Macromedia Encore - CS4 User Guide

Using

ADOBE® ENCORE® CS4

If this guide is distributed with software that includes an end user agreement, this guide, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as permitted by any such license, no part of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Please note that the content in this guide is protected under copyright law even if it is not distributed with software that includes an end user license agreement.

The content of this guide is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.

Please remember that existing artwork or images that you may want to include in your project may be protected under copyright law. The unauthorized incorporation of such material into your new work could be a violation of the rights of the copyright owner. Please be sure to obtain any permission required from the copyright owner.

Any references to company names in sample templates are for demonstration purposes only and are not intended to refer to any actual organization.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Media Player, Adobe OnLocation, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Creative Suite, Encore, Flash, Photoshop, Soundbooth, and XMP are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories. Microsoft, Windows, and OpenType are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Apple and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/)

MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson Multimedia (http://www.mp3licensing.com).

Speech compression and decompression technology licensed from Nellymoser, Inc. (www.nellymoser.com)

This product includes software developed by the OpenSymphony Group (http://www.opensymphony.com/)

This product contains either BESAFE and/or TIPEM software by RSA Data Security, Inc.

Sorenson Spark™ video compression and decompression technology licensed from Sorenson Media, Inc.

Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110, USA.

Notice to U.S. Government end users: The Software and Documentation are “Commercial Items,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Commercial Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Adobe agrees to comply with all applicable equal opportunity laws including, if appropriate, the provisions of Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (38 USC 4212), and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60, 60-250, and 60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference.

Chapter 1: Getting started

Activation and registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Help and support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

What’s new in Adobe Encore CS4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 2: Workflow and workspace

Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Workspace basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Managing workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 3: Planning the project

Planning the content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Balancing file size and quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Bit budgeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

iii

Chapter 4: Creating projects and importing assets

Working with projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Aspect ratios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Importing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Adobe Dynamic Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Working in the Project panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Manage the Project panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Viewing and editing XMP metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Transcript metadata in Flash output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Transcoding in Encore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Transcoding presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 5: Menus

Menu basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Creating menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Using Photoshop to create menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Edit menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Styling and transforming menu objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Apply styles and transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Adding text to menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Add and format text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Button subpictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Menu color sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Button routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Creating styles for menu elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Video and audio in menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Menu timing and looping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Menu templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Contents

Chapter indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Using After Effects to enhance menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Chapter 6: Timelines and slide shows

Timeline basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Create and manage timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Editing assets in timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Slide show basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Editing slide shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Chapter points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Chapter 7: Audio and subtitles

Audio clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Subtitle basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Subtitle scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Subtitle colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Navigation for audio and subtitle tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Closed captions basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Chapter 8: Creating and managing links

Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Setting navigation and properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Playlists and chapter playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Working in the Flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

User operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Chapter 9: Testing and building the final product

Testing Encore projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Security and additional content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Building the finished project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Exporting projects to Flash format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Workflow for publishing Flash output to Adobe Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Viewing published Flash output on Adobe Media Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Chapter 10: Keyboard shortcuts

Using keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Index ...............................................................................................................185

Chapter 1: Getting started

If you haven’t installed your new software, begin by reading some information on installation and other preliminaries. Before you begin working with your software, read an overview of Adobe® Help and of the many resources available to users. You have access to instructional videos, plug-ins, templates, user communities, seminars, tutorials, RSS feeds, and much more.

Activation and registration

Help with installation

For help with installation issues, see the Installation Support Center at www.adobe.com/go/cs4install.

License activation

During the installation process, your Adobe software contacts Adobe to complete the license activation process. No personal data is transmitted. For more information on product activation, visit the Adobe website at

www.adobe.com/go/activation.

A single-user retail license activation supports two computers. For example, you can install the product on a desktop computer at work and on a laptop computer at home. If you want to install the software on a third computer, first deactivate it on one of the other two computers. Choose Help

> Deactivate.

Register

❖ To register, follow the on-screen instructions in the Registration dialog box, which appears after you install the

software.

If you postpone registration, you can register at any time by choosing Help > Registration.

Adobe Product Improvement Program

After you use your Adobe software a certain number of times, a dialog box may appear asking whether you want to participate in the Adobe Product Improvement Program.

If you choose to participate, data about your use of Adobe software is sent to Adobe. No personal information is recorded or sent. The Adobe Product Improvement Program only collects information about which features and tools you use and how often you use them.

You can opt in to or out of the program at any time:

• To participate, choose Help > Adobe Product Improvement Program and click Yes, Participate.

• To stop participating, choose Help > Adobe Product Improvement Program and click No, Thank You.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Getting started

ReadMe

A ReadMe file for your software is available online and on the installation disc. Open the file to read important information about topics such as the following:

• System requirements

• Installation (including uninstalling the software)

• Activation and registration

• Font installation

• Troubleshooting

• Customer support

• Legal notices

Help and support

Community Help

Community Help is an integrated environment on adobe.com that gives you access to community-generated content moderated by Adobe and industry experts. Comments from users help guide you to an answer.

Community Help draws on a number of resources, including:

• Videos, tutorials, tips and techniques, blogs, articles, and examples for designers and developers.

• Complete online product Help, which is updated regularly by the Adobe documentation team.

• All other content on Adobe.com, including knowledgebase articles, downloads and updates, Developer

Connection, and more.

Use the help search field in your product’s user interface to access Community Help directly, or Press F1 from within the product to access the product Help and Support page, a portal to all of the Community Help content for your product.

The sites searched by the default Community Help search engine are hand-selected and reviewed for quality by Adobe and Adobe Community Experts. Adobe experts also work to ensure that the top search results include a mixture of different kinds of content, including results from online product Help.

For a video overview of Community Help, see www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4117_xp.

Product Help

Adobe provides a comprehensive user guide for each product in several formats, including online product Help, PDF, and printed book. Results from online product Help are included in your results whenever you search Community Help.

If you’re connected to the Internet, the Help menu within the product opens the product Help and Support page by default. This page is a portal to all of the Community Help content for the product. If you want to consult or search online product Help only, you can access it by clicking the product Help link in the upper-right corner of the Help and Support page. Be sure to select the This Help System Only option before you do your search.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Getting started

If you’re not connected to the Internet, the Help menu within the product opens local Help, a subset of the content available in online product Help. Because local Help is not as complete or up-to-date as online product Help, Adobe recommends that you use the PDF version of product Help if you want to stay off-line. A downloadable PDF of complete product Help is available from two places:

• The product’s Help and Support page (upper-right corner of the page)

• Local and web Help (upper-right corner of the Help interface)

If you are working in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Fireworks, or Dreamweaver, and you want to turn off Community Help so that local Help opens by default, do the following:

1 Open the Connections panel (Window > Extensions > Connections).

2 From the Connections panel menu , select Offline Options.

3 Select Keep Me Offline and click OK.

Printed resources

Printed versions of the complete online product Help are available for the cost of shipping and handling at

www.adobe.com/go/store.

