How to Use Overrides in Encore

Overrides give users additional control options.

Navigational tools in Adobe Encore CS5, including optional overrides, set the stage for a positive user experience. This final but critical step in the process of creating a DVD or Blu-ray disc determines what happens as individual elements on the disc end, how viewers move through content and the ease or difficulty they have in doing so. Use overrides to put menu control in the hands of your viewer. Setting “end action overrides” gives the viewer the option to play items in consecutive order or return to the menu and make a different selection.

Instructions

1. Create a separate timeline for each song or video file on the DVD. Right-click on each item and choose “New:Timeline,” or save time by pressing and holding the “Shift” key and selecting the files as a group. Press “Create a New Timeline” at the bottom right of the Project window to simultaneously create separate timelines for each file. The Properties tab in the Project window will now display a file and a timeline icon for each item as well as a menu icon for the group. The Menu tab will display a “Play All” button as well as menu buttons for each item.

2. Link each timeline icon to its corresponding menu button. Going in consecutive order, click each button in the Menu tab to open its “Properties” window, and then click the arrow on the left side of the Link label. Set the link property to its corresponding menu item. Follow the same procedure to link the “Play All” button to the first timeline icon as the last action in this process.

3. Set end actions for the “Play All” button so that as each timeline ends, the next one begins. Starting with the first timeline icon and going in consecutive order, click the timeline icon in the Project window to open its “Timeline Properties” window and set the “End Action” property to the next timeline. Set the end action for the final timeline to the default menu icon.

4. Set overrides to give the user the option to play or view individual selections. Open the “Menu” tab in the Project window and click a menu button to open its Properties window. Click the arrow on the left side of the Overrides label and select “Menu” and “Default.” Now, when the item finishes, it will default back to the main menu button.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also use a drag-and-drop feature called the “Pick Whip” tool to link timeline icons to their menu buttons and set overrides. Each has a pick-whip icon to the right of the label. Click on the icon and drag it to the appropriate location.

References

• Adobe Systems: Creating and Managing Links
• Adobe Systems: Create and Manage Timelines
• CreativeCow.net: Building a Play All Menu in Adobe Encore DVD
• Adobe Systems: Setting Navigation and Properties