User Guide

Chapter DVD Authoring
14 - 37
DVD Authoring: Reference
4 Activated highlight layer
This layer briefly confirms its selection by displaying color shading and/or a change in
transparency. It’s like a visual “clicking” sound.
Why Subpictures?
Subpictures are superimposed on the video and can be used on a DVD for such things as subtitles
and overlays as well as for menu button highlights. Even when created in a graphics program, a
subpicture does not really have its “own” colors; the colors are assigned dynamically as soon as
the subpicture is played in the DVD player. This assignment (mapping) of color and transparency
is performed on the Highlight tab.
According to the DVD specification, there are four pixel types. Only these four types are used to
create subpictures. The following are the names of these types as per the specification plus the
designation used by Pinnacle Liquid:
w Background / Color 1
w Emphasis 1 / Color 2
w Emphasis 2 / Color 3
w Foreground / Color 4
These designations should not be taken literally and in other DVD authoring programs are
referred to by different names such as “Red/Green/Blue”, “Color Map #1”, etc. The designations
do not necessarily have anything to do with “background” or “emphasis”.
Each pixel type has a color from a palette of 16 colors and a degree of transparency that is also one
of 16 degrees ranging from fully transparent to opaque. Each menu is checked to determine
which colors and degrees of transparency are assigned to which pixel type. Thus, the same subpic-
ture can appear differently from menu to menu, at least as far as its color is concerned.