Support resources

Visit the Adobe Support website at www.adobe.com/support to learn about free and paid technical support options.

Resources

Adobe creative online services

Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 includes new online features that bring the power of the web to your desktop. Use these features to connect with the community, collaborate, and get more from your Adobe tools. Powerful creative online services let you complete tasks ranging from color matching to data conferencing. The services seamlessly integrate with desktop applications so you can quickly enhance existing workflows. Some services offer full or partial functionality when you’re offline too.

Visit Adobe.com to learn more about available services. Some Creative Suite 4 applications include these initial offerings:

Kuler™ panel Quickly create, share, and explore color themes online.

Adobe® ConnectNow Collaborate with dispersed working teams over the web, sharing voice, data, and multimedia.

Resource Central Instantly access tutorials, sample files, and extensions for Adobe digital video applications.

For information on managing your services, see the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/go/learn_creativeservices_en.

Adobe Exchange

Visit the Adobe Exchange at www.adobe.com/go/exchange to download samples as well as thousands of plug-ins and extensions from Adobe and third-party developers. The plug-ins and extensions can help you automate tasks, customize workflows, create specialized professional effects, and more.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Getting started

Adobe downloads

Visit www.adobe.com/go/downloads to find free updates, tryouts, and other useful software.

Adobe Labs

Adobe Labs at www.adobe.com/go/labs gives you the opportunity to experience and evaluate new and emerging technologies and products from Adobe. At Adobe Labs, you have access to resources such as these:

• Prerelease software and technologies

• Code samples and best practices to accelerate your learning

• Early versions of product and technical documentation

• Forums, wiki-based content, and other collaborative resources to help you interact with like-minded users.

Adobe Labs fosters a collaborative software development process. In this environment, customers quickly become productive with new products and technologies. Adobe Labs is also a forum for early feedback. The Adobe development teams use this feedback to create software that meets the needs and expectations of the community.

Adobe TV

Visit Adobe TV at http://tv.adobe.com to view instructional and inspirational videos.

Extras

The installation disc contains a variety of extras to help you make the most of your Adobe software. Some extras are installed on your computer during the setup process; others are located on the disc.

To view the extras installed during the setup process, navigate to the application folder on your computer.

• Windows®: [startup drive]\Program Files\Adobe\[Adobe application]

• Mac OS®: [startup drive]/Applications/[Adobe application]

To view the extras on the disc, navigate to the Goodies folder in your language folder on the disc. Example:

• /English/Goodies/

What’s new in Adobe Encore CS4

No-render import from Adobe Premiere® Pro With Adobe Dynamic Link, import Adobe Premiere Pro sequences

directly into Encore® and author discs—no prior rendering required. Get the changes made in the Premiere Pro sequence dynamically reflected in your Encore project assets. With the improved Adobe Dynamic Link, you render only once—when you build the project.

Blu-ray pop-up menus Create “button over video” menus on your HD Blu-ray videos. Import any regular menu on to

your Blu-ray project and have these controls appear transparently over the playing video clip.

Set menu loop back for motion menus Control how your viewers watch the looping in motion menus. Set the starting

and ending points of motion menus that are separated by a long interval by setting a loop point in a motion menu, rather than at the beginning.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Getting started

Increased control on Adobe Flash®output Gain more control on your content delivery over the web with FLV or F4V

files. Encore CS4 supports Flash media streaming—allowing you to provide a richer user experience with players like Adobe® Media Player. With support for the new F4V format, you get crisper rich media file with smaller file size that you can deliver from a streaming server. In addition, design your own HTML template to host the Flash output, and provide web links that open web pages you want your viewers to see.

Resource Central Connect to a single location for accessing resources such as fresh, new content and news, tutorials,

and training materials, without leaving your workflow.

Chapter 2: Workflow and workspace

Adobe® Encore® CS4 provides a flexible workspace that you can quickly optimize for your working style.

Workflow

Workflow and workspace basics

Encore lets you create many different kinds of projects for DVDs, Blu-ray discs, or interactive Adobe Flash® files. Whether the content is a feature film, a wedding, a training course, or an art collection, the basic steps for creating a project are the same.

Note: For a video tutorial about creating projects in Encore, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0239. For an overview of Encore CS4, see www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4226_enc.

Although the order of the tasks can vary somewhat from project to project, authoring with Encore involves the following basic tasks:

Plan the project

Regardless of the project's complexity, it is helpful to plan the content and flow of your project. Whether you sketch each of the elements, create a flowchart, or use a spreadsheet to map the path through the content, drafting a navigation scenario can help you clarify your ideas and anticipate problems before you start. For information, see

“About

planning” on page 15.

Simple sketch of intended navigation scheme

Import assets

Prepare your source material (assets) for the project, and import them into Encore. The assets include any video, still images, audio, and subtitles for your project. You can import Adobe Premiere® Pro sequences without rendering them through the Adobe Dynamic Link. For information, see

“Import assets and menus” on page 31.

Create project elements and add assets

An Encore project includes element types such as timelines and slide shows. You add assets to these elements to include the assets in the project. Depending upon an asset’s type, you can add it to timelines, slide shows, menus, playlists, and chapter playlists. For information, see

“About timelines” on page 108, “About slide shows” on page 119,

“Playlists” on page 152, and “Chapter playlists” on page 153.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

Create menus

The menus give the viewer access to the content. You can create menus directly in Encore, customize predesigned menus included with the software, or create and edit menus in Adobe Photoshop®. For information, see

menus” on page 51.

Specify navigation

Menus provide the main way for viewers to navigate through the content. In addition to menus, you also use other types of navigation settings, such as end actions and overrides, to guide the viewer. Encore gives you several methods for setting the navigation—you can drag between the elements and buttons in Menu Viewer, use the Properties panel, or work with navigation in Flowchart. For a typical project, you’ll set navigation with all of these methods, choosing whichever is most convenient at the time. For information, see

Make video and audio compatible (transcoding)

If you imported video and audio files that aren’t DVD or Blu-ray Disc-compatible, Encore transcodes the files before you burn the disc. You can let Encore determine the best settings for transcoding or select the options you feel are best for your project. For information, see

Preview the project

You should preview and check a project throughout the authoring process, especially before you burn the disc. Previewing lets you experience the project as a viewer would, using the remote control to move through it. The Check Project feature verifies technical details and informs you of any problems, such as broken links or invalid end actions. For information, see

“Preview a project” on page 163, and “Check a project” on page 166.

“About transcoding” on page 45.

“Project navigation and links” on page 145.

