Operation Manual

ENCORE CS3

User Guide

In this menu, duration exceeds length of video and audio content. Video background freezes on the last frame before the menu loops. Audio

finishes and starts again only when menu loops. Thumbnails repeat until menu loops.

A. Menu duration B. Video thumbnails C. Video background D. Last frame E. Audio

About Loop Point

You can set motion menus to loop either a specific number of times or until the viewer activates a button (forever).

When looping, all content begins again once the menu duration is reached. The only exception to this is when you

specify a loop point.

The loop point is used to initially disable the buttons. Until the loop point is reached, the viewer cannot select or

activate a button. The menu returns to this point on each repetition, so the buttons are disabled only when the menu

is first displayed. For any subsequent repetitions, the Duration is shorter and the start point of all video content in

the menu is offset.

Buttons are inactive until background video reaches loop point. If the menu loops, it returns to the loop point, making the menu duration

shorter.

A. Menu duration B. Background video C. Loop point

A loop point is often used when a menu has been animated in Adobe After Effects CS3. For example, you can create

a video in After Effects in which the button images fly in from different points and settle into position after 15

seconds. In this case, the background video, not the menu, includes the button images. Except for those first 15

seconds, the button images would remain static for the remainder of the video (other elements could continue to

move). The actual menu that uses this animation as its background could be quite simple. It would need just a place-

holder background layer (to be replaced by the video) and button layer sets that contain only the button subpicture

layers used for the selected and activated button states. (See “About creating menus in After Effects” on page 100.)

For the first 15 seconds that the menu is displayed, the buttons perform their animation. If you set the loop point to

15 seconds, you then disable the buttons during the animation. Only when the menu reaches the loop point do the

buttons become active. If set to loop, it loops back to the loop point, not the beginning of the animation.