Encore also integrates tightly with Adobe After Effects for converting a menu into a video motion menu. There are a number of ways that you can transfer menus back and forth from Encore to After Effects.
You can start with the basic menu design in Encore, and then use Menu → Create After Effects Composition to transfer a menu to After Effects as a new composition. After saving the background as a Photoshop (PSD) file, Encore generates an After Effects project file (AEP) and starts up Adobe After Effects. The result of this command is shown in Figure 6-18.
You can then use After Effects to animate the menu design into a motion menu—for example, by having the buttons fly onto the screen and the title text drop into place. Finally, you can export the resulting composition as an AVI video file, and import it into Encore as a new video background for your motion menu (set in the Properties palette for the menu).
Alternatively, you can design a menu in After Effects, including layers (and even button elements) that you can import into Encore. Use the Layer → Adobe Encore DVD → Create Button or Assign To Highlights commands in After Effects, shown in Figure 6-19, to rename a layer to use as Encore menu button elements, and then use the Composition → Save Frame As menu item in After Effects to export a frame as a layered Photoshop file ready to import into Encore.
Encore also supports Edit Original integration with After Effects and Premiere Pro. Select a video asset in the Adobe Encore Project window, and choose Edit → Edit Original. Encore will open the file using the original application that created it and, even better, open up the actual project used to export the asset. You can then edit the project and save a new copy of the video file, and Encore will use the changed file.
This Edit Original feature requires you to save the project information with the video file when you export it. In After Effects, when you choose the Composition → Make Movie option, be sure to set the output module settings correctly. You should export the file as a Video for Windows AVI, and set Embed to Project Link, as shown in Figure 6-20.