“About

Burn the disc

You can build and burn the DVD or Blu-ray disc directly from Encore. Or, if you plan to use a replication facility, you can write to a DLT drive, prepare a folder, or create a DVD or Blu-ray image to give to the replicator. For information,

“Build a DVD or Blu-ray disc” on page 169.

see

Export to Flash format

You can export your final projects to a Flash format for interactive viewing on the web. For information, see “Exporting projects to Flash format” on page 172.

See also

Create Encore projects video

Workspace basics

About workspaces

Adobe video and audio applications provide a consistent, customizable workspace. Although each application has its own set of panels (such as Project, Metadata, and Timeline), you move and group panels in the same way across products.

The main window of a program is the application window. Panels are organized in this window in an arrangement called a workspace. The default workspace contains groups of panels as well as panels that stand alone.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

You customize a workspace by arranging panels in the layout that best suits your working style. As you rearrange panels, the other panels resize automatically to fit the window. You can create and save several custom workspaces for different tasks—for example, one for editing and one for previewing.

You can use floating windows to create a workspace more like those in previous versions of Adobe applications, or to place panels on multiple monitors.

Example workspace A. Application window B. Grouped panels C. Individual panel

Dock, group, or float panels

You can dock panels together, move them into or out of groups, and undock them so they float above the application window. As you drag a panel, drop zones—areas onto which you can move the panel—become highlighted. The drop zone you choose determines where the panel is inserted, and whether it docks or groups with other panels.

Docking zones

Docking zones exist along the edges of a panel, group, or window. Docking a panel places it adjacent to the existing group, resizing all groups to accommodate the new panel.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

Dragging panel (A) onto docking zone (B) to dock it (C)

Grouping zones

Grouping zones exist in the middle of a panel or group, and along the tab area of panels. Grouping a panel stacks it with other panels.

Dragging panel (A) onto grouping zone (B) to group it with existing panels (C)

Dock or group panels

1 If the panel you want to dock or group is not visible, choose it from the Window menu.

2 Do one of the following:

•

To move an individual panel, drag the gripper area in the upper-left corner of a panel’s tab onto the desired drop zone.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

Drag panel gripper to move one panel

• To move an entire group, drag the group gripper in the upper-right corner onto the desired drop zone.

Drag group gripper to move entire group

The application docks or groups the panel, according to the type of drop zone.

Undock a panel in a floating window

When you undock a panel in a floating window, you can add panels to the window and modify it similarly to the application window. You can use floating windows to make use of a secondary monitor, or to create workspaces like those in earlier versions of Adobe applications.

❖ Select the panel you want to undock (if it’s not visible, choose it from the Window menu), and then do one of the

following:

• Choose Undock Panel or Undock Frame from the panel menu. Undock Frame undocks the panel group.

• Hold down Ctrl (Windows®) or Command (Mac OS®), and drag the panel or group from its current location.

When you release the mouse button, the panel or group appears in a new floating window.

• Drag the panel or group outside the application window. (If the application window is maximized, drag the

panel to the Windows taskbar.)

Resize panel groups

When you position the pointer over dividers between panel groups, resize icons appear. When you drag these icons, all groups that share the divider are resized. For example, suppose your workspace contains three panel groups stacked vertically. If you drag the divider between the bottom two groups, they are resized, but the topmost group doesn’t change.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

To quickly maximize a panel beneath the pointer, press the tilde (~) key. (Do not press Shift.) Press the tilde key again to return the panel to its original size.

1 Do either of the following:

• To resize either horizontally or vertically, position the pointer between two panel groups. The pointer becomes a

double-arrow

• To resize in both directions at once, position the pointer at the intersection between three or more panel groups.

The pointer becomes a four-way arrow

2 Hold down the mouse button, and drag to resize the panel groups.

Dragging divider between panel groups to resize them horizontally A. Original group with resize icon B. Resized groups

Open, close, and scroll to panels

Even if a panel is open, it may be out of sight, beneath other panels. Choosing a panel from the Window menu brings it to the front. Likewise, if a panel group is very narrow, a scroll bar above the group reveals all the panel tabs.

When you close a panel group in the application window, the other groups resize to make use of the newly available space. When you close a floating window, the panels within it close, too.

• To open or close a panel, choose it from the Window menu.

• To close a panel or window, click its Close button .

• To see all the panel tabs in a narrow panel group, drag the horizontal scroll bar.

Drag horizontal scroll bar to see all panels in narrow group

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

Working with multiple monitors

To increase the available screen space, use multiple monitors. When you work with multiple monitors, the application window appears on one monitor, and you place floating windows on the second monitor. Monitor configurations are stored in the workspace.

See also

“Dock, group, or float panels” on page 8

Use context, panel, and viewer menus

In addition to the menus at the top of your screen, Encore also provides context, panel, and viewer menus. Context menus contain commands relative to the active tool or selection. Panel menus contain commands relevant to the active

panel. You use the viewer menus to choose which item to display in the viewer, or to close items.

Use a context or panel menu

❖ Do one of the following:

• To use a context menu, position the pointer over the active window or selection and right-click (Windows) or

Control-click (Mac® OS). Choose a menu item, or click outside the menu to close it.

• To use a panel menu, click the triangle in the upper-right corner of a panel, and then choose a menu item or

click outside the menu to close it.

Use a viewer menu

Encore provides viewers for its timelines, slide shows, menus, and chapter playlists. Viewers are panels in which you edit a type of DVD or Blu-ray element. Slideshow Viewer, for example, lets you edit slide shows. You can set the Encore preferences to specify whether items of the same type open in a single viewer or in multiple viewers. For viewers with multiple items open, use the viewer menu to select the item you want to work with.

❖ Click the triangle in the Viewer tab, and choose the element you want to work with. You can also close the current

item or all the items.

Tools panel overview

You use the Tools panel when working in the Menu Viewer and the Flowchart. It contains tools to select layers or objects in a menu, enter text, zoom in and out, and move objects in the Flowchart. It also contains shortcuts for editing a menu in Photoshop and previewing a project. (See

projects” on page 129, and “About creating menus in Photoshop” on page 63.)

A B C D E F G H I

Tools panel

A. Selection tool B. Direct Select tool C. Move tool D. Rotate tool E. Text tool F. Vertical Text tool G. Zoom tool H. Edit Menu in Photoshop I. Preview

“About text in menus” on page 74, “About subtitles in DVD

Set preferences for workspace

You can set numerous preferences for your workspace. These include adjusting the brightness of the user interface and controlling the default television standard used for creating projects.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

Set workspace appearance preferences

Appearance preferences include software-wide settings that affect your workspace.

1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Appearance (Windows) or Encore > Preferences > Appearance (Mac OS).

2 Set any of the following options:

Brightness Use the slider to set the brightness of the interface. Click Default to return the brightness to the factory

default.

