I see Apple putting out a PC version only when Steve Jobs has been laid to rest...
As for Encore, this is all good feedback... Actually, it's very confusing feedback.
> I have a simply project, 3 animated menus, with transitions, 1 feature with
> stereo ac3 audio.
Aside from a simply project, I'm with you so far...
> I've spent all afternoon fiddly with this stupid program, on my scene select
> page, the audio route button option is hilarious, so you want button one to link to
Okay, right there... You lost me. There is no "Audio Route" button, nor is there an option for it. Are you talking about BUTTON routing? If so, it's on the bottom of the menu editing window. You'll need to turn off Automatic Button Routing in the inspector palette otherwise Encore will handle the routing for you. (Sometimes a good thing, sometimes not so good...)
> How the helldo you change the button route? Help file is crap.
Okay, even internally, we have our own opinions about the help system... I'll grant you it may need some work.
> Designing subpicture's is a nightmare, who the hell wants to make a Photoshop
> file with this (+) ButtonSet 7 (=1) text highlight crap.
I see criticism of the current workflow, but no offer of an alternative. I could see something like THUMBNAIL and HIGHLIGHT1, HIGHLIGHT2, etc. but even I have memorized:
(+)=button,
(%)=Thumnail, and
(=1,=2,=3)=Highlight colors.
> In Spruce Maestro I finished my project in 5 minutes, not including compile time.
> In Encore I have not got past setting the correct sub picture colours and
> highlights, utter rubbish. The user interface is terrible, who thought that
> dragging a
@line across the screen through crowded screens with loads of
> other menus and assets to make link was a good idea! Fire that person.
Actually, that is among the most-loved features across three different groups. The GoLive team was, to the best of my knowledge, the first to implement this. Macromedia even liked it so much, they put it in Dreamweaver. After Effects added it in version 5.0 to define parenting. And - in short - I've demoed Encore in front of several THOUSAND people world-wide since it has become public information and it remains the second most crowd-wowing feature in the entire application. Photoshop Integration and Encore's support for motion menus tie for #1.
Now, with my product sufficiently defended, I'd love to hear your thoughts SPECIFICALLY on how to make Encore better. Don't just make this a place of complaint, make it a source for change. Since 99% of DVD designers in the known universe use Photoshop to create menus, how would you approach the process of moving files from Photoshop to Encore and still allow them to be NATIVELY edited?
Likewise for highlight color building. Would you suggest an extra channel defined for each layer? (they wouldn't synchronize but I'd be open for suggestions). Should each button be its own Photoshop file (as other applications do?)
As for the help system... Well, I'm kinda with ya on that one. With companies slimming down left and right, it's tough to keep all that information in there.
You DID read the manual and go through the tutorials didn't you?
Daniel Brown, Sr. Evangelist, DV & Motion Graphics
Adobe Systems Inc. -
http://www.adobeevangelists.com
