Beth Cataldo, April 12, 2007
Beth Cataldo, April 12, 2007 |
Advanced Track Features
Track Inspector:
There are three settings at the top of the Track Inspector.
• Name: Enter the name for the track. If a track is created because a video asset was
dragged to the Menu Editor, the Outline tab, or the Graphical tab, it is automatically
named the same as the video asset. In other cases, the track is named “Track _”
where “_” is the next available number.
• Est. Size: Shows the approximate amount of disc space the track will require. This
takes into account all of the assets assigned to the video, audio, and subtitle streams.
• End Jump: Choose the element to jump to once the track finishes playing. If you
don’t make this selection, the DVD player will be unable to continue playing the title
when it reaches this point. If the track was created by dragging an asset to the Menu
Editor, the End Jump is automatically set to jump back to that menu.
Configuring the Track Editor
You can configure the Track Editor to suit your needs. You can set the size of the
streams, how many of each stream type appear, and the timeline zoom amount.
Viewing the Streams
A track can contain up to 49 streams total, but viewing this many streams at once
requires some effort. It’s unlikely that you’ll need to view more than ten streams at
once; depending on the types of projects you create, you may use only two or three
streams. There are three ways to control how many streams appear.
• You can change the size of the Track Editor’s quadrant. You can even drag the Track
tab into its own window.
• You can use the Track Editor’s separator bars to control how many of each stream
type appear. For example, if you do not plan to add subtitles, you can hide the
subtitle stream area by dragging the separator bar above the subtitle area to the
bottom of the window.
• You can select a different stream height. This changes the height of the streams as
they appear in the Track Editor. This can be useful if you want to see larger or smaller
thumbnails of the video at the markers.
Using the Stream Configuration Buttons
The Track tab includes a set of controls that you can use to quickly change which
streams appear. The size of the Track tab determines how many streams appear.
To choose which streams appear, do one of the following:
* Click the video icon to show only video streams.
* Click the audio icon to show only the V1 stream and the audio streams.
* Click the subtitle icon to show only the V1 stream and the subtitle streams.
If you select more than one of these views at the same time, the separator bars move to
show as many of the selected streams as possible. Once you choose one of these views,
you can drag the separator bars to customize the stream types that are displayed.
Setting the Timeline Zoom
The Track tab contains a zoom control you can use to expand or contract the timeline.
When working with large projects, you often need to be able to expand the timeline in
order to set a marker or insert a subtitle. Using the zoom control in conjunction with
the scroller at the bottom of the timeline allows you to configure the timeline so that it
provides enough detail to work with.
To use the zoom control, do one of the following:
* Drag it to the right to zoom out, showing more of the timeline. If the playhead is not
visible, the timeline scroller automatically jumps to a position that does show it.
* Drag it to the left to zoom in, showing less of the timeline but more detail in the part
that shows. If the playhead is not visible, the timeline scroller automatically jumps to a
position that does show it.
Hold down the Shift key while dragging the zoom control to prevent the scroller from
automatically changing its position to show the playhead.
You can also set the timeline zoom using keyboard shortcuts.
To zoom using keyboard shortcuts, do one of the following:
* Press Command-- (hyphen) to zoom out on the timeline. If the playhead is not visible,
the timeline scroller automatically jumps to a position that does show it.
* Press Shift-Command-- (hyphen) to zoom out without moving the scroller to show
the playhead.
* Press Command-= to zoom in on the timeline. If the playhead is not visible, the
timeline scroller automatically jumps to a position that does show it.
* Press Shift-Command-= to zoom in without moving the scroller to show the playhead.
* Press Shift-Z to zoom the timeline out to its maximum.
* Press Shift-Option-Z to fit the currently selected clip into the Track tab.
Understanding Time Information in the Track Editor
There are a variety of time-related elements that appear in the Track Editor. Some only
display time information while others allow you to change the information. The time
values help you identify the position of markers, clips, the playhead, and the pointer
within the video, audio, and subtitle streams.
Timecode in the Timeline
The timeline’s timecode is continuous throughout the track. You can choose from two
sources for the timecode: zero-based and asset-based.
• Zero-based timecode starts the timeline at 00:00:00:00. You cannot change the zerobased
timecode, and the assets assigned to the V1 stream do not affect it.
• Asset-based timecode can be based either on the timecode of the first clip on the V1
stream, or on a value you enter in the Track Inspector.
Working With the Track Editor’s Streams
The Track Editor’s streams contain the video, audio, and subtitle assets. You can add one
or more assets to each stream. Each stream has several properties you can set, such as
its language and whether or not it is enabled.
Supported Asset Types
In addition to assets that are already DVD-compliant, you can add assets supported by
the DVD Studio Pro embedded encoder. These assets are encoded once they are added
to your project.