Separate Viewers For Specifies how new timelines, menus, slide shows, and chapter playlists are opened. In Encore,

you edit each element type in its own viewer. Timelines, for example, are edited in the Timeline viewer. Select an option to open that element type in a new viewer; deselect an option to open all elements of that type in a single viewer. For example, to open all menus in a single Menu Viewer, deselect Menus. When a single viewer contains more than one item, use its viewer menu to access the desired element. For more information, see

menu” on page 12.

Show Tool Tips Specifies whether tool tips (brief labels or explanations) appear as the pointer moves over tools and

other interface elements. This setting is enabled by default.

Beep On Render Completion Specifies whether Encore beeps when it finishes building a project or transcoding a

file. Select the option to enable the beep.

“Use a viewer

Set Media preferences

Media preferences include settings for clearing the Adobe media cache database file and specifying the location for the Encore Library file.

1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Media (Windows) or Encore > Preferences > Media (Mac OS).

2 Set any of the following options:

Library Content Specifies the location of the Library folder for functional content, such as predesigned menus and

buttons. Files in this Library folder appear in the Library panel.

Clean Database Frees up additional disc space by removing old files in the media cache database shared by Adobe

audio and video applications. The database tracks media accelerator files that improve performance and speed. For example, if Adobe Premiere Pro creates a conformed audio file, and you import media with that audio into Encore, Encore uses the file from Adobe Premiere Pro instead of creating a new conformed file. The media cache database informs Encore of the conformed file’s location.

Write XMP IDs to Files On Import Automatically inserts a unique document ID into each imported file. These IDs

ensure that all Adobe Production Premium applications access the same cached previews and conformed audio files, preventing additional rendering and conforming. This is a global setting—a change in one Production Premium application affects all the others. This setting also results in new file modification dates when IDs are initially inserted.

To save rendering time when transferring a project to another machine, move both cached and original files.

Set General preferences

General preferences include default settings for the software regardless of the project you’re working on.

1 Choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Encore > Preferences > General (Mac OS).

2 Set any of the following options:

Default Television Standard Specifies the default TV standard (either NTSC or PAL) for new projects. Encore

determines the default setting according to the operating system’s language.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Workflow and workspace

Playback Quality Specifies the playback quality for the Preview and Monitor panels, as well as thumbnails. Select

the desired setting from the menu: High to display video at full resolution; Draft to display video at one-half resolution; and Automatic to use draft quality for playback, which changes to high quality when the playback is paused or stopped.

Desktop Display Mode (Windows only) Sets one of three options for playback through a graphics display card:

• Compatible Displays video on the desktop in a nonaccelerated manner. This mode is appropriate for use on a

graphics card that does not support Direct3D 9.0 acceleration. This option is the lowest-performance display mode.

• Standard Uses hardware capabilities on Direct3D 9.0-capable graphics cards to accelerate video playback on the

desktop.

• Accelerated GPU Effects Uses advanced hardware features present in the newest generation of Direct3D 9.0-

capable graphics cards to accelerate video playback as well as several effects on the desktop.

Reset Warning Dialogs Enables all dialog boxes that you previously disabled by selecting Don’t Show Again.

Managing workspaces

Choose a workspace

Each Adobe video and audio application includes several predefined workspaces that optimize the layout of panels for specific tasks. When you choose one of these workspaces, or any custom workspaces you’ve saved, the current workspace is redrawn accordingly.

❖ Open the project you want to work on, choose Window > Workspace, and select the desired workspace.

Save, reset, or delete workspaces

Save a custom workspace

As you customize a workspace, the application tracks your changes, storing the most recent layout. To store a specific layout more permanently, save a custom workspace. Saved custom workspaces appear in the Workspace menu, where you can return to and reset them.

❖ Arrange the frames and panels as desired, and then choose Window > Workspace > New Workspace. Type a name

for the workspace, and click

Note: If a project saved with a custom workspace is opened on another system, the application looks for a workspace with a matching name. If it can’t find a match (or the monitor configuration doesn’t match), it uses the current local workspace.

Reset a workspace

Reset the current workspace to return to its original, saved layout of panels.

❖ Choose Window > Workspace > Reset workspace name.

OK.

Delete a workspace

1 Choose Window > Workspace > Delete Workspace.

2 Choose the workspace you want to delete, and then click OK.

Note: You cannot delete the currently active workspace.

Chapter 3: Planning the project

You can design, author, and build media projects in Adobe® Encore® for high-definition Blu-ray Disc and standarddefinition DVD. Encore gives you options to burn directly to a disc or other types of output for disc replication. As an added bonus, you can export Blu-ray and DVD projects to Flash format for interactive viewing on the web.

Planning the content

About planning

The first task of authoring the project is planning. This planning can be as minimal as deciding to use a template to organize your family’s vacation photos and video, or as robust as using project-management software to coordinate a production team creating an interactive kiosk.

Whatever the scope of planning, you should understand what the project will contain and how you want to present it. By the end of the planning stage, you should have a good understanding of the following parameters.

The navigation scheme

A well-produced project employs a hierarchy of navigation that gives the viewer clear and easy access to the content. Think through your project. After you decide which clips you want to include, you need to determine how the viewer will access those clips. Whether you use a spreadsheet or a pencil sketch, it is worth the time to draft your navigation scheme before you start.

The intended playback environment

Is the project intended for television viewing? Will it play unattended in a kiosk? Is it for use in an educational setting on computers? The playback environment affects your approach to navigation and the design of the menus as well as the content. If the project will be used only on a computer (on the desktop or in a web browser), you can include ROM content that a television DVD or Blu-ray player cannot access. For instance, you can include PDFs of exercises in an educational DVD to be used on the computer. If you’re planning to export your project to Flash format, you can embed web links that connect your project to other areas in your website.

Types and amount of content to be included

To make certain decisions—for instance, about disc size and video data rate—you need to know how much content you must fit on the disc and what type it is (such as standard-definition or high-definition video). Small projects that include mostly audio might fit on a single-layer DVD, whereas projects containing feature-length movies and many supplemental materials might require a dual-layer or dual-sided DVD or a Blu-ray disc.

See also

“Embed web links in your Flash project” on page 174

“Tips for creating Flash projects” on page 174

“About bit budgeting” on page 19

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Planning the project

Planning with the Flowchart

The Flowchart feature provides a visual interface that helps you to plan and manage the creation of the project. Use the Flowchart from the initial stages of the project, when you determine navigation and begin organizing assets.

Note: If you’re new to authoring these types of projects, plan your navigation scheme on paper and start using the Flowchart after you are familiar with the different element types and their properties.

The Flowchart displays the content of the project graphically, in a tree structure, detailing the navigation between the different elements. This visual representation can help you to see areas where the navigation is cluttered and you want to refine. Beyond providing a visual representation of the project, the Flowchart also lets you perform many authoring tasks, such as setting project navigation.

