Defining links with drag-and-drop gets even easier with the Menus and Timelines tabs. First, open the menu in the Menu Editor window to display the button for which you want to define a link. Then, to link to a clip, click the Timelines tab to select the target timeline and display its associated chapter points. Then drag-and-drop the target timeline (or chapter point within the timeline) to the button in the Menu Editor (see Figure 7-18).
Similarly, for linking to a menu, click the Menus tab to select the target menu, and then drag-and-drop the target menu (or even a button within the menu) onto the button in the Menu Editor. This way, you can not only link to a menu, but also specify which button on the menu is highlighted.
Note
The Timelines tab displays columns with information from the timeline Properties palette. To display more of the properties, right-click the Titles row and choose Columns from the context menu.
Figure 7-18. Drag-and-drop from the Menus or Timelines tab to specify the link for a button in the Menu Editor.
As you have seen, you can define links in several different ways using the Properties palette for a menu button, for a menu or timeline (for the End Action or Menu Remote Button), or for the entire disc (for the First Play or Title Button). You can define the link, or an associated override. And you can define links for multiple elements at once.
If you like the drag-and-drop approach, you can do it in the opposite direction with the pick whip. First, use the Menus or Timelines tab to display the target for the link. Then select the object from which you are going to create the link, and display the Properties palette. Finally, create the link by dragging from the pick whip icon on the left of the Link field to the target item (see Figure 7-19).
As your project gets larger and more complex, setting links using drag-and-drop can become more clumsy, as you need to coordinate the display of up to three windows to carry it out (i.e., select a button in the Menu Editor window, view its links in the Properties palette, and then drag from the pick whip to the target chapter in the Timelines tab). Encore therefore provides several alternate methods of entering links directly in the Properties palette by using the pop-up menu from the Link field (see Figure 7-20).
Figure 7-20. Use the Link pop-up menu in the Buttons Properties palette to specify a link to a recently used menu or timeline.
The link options are as follows:
- Paste
Paste a link to a menu or timeline. To select the target, click it in the Project tab (or Menus or Timelines tab), or select an object in the Menu Editor, and choose Edit → Copy. Then choose Paste in the Link pop-up to paste a link to the associated menu or timeline (but not to a specific chapter or button).
- Delete
Remove the current link target. The link is then Not Set, and needs to be specified before the project is completed.
- Recent links
Choose a menu or timeline, and then the associated button or chapter from the submenu. Choose Default to not override the default setting for a menu. This list includes up to 20 of the most recently used elements in the project. If the desired item is not listed, use Specify Other to select any element in the project.
- Link Back to Here
Link back to the currently selected element (a menu, menu button, or timeline). This is particularly handy for setting overrides for multiple menu buttons at once (selected in the Menus tab), or to have each button use an override to return back to its associated menu. However, Link Back to Here also can be used to repeat playback of the element forever, so use it cautiously. With menus, use the Loop options to provide more control over repeating.
- Return to Last Menu
Link back to the last menu viewed. Used as a timeline End Action or Menu Remote link to step back to the menu from which the user reached the current timeline. In this way, the user can move back dynamically depending on how he was traversing the navigation, instead of the more typical case of moving back up a fixed hierarchy.
- Resume
Link back from a menu button to return to where the menu was accessed. Like Return to Last Menu, this option returns back one step in the path that the user was traveling through the navigational structure of the disc.
- Stop
Stop playback of the DVD after this element. This is not a good idea for most uses, but it might be useful when showing segments for training or public display. Typically, when playback of the content is complete, you should link back to the main menu. If you want the effect of a blank screen, you could use a black menu that permits playback to resume.
- Specify Other
Display the Specify Link dialog to specify a link to any menu or timeline (and associated button or chapter) in the project, and to target specific audio and subtitle tracks.
For complete control over specifying the target of a link, choose Specify Other from a Link pop-up menu in the Properties dialog. This displays the Specify Link dialog, in which you can not only specify a link to any menu or timeline (and associated button or chapter) in the project, but also specify which audio and subtitle tracks will be selected after the link is taken (see Figure 7-21).
Figure 7-21. Use the Specify Other dialog to specify a link to any menu or timeline (and button or chapter) in the project, and also to select audio and subtitle tracks.
In the Specify Other dialog, you can click a timeline or menu to select it as the target for the link, or click the disclosure triangle to select a specific button or chapter.
However, the most powerful feature of this dialog is the ability to reset the audio and subtitle indices for the disc. You can use the Audio and Subtitle drop-down menus at the bottom of the dialog to select a specific track, or choose No Change, or choose Off to disable subtitle displays. You can use this ability to change tracks, for example, to implement audio or subtitle language buttons on a Setup menu, or to choose between alternate music and commentary tracks. If target tracks are specified, they are displayed in the Properties palette after the link as, for example, A4 and S13 for Audio track 4 and Subtitle track 13.