Step one... Making the DV format files:

You will need to encode your work to a DVD compliant file format, and to do this we will need to use After Effects. (Though there are many other programs out there that this will work in, AE 6.5 has a built in Mpeg2-DVD codec that handles all of you encoding needs for this tutorial)

Your work needs to be set to the right dimensions, which are 720x480 D1/DV NTSC (0.9). Don't worry if your work is some funky shape other than this, you can just make a new Composition at these settings and just scale your piece to fit inside this. It may "Letterbox" your work when you do this, but this cannot be helped if you want your work to play from a DVD to a normal TV. Besides, it will add more of a cinematic feel to your work, and in the future someone may make a "Widescreen DVD tutorial" to accommodate large format works. Anyways, back to this. :)

When you add your work to the render queue select "MPEG2-DVD" from the format list, then, in the Format Options, you will want to select "NTSC DV 4x3 High Quality 7mb CBR 1 pass" under the Preset dropdown. Next you will select the Audio section in the same Format Options, there you will select, in the Audio Format Settings, "MPEG." Audio and video will now be set for this piece, and you can now Render your work.

{image 02, image 03, image 04, image 05}

There will be two files when this is completed, a M2V video file and a MPA audio file.

Rundown on settings:

Composition settings: 720x480, D1/DV NTSC (0.9)
Format: MPEG2-DVD
Format options:

............Preset: NTSC DV 4x3 High Quality 7mb CBR 1 pass

............Audio Format: MPEG

Step two... Making the Menu image:

Making the menu is really simple, however you need to know a little about Photoshop. Encore will accept Photoshop PSD files as assets (imported content), and will automatically make Buttons from layers within these files if they are made and labeled right. So, what does this mean? You can take any image you so desire, add stuff in Photoshop then encore will see that stuff as buttons.

First off you need to make a file that is 720x534 at 72 dpi. (I know, its a different size from what was said before, but that is the size the menu images are) The image must be able to contain Layers. Now place any image you want as the background, you can draw something or cut and paste an image then merge it down into the background. Then make your Play Button image (it can say play, or be the title of your work. what ever you want, the text tool is well used here.) However this image must be on its own layer, and any space around it must be Empty, or Cleared (Deleted) but not made transparent. (Encore makes the button based on what is actually drawn in the layer, empty space is ignored and transparent space isn't, this can be checked by clicking off the eyes that are next to the background and layers other than the button you are checking, what you should see after doing this is your button surrounded by checkers. This signifies that there is no graphical data in that area) Label this layer "Button" Now make the Button Highlight (this is the image that appears when your button is selected or moused over), It too must be in its own layer, and it must be the only thing in the layer as before. Also, highlight MUST be one solid color, no gradients or smearing. Label this layer "(=1) Highlight"

Here is what makes this a button. Make a Folder in the Layer window, and name it "(+) play button." Now drag the two layers you made in to that folder. The important thing to know here is that Encore reads the names of the layers and that information is what tells it what to do. Specifically it looks for the Plus Sign in parentheses (+) in front of the folder name, and it looks for the Equals One inside of parentheses (=1) infront of the highlight layer name. You can have up to 3 highlights, each must be in a separate layer and labeled (=1) or (=2) or (=3). This is for many buttons having different color highlights, and can be used for multi-colored highlights on one button. It isn’t uncommon to see up to 3 layers used for highlights in a button, but one layer will suffice.

Also, if you have more than one button, you cannot have them overlap each other. Encore will draw as small of a box as it can around your button image and highlight image together, this is why we needed to make sure that the space was empty around you button otherwise the button would fill the page. This box is also not oriented to the angle of your button. It is drawn purely horizontally and vertically. This means that if you make a long thin button and turn it at an angle, Encore will draw a box that will have empty space in two corners of your button. And what will happen is when you import your menu into Encore, anywhere a button box overlaps another buttons highlight, that highlight that is overlapped will show up too. This is much like how a web page is made using standard HTML, not flash. So, mind the grid when you make your design, and don't overlap you buttons. An easy way to check to see if it’s overlapping is to select your button layer, and check the link box next to the highlight layer. This links the two for editing purposes. Then select the Free Transform Tool (Ctrl+T). This will make a transformation box around your button and its highlight, and that box will be the same size and shape as the box that Encore will make. Plus, if you are overlapping you can just move or resize the button and highlight with the transform tool you just opened, and then see whether or not it still overlaps before hitting enter to accept the changes. Hitting the Escape key will not leave any changes if you did something you didn’t like or the button was already in a good place.

Save your image as a Photoshop PSD file. You can repeat this process for Sub menus as well, and there are many extra things you can do in these menus. You can find more specific data on the Adobe Encore forums.

Recap:

Image format: PSD

Image size: 720x534 @ 72dpi

Buttons and highlights must be the only parts drawn in their layers

Make sure that one button and its highlight does not overlap the highlight of another button

Button folder Prefix: (+)

Highlight layer prefix: (=1)

Step three.... making the DVD

Before you begin this part, it is good to make an organized folder to put you DVD project in. Make a DVD folder, then make a folder for you rendered work, and finally one for your menus and any sub menus you want. Now place your files in their respective folders.

Begin by making a new project... File>New Project Then select NTSC. Then start importing your Rendered work. File>Import As Asset If all you rendered work is in one folder, then you can select them all and import them all at once at his time.

Now import you menus... File>Import As Menu Import the menu you want to show up first before you import any others. (This will make that menu the title menu by default, and set it to run first when the DVD first runs)

You can now begin linking your buttons. To do this, goto the Menus tab on the project window (it should be the one to the right of the) Double click the title menu (it should be the only one that has a play button on its icon) This will open up you title menu in another window if it wasn’t already opened when it was imported. (Don’t be alarmed if your highlight doesn’t show up, they don’t show up normally in this view. There is a button at the bottom of the window your menu opened in that will reveal all highlights.) Now position it so you can see it with the project window. Then goto the Project tab and drag and drop the video M2V file you want to play to the play button you made in Photoshop. You will see a border form around the button when the video is over the button. Now the video is linked, but you must put the audio PMA file with the video. To do this you must goto the Timelines tab and double click on your video in there. This opens up the timeline viewer. You should see a timeline with your video in it, and an empty bar marked "Audio 1" Drag and drop your Audio file to this empty bar. You can also preview your video and audio in the window. Once you have the audio placed close the timeline previewer window to get it out of your way.

You can repeat this step for sub menus as well, just drag and drop the sub menu to the button in the title menu. Think of the menus like a website, each button is a link, and each video or sub menu is the next web page. If you decide to make a more complex menu with many sub menus, it is good practice to make a simple outline to plan out your menus higharchy system before you begin. And remember Submenus need Back buttons. :)

Now Save your work in the DVD folder you made. Encore will make a project folder with in that folder, so now you can back up all your data with one folder. Plus Encore seems to be a little more intuitive about its imported files. If your work is all in the same main folder, it will find it no matter what drive that main folder is in.

Now we need to preview the DVD. Goto the Menus tab, and right click on the title menu. Select Preview From Here, which is the bottom most selection. This will allow you to preview your DVD like it was playing in a DVD player. As you mouse over your buttons, the highlights you made should appear. This is where you will see if you have overlapped your highlights.

Now we can burn the DVD. Your project must be saved to proceed, and place a blank DVD in the drive. Goto File>Build DVD>Make DVD Disc There may be a popup that prompts you to check for broken links in your project, but if all the links worked the way you wanted them in the preview you can click ignore and proceed. Follow the prompts and click Build.

Congratulations! You now have a DVD to present you work.