14 Replies Latest reply: Dec 23, 2011 10:59 AM by Stan Jones RSS

    buttons not working

    tezza1971 Community Member

      I have a very simple DVD menu in which I have created 20 text buttons - each of which link to a chapter from the main feature's timeline.

      They are fairly simple - each with the addition of a short underline bar subscripture created in photoshop (created once and then duplicated).

      The first button was created by adding text to a blank menu (Blank Menu WIDE), converting it to a button, and then duplicating it 19 times.

      Each button has the following attributes

      Type = Chapter

      Link = <link to timeline chapter>

      Override = <not set>

      o Auto Activate (off)

      o Create Text Subscripture (off)

      x Sync Button Text and Name (on)

      x Set Name from Link (on)

      No transition set.

       

      two of the buttons don't work at all.

       

      four of the buttons don't use their subscripture

       

      another two of them use the subscripture of the buttons above them.

       

      In addition to that, none of the left or right button routings work on any of the buttons.

       

      At this stage, the project is targeted to DVD only (pal).

       

      Using Encore CS5.1

       

      I've posted a copy of the menu to this location.

       

      http://metabolicprecision.s3.amazonaws.com/Index.psd

       

      It's worth mentioning that I have tried all sorts of things to get these menu itmes  to work. I've tried changing the button attributes, making sure they're all inside the safe zone. Deleting the buttons and re-making them from scratch.

       

      Any ideas?

        • 1. Re: buttons not working
          ram8kumar Community Member

          There is a button number limit to the menu.

          If the menu is a wide screen menu, it should have maximum of 18 buttons and the buttons above that number would not work.

           

          For the button routing problem, En button routing is a bit confusing and sometimes it might require a bit of effort to correct that.

          In the Properties Panel for menu, uncheck the Automatically route buttons and do the manual routing.

           

          Also the way you duplicated the buttons might also cause problem with the highlights.

           

          I guess, you selected the text and then made the text into a button and then while seleting the button, you duplicated that.

           

          Be sure that, before duplicating the button all of hte button layers are selected. First choose the selection tool (the first arrow in the toolbar) and then select the button, only one green rectangle would be around the button and then duplicate it.

          That should work.

           

          -Ramesh

          • 2. Re: buttons not working
            Stan Jones CommunityMVP

            You can only have 18 buttons per 16:9 menu according to the DVD spec. This can create odd results, so correct that and then see what you have.

             

            You are also using vector masks for the highlight, and this can create problems for Encore. Try rasterizing them. (This fixed a problem for a recent users, thanks to Jon Geddes.)

            • 3. Re: buttons not working
              Stan Jones CommunityMVP

              Ha, ha! Ramesh you posted while I was typing!

              • 4. Re: buttons not working
                tezza1971 Community Member

                Awesome answers. Thanks Ramesh and Stan,

                 

                I am new to this so I didn't know about the button limit. I consulted the documentation on making buttons but I didn't find any mention of the limit. In the end, I suspected that might be an issue since it was button 19 and 20 that weren't working.

                 

                What I've done is create a menu with multiple pages to distribute the buttons, but initial testing has shown that this doesn't fix the problem, so I will simply split the pages into multiple menus.

                 

                In terms of duplication, I was aware that sub-selecting would be an issue so I copied the entire button using the main selection tool rather than the direct selection tool.

                 

                I edited the menus in Photoshop (which I have a pretty good grasp on) so I checked that all the subscripture was grouped correctly.

                 

                I also routed the buttons manually and in the editor they show the routing that I want, but when I test it, then it fails to navigate right/left. I will redo the new index pages before debugging this again.

                 

                Thanks for the tip on rasterisation Stan, I will try that out as well.

                 

                Be back shortly.

                • 5. Re: buttons not working
                  tezza1971 Community Member

                  Okay I feel like I'm getting somewhere but I'm not there yet. I have two menus across which the chapter selection is spread. The links work and the button routing works.

                   

                  What doesn't work is the subscripture for the two button uppermost in their location on the menu layout. This is the same for both menus. It's odd, when I move the button(s) lower down the page, the subscripture works, when I move them back higher up the page, they cease to work. I can live with this by simply having an oddly (and less professionally) laid out menu, but I'm curious to know what hidden rules are being violated.

                   

                  I wish Encore would warn when stuff isn't going to work (such as more than 18 buttons in a widescreen DVD menu), on the build panel.

                   

                  My limited experience thus far is that the product is quite flakey. Stuff which is supposed to work, doesn't.

                  • 6. Re: buttons not working
                    Stan Jones CommunityMVP

                    Good work! Can you post it again? Won't get to it till later today.

                     

                    Menus that are slight wrong size can create highlight oddities. But I think one user had an issue (also using underline highlights) in which certain positions toward the edges of the screen resulted in part of the highlight not appearing. For underlines, that meant it appeared to be gone entirely. Make the underline fatter and see if that fixes it.

