS5 users will set their Main_Menu as first play.

Note: You can also set a timeline or alternate menu as First Play if for example you wanted
to have a company logo or copyright warning message play before the actual menu is
displayed.

12. If you are creating a Blu-ray disc and have imported a Pop-Up Menu, be sure to configure
the menu as a pop-up by selecting the menu, then in the Properties panel, under the
Pop-up tab, check the box next to Set as Blu-ray Pop-up Menu.

13. Create another folder in the project panel and name it Videos or similar.

14. Import the main videos for your project by selecting the new folder, then right-click >
Import As > Asset. Locate your audio and video assets, and then click Open.

15. Create timelines for your newly imported videos by selecting both the audio and video
asset of a particular clip, then right-click > New > Timeline. Repeat for each video until
all your videos have been placed into timelines.

16. Go through your timelines and place your chapter markers if they were not automatically
imported. The Add Chapter Icon can be found just to the left of your clip in the Timeline
panel. It is recommended to Save your project after setting all your chapters.

Setting the Menus Motion Background & Audio

17. Go through each menu and set the audio/video motion background to its corresponding
asset. You can set the motion background by selecting the menu in the Project panel,
then in the Properties panel under the Motion tab, pick-whip the audio and video to its
corresponding asset in the Project panel.

Note: The Pop-up menu should not have any audio or video background.

18. CS4/CS5 users must configure the Loop Point of their Main Menu by selecting the menu
in the Project panel, then in the Properties panel under the Motion tab, set the Loop
Point to 10 seconds (00:00:10:00).

19. If you would like to have your scene selection boxes play video instead of displaying a
still frame, you must enable Animate Buttons from the Motion tab of the Properties
panel while the Scene Selection menu is selected.

Using Custom Colors with the Blu-ray Pop-up Menu

20. If you are using a Pop-up menu and have customized your colors, you will want to update
its colors to your custom ones. To do so, double-click the Pop-up menu in the project
panel, then at the top go to Edit > Edit Menu in Photoshop.

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 21. To change the color of text, locate the appropriate layer in the Layers Panel, select it, and
use the Character Palette to modify.

Note: Some text may use the color overlay method described below to change its color.

22. To change the color of individual graphic elements (not smart objects), click the
dropdown arrow to the far right of the layer, then double click Color Overlay from the
listed Effects. Set the color of the overlay by clicking the box of the existing color and
changing it.

23. Many background elements will be located in Smart Object layers. To open a smart
object, double-click the smart object icon located just to the left of the layer name. To
commit changes to a smart object, attempt to close it, and then click Yes to save.

24. Some layers in the smart object will use a Clipping Mask to colorize a layer beneath it,
and can be identified with a box of color to the left of the layer name. In this situation, you
can update its color by selecting the layer, and then using the Paint Bucket Tool, click
anywhere on the image to fill it with your custom color.

Configuring the Menu Buttons

25. Double-click the Main Menu in the Project panel to reveal it in the Menu Viewer panel,
then click the Show Selected Subpicture Highlight Icon located at the bottom of the
Menu Viewer panel.

26. Reposition any button highlights if necessary by selecting the button in the Layers panel
(bottom right), then using the Move tool, drag the highlight into position or nudge using
the arrow keys.

27. If you have added more buttons and need additional button highlights, select an existing
button in the Layers panel and the Move tool, then while holding down Alt + C (PC) or
Option + C (Mac), click and drag the existing button to create a duplicate. In the Basic
Properties panel of the button, you will want to change its name and possibly re-order the
button numbers, with button 1 being the default when the menu appears.

28. Import the custom Color Set for the buttons by selecting the menu in the Menu Viewer
panel, and then at the top go to Menu > Edit Menu Color Set. Now click the Import
from color set file Icon, navigate to your /Encore_Menu_Templates/ folder and open the
color set file (*.cs)

29. If you have customized your colors, you will want to modify the imported color set to
match your custom colors. Highlight Group 1 is used for normal menu buttons and
Highlight Group 2 is used for the scene selection boxes.