Assets for Audio Streams
All audio assets within a stream must be the same type (AC-3, AIFF, MPEG-1 layer 2, and
so on) with the same number of bits (16, 20, or 24), the same sample rate (48 kHz or
96 kHz), the same bit rate (when using compressed audio), and the same channel
configuration; for example, stereo or 5.1 surround. (The streams within a track do not
have to match each other—only the assets within a stream must match. For example,
the A1 stream can use AC-3 audio and the A2 stream can use AIFF audio.)
Adding AC-3 Audio Assets
AC-3 audio assets are the only DVD Studio Pro–supported audio asset type that
actually have embedded timecode. This can help when you want to maintain sync
between the video and audio.
To add an AC-3 asset using its timecode:
m Hold down the Option key, then drag the AC-3 audio file from the Assets tab to an
audio stream in the Track Editor.
Note: Since the file must be parsed to determine its embedded timecode, an AC-3 file’s
timecode is only available when you drag it from the Assets tab, and not from the
Palette or a Finder window. Drag the AC-3 file to the Assets tab first and then from
there to the Track Editor.
When you add an AC-3 asset to an audio stream while holding down the Option key,
DVD Studio Pro checks to see if its timecode is coincident with the V1 stream’s
timecode. In other words, it checks to see if the AC-3 asset has timecode that falls
within the timecode range of the video asset.
• If it is coincident, it is placed in the stream so that it is in sync with the video.
• If it is not coincident, the AC-3 stream is placed at the beginning of the stream.
Note: If the V1 stream has more than one video clip, the AC-3 timecode is ignored. It is
also ignored if the audio stream you drag it to already has an audio clip.
Using Multiple Copies of a Clip
You can use a clip multiple times in the same stream or you can drag the clip to
other streams.
When you select a clip in one of the Track Editor’s video or audio streams, the Clip
Inspector appears.
To accommodate the additional settings used to configure transitions, the Clip
Inspector used for still clips contains two tabs: General and Transition. The General tab
contains the same information and settings as with video clips.
The Clip Inspector shows information about both the clip and the stream.
• Name: Enter a name for the clip. This name applies to the clip in this track’s timeline
only—it does not affect the asset’s name in the Assets tab.
• Asset: Shows the clip’s actual filename.
• Est. Size: Shows how much disc space this clip requires.
Clip Information and Settings
• Start: Shows the clip’s start time in the stream.
• Clip Start Trim: Choose the part of the asset that the clip should use. Enter an amount
of time by which to trim the clip’s beginning. This affects the clip’s overall length.
When you enter a new Clip Start Time, the clip repositions itself on the timeline so
that it begins at the same time, with the clip’s end moving to its new position.
• Duration: Shows the clip’s length. You can enter a new length to trim the end of the clip.
Note: When you import a QuickTime asset that contains both video and audio, you
may find that their durations, as shown in the Clip Inspector, do not match exactly.
This is often due to the DVD-Video specification’s frame rate for the supported audio
formats not dividing evenly into the video frame rate. This does not affect the lip
sync between the audio and video streams or their playback, and is purely cosmetic.
• Asset Start Timestamp: Displays the timecode of the asset’s first frame.
• Bits/Second (Avg.): Shows the clip’s bit rate information.
Stream Information
• Stream Number: Shows the stream’s number.
• Stream Duration: Shows the stream’s length.
• Language: For audio clips only; shows the stream’s language setting. You can choose
a different language from the pop-up menu. The new language is applied to the
entire stream. See “Assigning Languages” on page 378 for more information.
Browse Clip
For video clips only. You can drag the slider under the thumbnail image to scrub
through the clip’s video.
Locking a Stream
You can protect a stream from accidental changes by clicking its lock icon. When it is
open (unlocked), you can make changes to the stream; when the lock is closed, you
can’t. You can still select it for previewing and assign a language to it, but you cannot
make any changes to its clips.
To lock all streams, do one of the following:
* Choose Project > Timeline > Lock All Streams.
* Press Shift-F4.
Working With Markers
You can add up to 255 markers to a track, although a maximum of 99 can be set as
chapter markers. Each marker has its own properties that define its purpose. Markers
can be used to:
• Identify chapter points that the viewer can skip to when viewing the title
• Define when buttons appear over the video stream
• Identify the dual-layer break point when creating dual-layer projects
• Identify points in the stream that can be accessed by buttons and scripts
• Identify points where mixed-angle tracks can start
• Configure a DVD@CCESS operation to launch once the viewer reaches the marker
point while playing the title
• Set a jump to another element in the project once the marker reaches its end. This is
most often used by scripts that are set to play a portion of the stream and then
return to another place in the project.