If your project contains multiple hierarchical objects, use the zoom controls on the flowchart panel to view the relevant parts of the flowchart. In addition, the tool tips show asset names when you hover the mouse over them.

For a video tutorial about using the Flowchart to plan your projects, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0240.

See also

“Flowchart overview” on page 154

Flowchart planning video

Balancing file size and quality

File size and quality

Authoring a DVD or Blu-ray project involves striking a balance between two competing properties: file size and video quality. As quality increases, so does file size. You want to achieve the highest possible quality for your content while keeping the file sizes small enough so that all of the content will fit on the disc. This balance is achieved by manipulating the video content’s data rate—either automatically (by letting Encore set the data rate) or directly (by setting the transcoding settings or using a third-party application).

You determine the optimal data rate through the process of bit budgeting. To understand bit budgeting, you first need to understand the variables involved: disc size, types and amounts of assets (audio, video, and motion menus), and data rates and transcoding. Once familiar with the variables involved, you’ll be able to produce a bit budget to guide you in producing high-quality projects that fit within the allotted disc space.

See also

“About transcoding” on page 45

Determining disc size

Before you can prepare a bit budget, you must determine the size of disc on which to distribute your project. Encore can create projects for 25-GB Blu-ray discs and for a variety of DVD disc sizes. The size you choose is based on the amount of video and the replication method.

Typically, a Blu-ray disc can hold 135 minutes of high-definition video using MPEG-2 plus 2 hours of standarddefinition bonus material, or it can hold a total of 10 hours of standard-definition content. Encore also supports H.264 encoding for Blu-ray projects, which provides better quality at lower bit rates than MPEG-2 and therefore more video time. Desktop DVD burners use a recordable DVD-5 disc (DVD+/-R), which has a 4.7-GB capacity and can hold approximately 2

hours of high-quality, standard-definition video.

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Planning the project

Encore also supports DLT (digital linear tape), which requires a DLT drive connected to your computer, as well as dual-layer DVDs and dual-sided DVDs. Check your DVD recorder’s documentation to see if it can create dual-sided or dual-layer discs. If your disc recorder cannot produce these discs, Encore can still create the project files for them, but you’ll need to replicate the disc at a replication facility.

When preparing a project for dual-layer or dual-sided DVDs, keep the following information in mind:

Dual-layer disc Encore supports DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL discs; check your recorder’s documentation to see what

type of DVDs (+R or -R) it requires. To replicate dual-layer DVDs at a replication facility, you first must write your project to two separate DLTs, one tape for each layer of the disc, using the DVD Master output option. (See

“Build a

DVD or Blu-ray disc” on page 169 and “Specify a layer break for dual-layer DVDs” on page 171.)

Note: Be aware that +R discs may be incompatible with some DVD players. Before duplicating a large quantity of discs, it’s worthwhile to create a sample disc and test it on several different DVD players. Replication facilities, whose paramount purpose is duplicating discs, create discs with the widest possible compatibility.

Dual-sided disc For dual-sided DVDs, you must create two separate projects. If you will replicate the DVDs at an

outside facility, use the DVD Master output option to write each project to its own DLT. (See

“Build a DVD or Blu-ray

disc” on page 169 and “Replicating discs” on page 171.)

Dual-sided, dual-layer disc In this case, you need to build two projects, each producing two tapes. The first two tapes

represent the two layers of the first project (Side 1). The other two tapes represent the two layers of the second project (Side 2).

Set the disc size for DVD projects

By setting the disc size for your DVD project at the beginning of the authoring process, Encore can calculate how much space is used for each asset you add to the project and how much space remains free.

1 Choose Window > Build.

2 In the Build panel, choose DVD from the Format menu, and scroll down to the Disc Info section.

3 Choose a size from the Size menu. To enter a custom disc size, choose Custom and then type a size in the text box.

4 If you want to create a dual-sided disc, specify which side this project is for.

5 Close the Build panel and save the project.

See also

“Check the space remaining on your disc” on page 17

Check the space remaining on your disc

The Build panel displays the available space and the used space for the specified disc size during the authoring process. The display conveys size information only and has no bearing on quality. Encore calculates the free space using the transcoding data rate (whether it was set automatically or manually). It then combines this estimated bit rate with the actual bit rate of any transcoded clips and, based on the disc size, calculates the space remaining on your disc.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Planning the project

When transcoding assets, Encore attempts to maintain the highest quality (highest data rate) for the amount of video in the project. If you continue to add video to a project, the program lowers the video data rate to squeeze in the additional content. Encore will warn you if quality dips below a certain level once you build the project or run Check Project. For more information, see

❖ Choose Window > Build to display the Build panel, and scroll down to the Disc Info section. Encore displays the

amounts of used video space, free space, and space used for ROM content. Respectively, the “thermometer” graphic uses blue, white, and green colors to show the amounts.

“About transcoding” on page 45.

Asset types and amounts

Of all the content types, the video portion occupies the most disc space. Depending on the data rate, 1 minute of standard-definition video for DVD projects can occupy up to 73.5 MB, at a rate of 9.8 megabits per second (Mbps). One minute of high-definition video for a Blu-ray project can occupy from 270 to 405 MB (using rates of 36 Mbps and 54 Mbps). One minute of compressed audio, on the other hand, occupies only 11.5 MB. Still menus are negligible in terms of size. (See

The amount of video in a project directly affects the optimal data rate. You need an accurate tally of the amount of video in a project to develop a bit budget and to choose a disc size. If the project contains 1 hour of video, for example, it can be transcoded at twice the data rate as a project with 2 hours of video content. Although the video content in each project occupies the same amount of disc space, the quality of the hour-long video will be superior (though not necessarily by a factor of 2).

“Average asset size” on page 20.)

See also

“About transcoding” on page 45

Data rates

Data rates, usually expressed in Mbps (megabits per second, or 1,000,000 bits per second), specify the amount of data contained in an asset stream and directly affect the quality of video. The data rate is used during transcoding to compress the asset. For video assets, the Encore transcode presets use data rates ranging from 15 to 40 Mbps for Blu-ray projects and from 4 to 9 40 Mbps for Blu-ray projects or 9.0 Mbps. Typical data rates for video range between 4 and 6 Mbps. If bit budgeting targets a data rate less than 6 Mbps,

2.0 consider using variable bit rate (VBR) encoding. For more information about VBR, see page 19. For more information about transcoding, see “About transcoding” on page 45.

Although data rates are a general indicator of quality, there are no hard-and-fast rules to equate data rate to quality. That is, a data rate of 4 of compression used as well as data rate. For example, video of a seated person shot against a solid background can probably be compressed to a lower data rate than a fast-paced car chase with constantly changing visuals, with no noticeable differences in quality.