30. Remove any additional buttons from the Special Features Menu by double-clicking the
menu in the Project panel, revealing the Subpicture Highlights, then selecting and
deleting the buttons in the Layers panel.

31. Change the Color Set of the Special Features Menu to the imported one using the Color
Set dropdown list located in the Basic tab of the Properties panel.

32. Have the name of your Special Feature buttons take the name of the timelines they will
be linked to. To do so, go into the Menus tab (upper left), select the Special Menu, then
below where the buttons are displayed, select all the buttons except for the Main Menu.
Then in the Basic Properties panel, check the box for Set Name from Link.

33. Change the Color Set of the Scene Selection menu to the imported one using the same
method as the previous menu.

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 34. Change the Highlight Group of the scene selection box buttons from 1 to 2 by selecting
the Scene Selection menu in the Menus panel, then below, select all the buttons except
Main_Menu, Next, and Previous, and then in the Basic Properties panel, change the
Highlight to Group 2.

35. Have the Scene Selection boxes Set Name from Link while theyre still selected from the
previous step (also located in the Basic Properties).

36. Uncheck Sync Button Text and Name in the Basic Properties panel while selecting the
Next, Previous, and Main Menu buttons of the Scene Selection Menu.

37. If your Scene Selection menu uses text for the Next and Previous buttons and you
have customized your colors, you may need to change the colors of the text by using the
Selection Tool, selecting the text, then in the Character panel (upper right), change the
Color to that of your custom color. Repeat this for the other button.

38. Set the link of the Scene Selection menus Main Menu button by selecting it in the Menu
Viewer panel using the Selection Tool. CS3 users can select the Main Menu >
Scene_Selection from the dropdown list of the Link and then proceed to the next step.
CS4/CS5 users will select Specify Link from the dropdown list, and then in the Specify
Link window, select the Scene_Selection button of the Main Menu. Also, make sure to
enable Set to Loop Point located near the bottom, and click OK.

39. Set the transition of the Scene Selection Menus Main Menu button by selecting the
button with the Selection Tool, then in the Transition tab of the Properties panel, pick-
whip the Link to the T_Scenes_to_Main asset in the Project panel.

Creating a Chapter Index

40. Open your main timeline, from which your chapter index will be generated, by double-
clicking it in the Project Panel. Make sure the Scene Selection Menu is visible in the
Menu Viewer panel.

41. Drag the first chapter marker of your video from the Timeline panel into the first scene
selection box (upper left) in the Menu Viewer panel. You should notice it fills the blank
box with the poster frame of the first chapter.

42. Create the Chapter Index by going to the top and selecting Menu > Create Chapter
Index.

Setting Menu, Button, and Timeline Links

43. CS3 users will start with the Intro Timeline, and in the Basic tab of the Properties panel,
set its End Action link to the Main Menu.

44. Moving on to the Main Menu, set the links of the buttons by first selecting the button, and
then in the Basic Properties, set its Link using the dropdown list.

a. Link the first button (such as Play Movie) to the first chapter of your video.

b. Set the links of any additional videos accessible from the main menu as well.

c. Link the Scene Selection button to Scene_Menu_1.

d. Link the Special Features button to the Special_Menu.

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45. Set the transition of your main menu buttons by first selecting the button with the
Selection Tool, then going into the Transition tab of the Properties panel, and pick-
whipping the Asset to the appropriate transition asset in the Project panel:

a. Set the transition of any video accessible from your main menu to the
T_Main_to_Video asset.

b. Set the transition of the Scene Selection button to the T_Main_to_Scenes asset.

c. Set the transition of the Special Features button to the T_Main_to_Special

asset.

46. CS4/CS5 users who are creating a Blu-ray disc will now want to configure the button links
of the Pop-up menu:

a. Set the link of the Main Menu button by selecting Specify Link from the
dropdown list, then choosing the Main_Menu in the Specify Link window. Also,
make sure to enable Set to Loop Point at the bottom, and click OK.

b. Link the Scene Selection button to Scene_Menu_1 from the dropdown list.

c. Link the Special Features button to the Special_Menu.

