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Agenda:
- Review homework
- In-class exercise: Button states
- In-class exercises: FCP overview & audio
Menu Graphics
Photoshop is a great tool for making DVD menus. There are several different
types of menus that we'll be making in the next few weeks. In the following
two exercises, you'll build a mock-up of a DVD menu. Your menu will have
several buttons. Visually, you'll need to do something to let the user
know which button is highlighted. Typically menu designers think of button
graphics in three states: normal (at rest), highlighted (when your mouse
is over them or they are selected) and active (when they are clicked).
In the next exercise you'll only have to make two states: normal & selected.
How can you show the user what button is selected? There are many possibilities.
Note about Photoshop layer styles: Remember that
you can not use layer styles directly inside of After Effects. Final
Cut Pro, or DVD Studio Pro. If you use a style on a layer, you must
flatten or rasterize the layer before bringing it into another application.
My favorite way of doing this is to create a new layer underneath the
layer with the style. The select the layer with the style and choose "merge
down" from the layer window sub-menu.
Buttons
Think of buttons as having three states:
- Normal (at rest)
- Selected (when the mouse is over them or they are selected by a DVD
remote
- Activated (When they are clicked on or someone presses enter on a
DVD remote when selected.
The folowing exercise takes you through a simulation of the button states.
Menu Graphic Exercise:
NOTE: If you have Photoshop CS, you can work directly in a non-square
pixel size of 720 x 480. If you do not have the latest version of Photoshop,
you'll need to work in square pixels (720 x 540) then resize your graphics
for 720 x 480.
Create a 720 x 480 (DV non-square pixels) graphic of the main menu of
a DVD. It should have several buttons. This is a chance to make a rough
draft of what your DVD menu and buttons might look like. Remember this
is only a rough draft. Feel free to experiment with different buttons
and highlight styles. Take a look at the examples to see what other students
have done.
Examples:
Ryan's separate PICT files:
Instructions
- Create a background image and at least three buttons leading to
different parts of the DVD. (720 x 480 - DV non-square pixels)
- Design the buttons so they have three different states: normal &
selected.
In Photoshop, layout your graphic so that the background, or any elements
that are always visible, are on the bottom of the layer window. These
layers will always have their visibility (the eye icons) turned on.
Place your button layers on top of this. Use separate layers for each
button state: normal & highlighted.
- Toggle the various layers on and off to represent the changing states
of your buttons. While you do this, export a series of PICT files that
show your menu at rest and the three buttons in their highlighted states.
Something like:
- PICT "normal" (all buttons at rest, nothing highlighted)
- PICT "button1" (button #1 highlighted)
- PICT "button2" (button #2 highlighted)
- PICT "button3" (button #3 highlighted)
- Start a FCP project (Remember to set the scratch drive to your folder
on the local media drive)
- Import your PICT files into your FCP project and bring them into
a sequence.
- Using multiple clips and adjust the in & out points so that it
looks like you're cycling through the various buttons. Something like:
-
In other words:
- PICT "normal" (two seconds)
- PICT "button1" (one second)
- PICT "normal" (two seconds)
- PICT "button2" (one second)
- PICT "normal" (two seconds)
- PICT "button3" (one second)
- PICT "normal" (two seconds)
- Play your video & see what it looks like.
- Save a copy onto your local media drive (We'll use it for the last
exercise)
Audio
Number of channels can vary: mono, stereo, surround.
Audio has different sample rates & bit depths:
- 8 bit at 22KHz - low end, early computer alert sounds
- 16 bit at 32 kHz - extended play DV, extended play DAT
- 16 bit at 44.1 kHz - DAT, CD, MP3 at high quality)
- 16-bit at 48 kHz - DAT/mini disc/DV
- 24 bit at 48 kHz - DAT/DAW (digital audio workstations)
- 24 bit at 96 kHz - DAW
- 24 bit, 192 kHz - bleeding edge DAW
PCM – Pulse Code Modulation. An impressive way
to refer to uncompressed digital audio.
Audio formats
Uncompressed, using PCM
- AIFF – standard audio format (popular on Apples)
- WAV – standard audio format (popular on PCs)
- SDII - Sound Designer II. A file format developed by digidesign
Compressed
- AC-3 (Dolby Digital)
- MP3
- DTS (Digital Theatre System) - developed for theatres, requires special
hardware
Importing Audio into Final Cut Pro
Do not use any form of compressed audio (MP3s etc) It will contain distortion.
Use QuickTime Pro to change compressed audio files into AIF files for
use in your projects.
Audio component & final output:
- Using a CD from the production lab (or borrowing from the web), import
a soundtrack into your FCP project.
- Export a 320 x 240 movie and call it "buttons".
- Place a copy into your folder inside of the week3 folder on the server.
Homework:
- Create a mockup of a well-designed DVD menu that has at least three
buttons- and that each button has three states: normal, selected, and
activated. Turn in a copy of the PSD multi-layered document that is
optimized for import into another application (DVD Studio Pro or After
Effects). You'll want to make sure you're using the proper pixel dimensions
and aspect ratio, that all layers, styles, and text are rasterized,
and that the labeling and arrangement of the layers is clear and logical.
- Make
three full-size JPEGs that show one of the choices along with its
normal (non-selected), selected, and activated states.
- You will turn in your multi-layered PSD file, along with the 3 JPEGS,
and a sentence or two that describes the purpose of the menu. (What
it's for.)
- Study for Quiz next week. (Review the class notes along with
Sitter Chapter 2 & 3.)
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