Mbps may or may not produce a high-quality asset; quality depends on the image data and type

Mbps for DVD projects. You can edit the presets’ data rates, but you cannot exceed

Mbps for DVD projects, nor can you go below the Encore minimum data rate of

“Calculate a bit budget” on

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Planning the project

Bit budgeting

About bit budgeting

Bit budgeting, or estimating the amount of space your project will occupy, is an important part of planning. Bit budgeting helps you strike a balance between the quantity and quality of content and determine the optimal video data rate. If your project includes minimal amounts of content, you can encode that content at a higher data rate (which translates to higher quality) to take advantage of all available space. Conversely, if your project contains a large amount of content, you need to use a lower data rate (which translates to lower quality) to squeeze it all onto the disc.

Encore automatically tracks bit budgeting during the authoring process. For small projects with limited content, simply checking the amount of available space on the Build panel during the authoring process is usually sufficient to track your space usage. For large, complex projects, though, bit budgeting becomes much more important to the authoring process, providing a check against the actual data rates achieved.

Generally, for projects with less than 2 hours of video, you can skip bit budgeting and let Encore set the data rate automatically.

Calculate a bit budget

Bit budgeting provides a target video data rate for the project. You can either use a pencil and paper to quickly develop one, or you can create a spreadsheet to do the calculations for you.

When bit budgeting for projects to be distributed on 4.7-GB DVDs that contain a single stream of compressed audio, you can use the simplified formula of 560 / x = bit rate in Mbps, where “x” represents minutes of video.

1 Calculate the total disc space available for the entire project.

2 Calculate the disc space available for video. You achieve this by calculating the space required for audio, slide shows,

subtitles, and motion menus (other types of content are negligible in terms of bit budgeting), and subtracting that amount from the total disc space. For more information, see

Note: If you include ROM content, make sure to include it in the space calculation. (See “Add ROM content to the

disc” on page 168.)

3 Calculate the target data rate of the video. You determine this by dividing the amount of space available for video

by the amount of video in the project.

4 Determine the maximum video bit rate by subtracting the combined audio and subtitle rate from the data rate limit.

(For example, if your combined audio and subtitle rate is 3.0 rate limit gives you a video rate of 6.8 within the disc data rate limit. If your target data rate is below 6 encoding. When you use VBR encoding, you specify the maximum video data rate. (The average data rate is the target, but the maximum rate provides some flexibility when encoding.)

Note: Keep your calculations simple by working with megabits (Mbits) and not megabytes (MB) when bit budgeting. Mbps denotes megabits per second. Also, hard-disk capacity is typically calculated as a power of 2 (1 = 1024 bytes), while optical disc (DVD) capacity is labeled as a power of 10 (1 power-of-10 scheme for bit budgeting. The following conversion factors will aid in the calculations: 1 = 1,000,000,000 bytes = 8,000,000,000

bits; 1,000,000 bits = 1 Mbit.

Mbps.) Your goal is to determine the highest possible target video data rate

“Average asset size” on page 20.

Mbps, subtracting that from the 9.8 Mbps DVD data

Mbps, consider using variable bit rate (VBR)

KB = 2^10 bytes

KB = 10^3 bytes = 1,000 bytes). Use the

GB = 10^9 bytes

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Planning the project

Average asset size

Use the following averages for bit budgeting:

Audio If compressed using the Dolby® Digital Stereo standard, audio is generally 192,000 bits per second

Mbps). Use 0.192 Mbps or reference the settings for the audio encoder you plan to use.

(0.192

Subpictures Insignificant in terms of bit budgeting, unless you include subtitles. If you do include subtitles, use

Mbps per subpicture stream for calculations.

0.010

Motion menus Typically have a data rate of 8 Mbps for the transcoded standard-definition video or 40 Mbps for high

definition; add this to the audio data rate. (If the video is already DVD- or Blu-ray-compliant, then it won’t be transcoded, and you should use the data rate of the video file.)

Still menus Typically insignificant in terms of bit budgeting and can usually be left out of the calculation. Still menus

KB in size.

average 230

Slide shows The asset size for a slide show depends on whether you include transitions or the Random Pan & Zoom

effect:

• If the slide show contains no transitions or effects, the slides are written to the disc as MPEG stills, which require

minimal space. Stills average 230 number of images, however, you should include them in your calculation.

• If the slide show includes transitions, then Encore writes both stills and transcoded MPEG video files for the

transitions. For example, if a given image appears for 10 seconds, with a 2-second transition at the beginning and the end, then the still is written to the disc (displayed for 6 seconds) as well as two 2-second MPEG video files that contain the transition frames.

• If the slide show includes pan and zoom, then Encore transcodes the stills into an MPEG video file. Slide shows with

pan and zoom, in essence, become video content and require the same space allotment as video files. For example, a 5-minute slide show that uses pan and zoom throughout counts as 5 minutes of video content for bit-budgeting purposes.

KB in size, which is typically negligible for bit budgeting. If you have a large

Sample budget #1

Bit budgeting for a simple DVD project containing 2 hours and 13 minutes of standard-definition video, without any audio, to be distributed on a 4.7-GB disc proceeds as follows:

1 Calculate the total available disc space in bits. A 4.7 GB disc contains 4,700,000,000 bytes; each byte contains 8 bits.

bits.

4,700,000,000 x 8 = 37,600,000,000

2 Calculate the disc space available for video. Combine the size of the audio, subtitles, motion menus, and 4% of the

disc capacity (for overhead, just to be safe), and then subtract that sum from the total available space you calculated in step 1. Since this example has no audio, subtitles, or motion menus, you subtract only the 4% for overhead bits) to get a value of 36,096,000,000 bits.

(1,504,000,000

3 Calculate the data rate of the video. Divide the disc space available for video that you determined in step 2 by the

amount of video (in seconds) the project contains. 36,096,000,000 bps. Divide the bps amount by 1 million bits per Mbit to convert the video data rate to Mbps.

4,523,308.27 Mbps.

4,523,308.27 / 1,000,000 = 4.5

4 Determine the maximum video data rate. Subtract the combined audio, subtitles, and motion menu data rates, zero

in this instance, from the maximum DVD video data rate of 9.8 close to the maximum rate for DVD, you can lower it to 9.0

The video will fit on the disc using a data rate of 4.5 Mbps. This data rate (4.5 Mbps) is low enough (below 6 Mbps) that you should use VBR encoding. The maximum video data rate for VBR encoding is 9.0

bits / (133 minutes x 60 seconds per minute) =

Mbps. 9.8 Mbps - 0 = 9.8 Mbps. Because this is very

Mbps to be safe.