47. Set the button links on the Special Features menu:

a. Link the special feature content buttons to the first chapter of their respective
videos.

Note: If the buttons do not automatically get renamed to the names of the timelines
after they are linked up, and instead get named to Chapter 1, you must manually
rename the buttons to their correct names.

b. Set the link of the Main Menu button by selecting Specify Link from the
dropdown list, then choosing the Main_Menu in the Specify Link window. Also,
make sure to enable Set to Loop Point at the bottom, and click OK.

48. Set the transition of the Special Features Main Menu button to the T_Special_to_Main
asset in the Project panel.

49. Set the End Action of your timelines by revealing the Timelines panel (upper left),
selecting the timeline, then in the Properties panel, specify the End Action:

a. Set the End Action of the main videos to the Main_Menu. If CS3 users would
like the menu to start from the beginning of the Intro Timeline after the main
video finishes, they should set the end action to the Intro Timeline. If CS4/CS5
users would like to have the main menu start after the intro sequence, select
Specify Link from the dropdown, then select the Main Menu from within that
window, and also enable Set to Loop Point at the bottom, and click OK.

b. Set the End Action of your Special Feature videos to the Special_Menu from the
dropdown, then select the button from the additional dropdown list that
corresponds to the timeline you are linking from (for example, if you are setting
the end action of a Photo Montage, you would select Special_Menu > Photo
Montage from the End Action dropdown list).

50. CS4/CS5 users who are creating a Blu-ray disc and using a Pop-up menu will need to set
the Pop-up menu for each timeline. Select the timeline, and then in the Properties panel,
link the Set Pop-up Menu to the Pop-Up_HD from the dropdown list.

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Custom Button Routing

51. Manually set the button routing on each menu by selecting the menu, then in the Basic
Properties panel, uncheck Automatically Route Buttons.

52. Reveal a menus button routing by clicking the Show Button Routing icon at the bottom
of the Menu Viewer panel.

53. Click and drag the button routes onto the button you want it navigating to. The button
route will display the button number it is linking to.

54. Manually route buttons for each menu. This should include the Main_Menu,
Special_Menu, and each Scene_Menu.

Note: For intuitive navigation, it is advised to link the right-navigation of the upper-right
scene selection box to the lower-left scene selection box, and also the reverse by linking the
left-navigation of the lower-left scene selection box to the upper-right scene selection box.

Note: To disable the navigation for a particular direction, drag the button route to any area
in the menu viewer that is not part of a button.

Final Settings and Build

55. Configure the Disc Settings by selecting the Build panel (upper left), then under the
Properties panel, change the disc Name to whatever you want. Set the Title Button to
the Main_Menu. Confirm the Main Timeline of your video (the default timeline that will
play if the user presses the Play button while on a menu).

Note: If the disc properties do not appear when selecting the Build panel, you can click
anywhere out in the open in the Project panel to reveal them.

56. If you are having Encore transcode your main videos, you will want to specify the
transcode settings of those videos by right clicking on them in the Project panel, then
selecting Transcode Settings (you can also select multiple videos at the same time):

a. For best Blu-ray quality encoding, use the H.264 codec. If speed is more
important than quality, use MPEG2.

b. For Blu-ray authoring, set the dimensions and frame rate to that of your original.

c. Use the Quality Preset of Automatic to maximize the bitrate while still fitting all
the content on a single disc.

Note: In our tests, enabling the Maximum Render Quality resulted in an Encode
Failed error message during the build process. This setting only benefits HD to SD
conversions, and we do not recommend enabling it, nor do we recommend doing HD to
SD downconversions inside of Encore. Frame Blending should also be disabled.

