Hi

looking for a bit of help with this encore project I am working on.

I have a 2 menu pages, page 1 has 4 buttons, one of which is labelled scene selection and calls page 2 on which there are 11 buttons for 11 chapters of video. The end action of each chapter calls the next chapter and the override action calls the page 2 menu. This part works ok.

What I am trying, is to link one of the other buttons on the page 1 menu to 'play all' of the video chapters. However when I preview the project and click the play all button the first and second video clips play correctly in sequence but then at the end of the second clip it goes to the mage 2 menu.

Can someone tell me if this type of action is possible and perhaps point me in the right direction in order to fix it.

Many thanks
G

Delete all the overrides.

I suspect that the overrides are causing the problem, so if it were me, I'd
1. Get rid of all the overrides in all parts of the project
2. Make your play all button point to a chapter playlist with all the chapters in it
3. Put each chapter in a separate playlist and use them as targets to the buttons..

http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/forum/index.ph...=29500&st=0

John Rich

Whoops, looks like Ann was typing while I was watching the Olympics.

please visit my site http://www.doogs-tutorials.com/encore%201.5%20.html and look to Tutorial #08 from the blue section (intermediate), this will give you a better idea of end actions and overrides...

Hi there

Thanks for all the advice, i wasn't able to reply earlier as we had friends in last night.

I deleted the overrides and the play all button plays all the chapters one after the other. However there is a slight pause between the end of one chapter and the start of the other. Is this normal behaviour when you construct them this way, or can they be made to run together more seamlessly?

I had previously watched a number of tutorials (which are an excellent resource) and understood this was what I had to do. Doogs, I will have to watch your tut number 8 again, when I have more time (out at a party later) and try and understand when to use overrides.

Thanks again
G

is the slight pause apparent on the Encore preview??? if yes , then this will not be so noticeable on the burned DVD..

the pause is actually on the final DVD, it is like they are not being linked together fast enough.
G

If the chapters are on seperate timelines there will be a pause.
If all chapters are on one timeline there should be no pause.

Thanks Ann and JohnR for pointing me in the direction of playlists. I have watched Doogs tutorials covering playlists and now understand what I need to do. Just haven't had time to complete it.

Thanks
G

Hi again
Just updating on progress with using the playlist feature. I put all the timelines into one playlist and this has improved the situation, there is now less of a pause but it is still noticable. I just thought it would play seamlessly, guess I will just have to accept things as they are.
Thanks again.
Gordon

Gordon,
Somehow I got the idea early on you were using chapters in your project and not separate timelines. If you have time, would you try a couple of things?
1. What version of Encore are you using and what NLE (Ie premiere?).

2. Since you have separate timelines, I assume you are rendering each video for the timelines as separate sequences.

3 If you have Encore 2.0 and #2 is correct, then try putting all the sequences together into one video and put sequence markers appropriately to serve as chapter markers.
Don't forget to put a name in each sequence marker (double click to open).

4. Then take this long video and put it on one time line in Encore 2.0 or higher with no end action.

5. Then take this timeline and put in a regular playlist and use the playlist for your Play All Button using the end action of the playlist to bring you back to your menu.

6. Finally, make a separate chapter playlist for each of your chapters and hook the separate chapter playlists up to each of your chapter buttons, using the chapter playlists' end actions to bring you back to your menu. No overrides.

7. Burn a DVD folder with Encore.

8. Download ImgBurn, a free DVD burning program (check Google), and burn the disk with ImgBurn using the folder from Encore.

If you have Encore 1.5, then chapters aren't available, so you are stuck with separate timelines. You could try putting each timeline in a separate regular playlist and using them for your buttons and not having any timeline endactions, to see if that makes the transition less apparent. Of course, you could also fade out at the end and fade in at the beginning of each clip.
Please let us know if this helps.
John

Many thanks John for your detailed response. To answer your questions, I edit in Premiere 6.5 and have Encore version 1.5 and had exported the movie in sections as separate avi files. Having done some reading and experimentation I understand that doing it this way will always produce pauses between each of the clips.

However I now have this sorted, although I have Encore 1.5, I am able to create chapters in a single avi file. So I exported the movie as a complete package and created chapters in Encore, despite what some of the other posts have said about not being able to do this in 1.5! Don't really understand why I can, but am not really worried
Gordon

Gordon,
Glad you got your project working.
I just looked at my Encore 1.5 again, and I don't have a chapter playlist function in it.
Not to belabor this, but in your Encore 1.5, do you have the ability to set chapters and then attatch the chapters to buttons?
When I select a chapter, there is nothing in the properties panel like end action, etc. That's what I meant about not having chapters ie the're there to use to skip between parts of the time line, but they are not available to use for button navigation.

If you wouldn't mind, I would like to know how you hooked up your eleven chapters to the appropriate buttons.
Thanks in advance.
John

Hi John
I first looked in the on-line help manual and it talked about chapters, although I found the description did not match what I had to do, typical of computer manuals! So yes I have 10 buttons and each one plays just one chapter of the complete avi file. So here is my description:

Import your avi file as an asset.
Click on the icon to create a new timeline, the timeline will appear in the list along with the avi files depending on what way you are viewing your assets etc.
If a new timeline window (a bit like the Premiere timeline window with video and audio tracks) does not appear, as well as a monitor window, then double click the timeline in the asset list.
Drag the avi file onto the timeline window.
Use a combination of the play button on the monitor window and the cursor on the timeline, to select a position in the file where you want a new chapter to begin. There is a zoom control in the bottom left corner of the timeline window, for more accurate positioning.
Click the new chapter button, a pointed rectangle with + beside, a chapter point now appears on the timeline.
Repeat the above to mark any other chapter positions.
Now create your buttons on a menu page.
Click a menu button, then in the properties window, click the > arrow and select the appropriate video and chapter number.
Repeat for any other buttons linking them to other chapters.

I hope this helps and it is not just my installation of Encore that I can do this with.

Good luck
Gordon

and if i remember correctly Encore didn't have the chapter end actions until version 2.0

You could add chapters to a single timeline in version 1.5 but the choosen chapter would play all the way through to the end of the timeline.

Or could it possibly be that I am missing something here

Oops, sorry John I appear to have misled you and perhaps myself aswell. Of course I bow to Doogs superior knowledge.

I had mistakenly assumed that I had achieved individual chapters linked to buttons, but I had not checked by watching the DVD through. In my testing of the project, I had clicked the execute end action button and it went to the correct menu page, I just hadn't realised that the end action is the end of all the chapters!!

I tried creating a playlist for each chapter with an end action, but this too played from the start of the chapter through to the end of all chapters.

Looks like upgrading is the only solution.
Gordon

no superior knowledge at all .....LOL, have just been there, got the T-shirt and bought the video (no pun intended there )