                    • 7. Re: buttons not working
                      tezza1971 Community Member

                      It's probably a widescreen issue again. Anyone would think that widescreen was not meant for DVD

                       

                      I did use the Blank Menu WIDE item from the Library (general set). So if the size is out, then it's the bundled content's fault. Maybe it is optimised for NTSC and I am using PAL.

                       

                      certainly worth bearing in mind though. I might have to make my own blank PAL widescreen template and see if I can't improve things.

                       

                      There was another particularly annoying issue about Encore rejecting a DVD compliant MPEG2 stream saying it had too high a bitrate for DVD. Thing is that I encoded it with the Main Concept filter from Sony Vegas using VBR with a target rate of 6mbps. So it should have accepted it. The encode was PERFECT and took 30 hours to acheive (left only 100mb to spare on the disk) - and then Encore barfs on it and I have to recompress the MPEG stream resulting in markedly poorer quality accompanied by a waste of time whilst I am under time preassure to deliver this disk (not affording another 30 hours for a re-encode from original). Anyway...

                       

                      Your assistance has proven to be most helpful.

                      • 8. Re: buttons not working
                        ram8kumar Community Member

                        @Stan : Yipee.....I improved my typing speed.

                        • 9. Re: buttons not working
                          Stan Jones CommunityMVP

                          I improved my typing speed.

                          Ha,ha! congrats!

                          • 10. Re: buttons not working
                            Stan Jones CommunityMVP

                            I did use the Blank Menu WIDE item from the Library (general set). So if the size is out, then it's the bundled content's fault.

                            There are plenty of oddities, but the library template's size is not one of them. That should not be the problem.

                             

                            There was another particularly annoying issue about Encore rejecting a DVD compliant MPEG2 stream saying it had too high a bitrate for DVD. Thing is that I encoded it with the Main Concept filter from Sony Vegas using VBR with a target rate of 6mbps. So it should have accepted it.

                            Datarate spikes are the more common issue than target rate for such problems. What did you set for the max rate in Encore, and in Vegas?

                             

                            But yes, Encore is picky about being compliant (actually not bad for ultimate compliance, and built on the snic authorcore), and very frustrating that it gives no feedback about what the real compliance issue is. The message that it is dtarate is about as ghood as it gets.

                            • 11. Re: buttons not working
                              tezza1971 Community Member

                              Stan Jones wrote:


                              Datarate spikes are the more common issue than target rate for such problems. What did you set for the max rate in Encore, and in Vegas?

                               

                              I used a DVD compliant template. I think the maximum was set to 9mbps, but it's up to Main Concept to maintain compliance. I guess Encore's idea of compliance is different. Another lesson learned. In future I will set my own encode template for Main Concept (in Vegas) and set maximum rate to 8mbps.

                               

                              I just got an email from the client saying that he's got lots more projects for me next year so I guess this first project in Encore has been a useful learning experience. Thanks for all the help.

                               

                              I'm gonna have to do some research to find what the dimensions of an accurate 16:9 PAL template is. I suspect the supplied Library template is for NTSC and I suspect they may be different dimensions. This may or may not affect things.

                               

                              I appreciate the fact that the DVD standard is pretty lame for subscripture and such like, but Encor's job should be to protect the user from those oddities and implement What You See Is What You Get. To that extent, they have not succeeded and this has proven to be frustrating (dealing with illusive bugs that leave no clues).

                               

                              I might try my next project in DVD Architect so I can make a comparrison. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

                              • 12. Re: buttons not working
                                Bill Hunt CommunityMVP

                                Unless it has changed, you should have both NTSC and PAL Menus in your Library.

                                 

                                With Windows Explorer, or Finder, go to the folder structure for your Library content, and see if there is not an NTSC and a PAL sub-folder, with the exact PSD's that you need. There will likely be both a Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9) version of many/most.

                                 

                                As far as the Button limit, it's 18 (as mentioned) for Widescreen (16:9), and 36 for Standard (4:3). That is for ALL Buttons.

                                 

                                Good luck, and glad that your client has more work for you!

                                 

                                Hunt

                                • 13. Re: buttons not working
                                  tezza1971 Community Member

                                  Okay I checked out C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Encore CS5.1\Library\General

                                   

                                  You are correct.

                                   

                                  Blank Menu HD.psd (1920x1080)

                                  PAL_Blank Menu.psd (720x576)

                                  PAL_Blank Menu WIDE.psd (720x576)

                                  NTSC_Blank Menu.psd (720x480)

                                  NTSC_Blank Menu WIDE.psd (720x480)

                                  • 14. Re: buttons not working
                                    Stan Jones CommunityMVP

                                    From within Encore, the correct menu (PAL or NTSC) is the only one available from the library based on the project type you set.