Mbps.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Planning the project

Sample budget #2

Proceed as follows for bit budgeting of a 120-minute standard-definition video with three audio tracks, two subtitle tracks, two motion menus, and a 1-minute movie preview to be burned to an 8.54-GB DVD:

1 Calculate the total available disc space in bits. An 8.54-GB disc contains 8,540,000,000 bytes; each byte contains

bits. 8,540,000,000 x 8 = 68,320,000,000 bits = 68,320 Mbits.

2 Calculate the disc space available for video. Combine the size of the audio, subtitles, motion menus, movie preview,

and 4% of the disc capacity (for overhead, just to be safe), and then subtract that sum from the total available space you calculated in step

• Three 120-minute audio streams, two with a data rate of 0.192 Mbps, and one with a rate of 0.448 Mbps: (2 x

minutes x 60 seconds per minute x 0.192 Mbps) + (120 minutes x 60 seconds per minute x 0.448 Mbps) =

(120 Mbits.

5,990.4

• Two subtitles with a data rate of 0.010 Mbps: 2 x (120 minutes x 60 seconds per minute) x 0.010 Mbps =

Mbits.

144

• Two 24-second motion menus with an estimated data rate of 8 Mbps: 2 x (24 seconds x 8 Mbps) = 384 Mbits.

• One-minute movie preview with a data rate of 4.5 Mbps: 60 seconds x 4.5 Mbps = 270 Mbits.

• 4% overhead: 0.04 x 68,320,000,000 bits = 2,732,800,000 bits = 2,732.8 Mbits.

• Total audio, subtitles, motion menus, preview, and overhead sizes: 5,990.4 Mbits + 144 Mbits + 384 Mbits +

Mbits + 2,732.8 Mbits = 9,521.2 Mbits.

270

• Disc space available for video: 68,320 Mbits - 9,521 Mbits = 58,799 Mbits.

3 Calculate the data rate of the video. Divide the disc space available for video that you determined in step 2 by the

amount of video (in seconds) the project contains: 58,799 Mbps.

8.16

4 Determine the maximum video data rate. Subtract the combined audio and subtitles data rates from the maximum

DVD video data rate of 9.8

The video will fit on the disc using a data rate of 8.16 Mbps, which is below the maximum video data rate of 8.95. Furthermore, because the target video data rate of 8.16

Mbits / (120 minutes x 60 seconds per minute) =

Mbps: 9.8 Mbps - (0.192 + 0.192 + 0.448 + 0.010 + 0.010) = 8.95 Mbps.

Mbps is above 6 Mbps, you do not need to use VBR.

Sample budget #3

Here is an example of a bit budget for a Blu-ray Disc project that contains 2 hours and 7 minutes of high-definition (HD) video and audio, one 30-second HD motion menu with 30 seconds of audio, and one HD pan-and-zoom slide show containing 50 slides and 8 minutes of audio (total slide show duration is 8 minutes), to be distributed on a 25-GB disc:

1 Total available disc space is 24.5 GB (25-GB disc capacity minus a very conservative 2% overhead of 0.5 GB).

2 Space required for the audio, motion menu, and slide show:

• 127-minute audio stream with a data rate of 0.192 Mbps = 127 minutes x 60 seconds x 0.192 = 1,463.04 Mbits;

divided by 8 bits = 182.88 MB, rounded off to 183 MB.

• 30-second menu audio stream = 30 seconds x 0.192 Mbps = 5.76 Mbits; divided by 8 bits = 0.72 MB, rounded

off to 1 MB.

• 8-minute slide show audio stream = 8 minutes x 60 seconds x 0.192 Mbps = 92.16 Mbits; divided by 8 bits =

11.52 MB, rounded off to 12 MB.

• 30-second motion menu at 40 Mbps = 1,200 Mbits; divided by 8 bits = 150 MB.

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Planning the project

• 8-minute slide show video (all pan and zoom) at 20 Mbps = 8 minutes x 60 seconds x 20 Mbps = 9,600 Mbits;

divided by 8 bits = 1,200 MB or 1.2 GB.

• Total disc space required = 183 MB + 1 MB + 12 MB + 150 MB + 1,200 MB = 1,546 MB or 1.546 GB.

3 Calculate amount of disc space available for video by subtracting the total disc space required in step 2 from the

total available disc space in step 1:

• 24.5 GB available space - 1.546 GB required = 22.954 GB available for video.

4 Calculate the data rate of the video by dividing the disc space available for video (in step 3) by the amount of video

(in seconds) the project contains.

• 183,632 Mbits available (22.954 GB x 1,000 MB/GB x 8 bits per byte) divided by 7,620 seconds of video (127

minutes x 60 seconds per minute) = 24.10 Mbps.

• 127 minutes of video at 24.10 Mbps = 22.96 GB.

(127 x 24.10 x 60 seconds = 183,642 Mbits, divided by 8 = 22,955.25 MB, divided by 1,000 = 22.96 GB).

5 Determine the maximum video data rate for this project by subtracting the combined audio data rates from the

disc’s maximum video data rate of 40

Mbps.

• 40 Mbps - 0.576 Mbps (0.192 + 0.192 + 0.192) = 39.424 Mbps

So the video will fit on the disc using the video data rate of 24.10 Mbps, which is below the maximum video data rate of 39.424 Mbps.

Chapter 4: Creating projects and importing assets

After planning the navigation of your project and preparing the content, you’re ready to begin. First, you’ll create an Adobe® Encore® project, and then import the assets.

Working with projects

About projects

Encore files are called projects. A project stores links to all the content you intend to include, as well as the menus and timelines (which combine video or stills, audio, and subtitles). Encore creates a folder for your project in the same location as the project file.

You can create projects for playing on standard-definition DVDs and for playing on high-definition Blu-ray discs. You can author a project for Blu-ray and then output a standard-definition version of the same project to DVD, or vice versa. The Project Settings dialog box lets you easily switch between authoring modes. Once authoring is complete, you can build your projects for final output onto a disc, in a folder, or as an image. In addition, you can export any project into a Flash format for interactive viewing on the web. For a video tutorial on authoring for Blu-ray discs, see

www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4079_enc.

A project must conform to one of two TV standards, either NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) or PAL (Phase Alternating Line). TV standards are the specifications to which any video intended for broadcast in a certain country or region must conform. These specifications include specific frame rate and frame size requirements of the video. Your final output from Encore will comply with one of these standards.

TV standard Blu-ray Disc frame rate Blu-ray Disc frame size Aspect ratio Regions

NTSC 23.976p

29.97i

59.94p

PAL 25i

50p

TV standard DVD frame rate DVD frame size Aspect ratio Regions

NTSC 29.97 fps 720 x 480 pixels 4:3 or 16:9 North America, Japan

PAL 25 fps 720 x 576 pixels 4:3 or 16:9 Europe

Note: The preceding table specifies output requirements. Requirements for imported assets vary. See “Supported file

formats for import” on page 29.