Note: We have found that the authoring process goes much smoother when the videos
have been transcoded in the Adobe Media Encoder prior to importing them into Encore.
This of course prevents the use of an Automatic preset, and you must manually
calculate the bitrate using a Bitrate Calculator.

Note: When manually calculating the bitrate, remember to leave space for the menu
assets. The following generous estimates below are for a typical disc using all menus
including 4 separate scene selection screens.

DVD Menus ~ 300 MB

Blu-ray Menus ~ 750 MB

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 57. Build your project from the Build panel:

a. Set the Format for the type you are creating; Blu-ray, DVD, or Flash

b. Set the Output to Disc if you will be burning a disc directly from Encore. Set the
output to Image if you will be burning or mounting to a drive using a 3rd party
application. Images can also be burned in Encore without loading the project.

c. If you will be creating an Image, you will need to specify its Location under
Destination.

d. If you will be burning directly to Disc, you will need to specify the drive to which
you will be burning, the speed at which you want to burn, and the number of
copies. For the fewest number of errors, Single Layer DVDs should be burned
no faster than 6x, Dual Layer DVDs at 2.4x, and Blu-ray at 2x. Also, never
attempt to burn faster than your drive or media supports.

e. Click on Check Project and then Start to see if Encore detects any potential
problems with your project.

f. Under Disc Info, specify the type of disc you will be authoring (single/dual layer)

g. Click Build to begin the build process.

58. Save your project after building has completed to retain transcoded assets.

Additional Notes

It is strongly advised to create separate Encore projects for DVD and Blu-ray, as Encore does a
very poor job of downscaling the HD assets for standard definition output. For Flash output, it is
recommended to use the Blu-ray project instead of creating a new one. If you did not create a Blu-
ray project, it is advised to create a new project using the HD assets for Flash output.

Under some situations the Start at Loop Point check box will automatically uncheck itself. If your
final burned disc does not return to the loop point of the main menu properly, please confirm that
this is checked. Also be aware that the Encore preview may not return to the loop point, even
though the final burned disc will function as expected. This is a bug with Encores preview feature.

It is normal for a saved project with long pre-transcoded assets to take a great deal of time to open
(possibly several minutes, especially with a large Blu-ray project). It may appear as if the program
has frozen, however it is working hard in the background to index all the mpeg / h264 frames, and
conform the audio files. If you encounter this, you should know that it is normal, and eventually it
should open the project. A fast processor and hard drive, with lots of ram should help.

We discourage the use of Encores Preview function for Blu-ray projects, as it does not accurately
represent your final disc. For example, menu transitions will not display, the motion background will
restart every time a button is highlighted, etc all of which will function perfectly fine on the final
build.

To preview a disc, you can build an Image, and then mount using a free program such as Virtual
CloneDrive by Elaborate Bytes (PC), and playback using a software DVD / Blu-ray player such as
Total Media Theater (PC). You can also burn to a rewritable disc and test in a set top player.

We dont recommend rendering motion menus before building your disc (File > Render > Motion
Menus), as Encore will always re-render them during the build process. You can however
transcode your main video and audio assets before building, as these will not be re-rendered.

Setting Menu User Operations on a Blu-ray project results in an error message during the build
process. This feature was designed for DVD discs only.

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 On some systems with older versions of Encore and Quicktime, using the same Quicktime asset for
audio and video as a motion menu background on a Blu-ray project may result in an 'Encode failed'
error message during the build process. If you encounter this error, you can export a separate
audio file for the menus (not transitions), and link the menus audio to that audio asset.

With older versions of Encore (before CS5), occasionally the transcoding of a motion menu
background will stop prematurely while building a Blu-ray project, causing the menu to only last a
few seconds. If updating your Quicktime to the latest version does not solve this problem, it is
recommended to try a different codec for your rendered motion menus instead of Quicktime.

It is normal for the imported menus to be black until the motion background has been set.

Under CS4/CS5, It is normal for your Main Menu to appear black until you set the Loop Point.

If you discover any errors in this guide or have any additional questions, please email
support@precomposed.com