720 x 480 pixels

1280 x 720 pixels

1440 x 1080 pixels

1920 x 1080 pixels

720 x 576 pixels

1280 x 720 pixels

1440 x 1080 pixels

1920 x 1080 pixels

4:3 or 16:9 North America, Japan

4:3 or 16:9 Europe

Creating projects and importing assets

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Working with Resource Central

The Resource Central panel connects you to the latest, dynamically updated content on the Adobe website. With Resource Central, you can access product-related news and tutorials using the Resource Central panel in Adobe Encore® CS4. You can browse through a vast library of templates and other assets that you can download right into your project. Resource Central also helps you get updated information about events and product updates.

Search in Resource Central

1 Select Windows > Resource Central Viewer to display the Resource Central panel.

2 Type in your search text and press Enter.

3 Navigate through the search results and click to select the pages that you want to view.

Download assets from Resource Central

You can browse through different categories of assets that are dynamically updated in the Resource Central and download the ones you require. You can download assets such as menus in high definition and standard definition.

1 Select Window > Resource Central Viewer to display the Resource Central panel.

2 To search for the assets, do one of the following:

• Type the asset type that you want to search in the search box and press Enter.

• Select the asset type from the Resource Central panel.

3 Browse through the assets to select the asset you want to download.

4 Click the down arrow button to download the asset into your project.

Create and open projects

Before you can import your assets, you need to create or open a project. You can have only one project open at a time. For a video tutorial on creating a project in Encore, see

See also

“About transcoding” on page 45

“Transcode settings” on page 45

“Preset options for audio” on page 48

Create a new project

When you create a project, Encore prompts you to select an authoring mode (DVD or Blu-ray) and a default TV standard. You can also assign automatic transcoding settings for the maximum audio/video bit rate and audio transcoding scheme. You can change these settings later by choosing File

1 Choose File > New > Project.

2 In the Basic tab of the New Project dialog box, type a project name (Encore assigns the extension “.ncor” to the end

of the filename) and specify a project location.

3 Select DVD or Blu-ray for the authoring mode, and select a television standard (NTSC or PAL).

4 For Blu-ray projects, select a frame rate, dimensions, and codec.

www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4227_enc.

> Project Settings.

Creating projects and importing assets

5 Optionally, in the Advanced tab, do the following:

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

• Select a Maximum Audio/Video Bitrate value (these data rate values are different for DVD and Blu-ray projects)

and an Audio Transcoding Scheme.

• If you have installed third-party cards for video capture and playback, select the player. You can change this

setting later. See

6 Click OK to create the project file and folder.

“Using third-party hardware and player” on page 162

Set a default TV standard preference

If you generally create projects using the same TV standard, you can set the default standard (the standard used for new projects) in the Preferences dialog box. A project can conform to only one TV standard.

❖ To set the TV standard preference for new projects, choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Encore >

Preferences

> General (Mac OS). Specify your TV standard and click OK.

Open an existing project

• To open an existing project, choose File > Open Project. Navigate to the project you want to open, and click Open.

• To open a recently saved project, choose File > [filename] (Windows) or File > Open Recent Project > [filename]

OS). Encore lists the last five projects (four projects on Mac OS) you saved in the order in which you saved

(Mac them.

Move or rename projects

Each project requires a project file (with the .ncor file-name extension) that contains links to—and instructions for using—the various assets in the project. Projects also require a project folder (named to match the project and at the same folder level as the project file), which stores previews, transcoded assets, and other files used in the project. You can move a project file and its folder as long as you keep the relative positions the same. If you must rename a project, make sure that you match the new project filename with the new project folder name.

Move a project

❖ To move the project, drag the folder and file to a new location, or copy and paste them in the new location. Make

sure that their relative positions remain the same; that is, they should both be in the same parent folder.

Note: When you open a project file you’ve moved, a dialog box may appear if the application can’t locate specific assets. You can either relink them in the dialog box, select Offline to open the project without them, or select Skip or Skip All to temporarily set the assets offline (so that the next time you open the project, Encore prompts you again to locate the assets). When working with offline assets, use the Locate Asset command to relink them before you build or preview the project.

Rename a project

❖ To rename the project, select the file and folder in Microsoft® Windows® Explorer or the Mac OS Finder and enter

matching names (make sure to leave the .ncor extension in the project filename).

Creating projects and importing assets

USING ADOBE ENCORE CS4

Aspect ratios

Pixel and screen aspect ratios

Digital video uses two types of aspect ratios: pixel aspect ratios and screen aspect ratios (also referred to as frame aspect ratios). Although related, they describe distinct properties. The pixel aspect ratio describes the pixel dimensions within

the screen, while screen aspect ratio details the screen dimension relationship.

Pixel aspect ratios

Pixel aspect ratios describe the width-to-height ratio of the pixels that make up a video or still-image file. Pixels are either square or nonsquare (rectangular). Square pixels have a ratio of 1:1. In the film and video industry, however, the :1 is dropped and ratios are expressed as a single number. The following table lists the nonsquare pixel aspect ratios for the two TV standards for standard-definition video.

TV Standard Fullscreen pixel aspect ratio Widescreen pixel aspect ratio

NTSC 0.9 1.22

PAL 1.066 1.422

A B C D

A 720 x 480 pixel image can have a screen aspect ratio of either A. 4:3, or D. 16:9, depending on whether it has a pixel aspect ratio of B. 0.9, or C. 1.22.

The type of pixels in an image, combined with its dimensions, determine its screen aspect ratio. An NTSC 720 x 480 pixel video, for example, displays as widescreen if it contains nonsquare pixels with a ratio of 1.22. This video displays as a regular 4:3 screen if it contains nonsquare pixels with a ratio of 0.9. Encore lets you specify the pixel aspect ratio of imported assets.

High-definition video and still images have either square 1:1 pixel aspect ratios or a 1.333 anamorphic pixel aspect ratio. They come in three sizes (1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080 with square aspect ratios, and 1440 x 1080 pixels with anamorphic aspect ratios), and fit in a 16:9 screen aspect ratio.

Screen aspect ratios

Screen aspect ratios (also known as frame aspect ratios) describe the width-to-height ratio of an image or device. A standard television has a 4:3 ratio (referred to as fullscreen), and a widescreen television has a 16:9 ratio. These ratios are also noted as 1.33 for fullscreen (4 / 3 = 1.33) and 1.78 for widescreen. (Film, which includes a majority of widescreen content, actually uses screen aspect ratios ranging from 1.66 to 1.85, or even 2.35 for scope footage. However, these all work well within the format and can be considered widescreen.)

The screen aspect ratio is determined by two factors: the resolution of the image and the size of the pixels within it, or the pixel aspect ratio. As the resolution for a given asset is constant (for example, 720 x 480), Encore sets screen aspect ratios based on the asset’s pixel aspect ratio.

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