About the Marker Types
There are four types of markers you can have in the track. One marker can be one or
more of these types. The color of a marker in the Track Editor indicates its type—if you
configure a marker to be more than one type, the marker symbol splits to display the
relevant colors.
The types of markers and their colors are:
• Chapter: purple
• Button highlight: orange
• Dual-layer break: black dot in the marker’s middle
• Cell: green
You define the type of marker in the Marker Inspector. Additionally, you can set a
marker to be a button highlight type by Control-clicking it and choosing Button
Highlight Marker from the shortcut menu.
Note: Only chapter markers can be connected to from menu buttons and scripts.
Each marker has a duration that is determined by the distance between it and the next
marker. This duration is especially important when using button highlight markers, since
it determines how long the highlights display over the video, and when creating stories,
since it determines the length of each story’s segment.
Chapter Markers
By default, all markers you create start out as chapter markers. Viewers can jump to
these markers by pressing the Previous and Next buttons on their DVD player’s remote
control. Only chapter markers can be connected to from other project elements such
as menu buttons and scripts, and a track’s story can only use track sections defined by
chapter markers. While a track can have up to 255 markers, it is limited to a maximum
of 99 chapter markers.
Chapter markers have an end jump setting. By default, this is set to Not Set, which
actually means that playback will automatically jump to the next video frame. In almost
all cases you will leave the End Jump set to Not Set; however, you may have non-standard
situations where you need to set the End Jump to a specific element. In these cases, you
are limited to a maximum of 106 chapter markers and individual end jump chapter
settings.
Note: The DVD specification does not allow subtitles to extend across chapter markers.
For that reason, subtitles that cross chapter markers are automatically split into
multiple subtitle clips at each marker when you build your project.
Button Highlight Markers
You use button highlight markers when you want to have buttons display over the
video on the track. These buttons are actually configured as part of a subtitle clip. The
buttons appear once you reach the marker and disappear when you reach the next
marker (unless it has also been configured as a button highlight marker). Often referred
to as “buttons over video,” this feature allows you to provide choices to viewers while
they watch the track part of the title.
Important: There must be at least 1.5 seconds between a butoon highlight marker and
the next marker.
Dual-Layer Break Markers
When you create a dual-layer title, you can set a marker to be used as the dual-layer
break point, the point where the title splits between the first and second layer. Since the
break point is often noticeable when playing the disc on a DVD player (the video
temporarily freezes), you want to try to choose a place in the track where the freezing
is not as noticeable.
Cell Markers
All markers define a cell in the track. A cell marker is a marker that has no specific
assignment. They are often added to a track to start a DVD@CCESS action or to provide
a break point for a button highlight marker.
Setting Marker Properties
When you select a marker, the Marker Inspector appears. It has two tabs: General and
User Operations.
Settings at the Top of the Marker Inspector
• Name: Enter the name for the marker.
• End Jump: Choose the project element to jump to when the marker finishes playing
(occurs just before the next marker is reached). This is typically left at “not set.” In
most cases, if you leave it at “not set,” each marker is automatically connected to the
next marker. This setting can be used by specialized projects and scripts that
dynamically control which parts of the track plays.
General Tab in the Marker Inspector
• Thumbnail: The thumbnail is the video frame where the marker is located. You can
drag the slider beneath the thumbnail image to move the marker to a new position.
• Save Still: Click to save the thumbnail image as a video resolution TIFF file. You can
import this file for use as a menu background or shape asset. This is useful as a way
to create a still image from a frame of a video asset.
• Zero-Based: Shows the marker’s timecode based on the timeline’s zero-based mode
(based on the timeline’s first frame being 00:00:00:00). You can reposition the marker
by entering a new value or using the arrows. The new position must correspond to a
GOP boundary—the arrows jump one GOP at a time.
• Asset-Based: Shows the marker’s timecode based on the timeline’s asset-based mode
(based on the timecode of the timeline’s first clip or a value entered in the Track
Inspector’s Other tab).
• Type: Select the function to assign to the marker. You can select one or all functions.
See “About the Marker Types” on page 386 for information.
• Wait: Use this control to set how long the DVD player displays the last frame of the
marker’s video before exercising the End Jump setting.
• None: Immediately jumps to the End Jump setting.
• Seconds: Shows the marker’s last frame for the number of seconds you enter.
• Infinite: Shows the marker’s last frame indefinitely.
• Pause after each VOBU: Select if you want playback to pause until the viewer presses
the Play button, when it plays to the next VOBU (Video Object Unit) and pauses again.
This is a way to pause the track’s playback and wait for the viewer to start it again.
The length of a VOBU varies depending on whether it is a still image or full-motion
video. When you place a still image in the video stream, it lasts for one VOBU
regardless of its duration. With video, a VOBU can be from 0.4 to 1 second long. For
this reason, “Pause after each VOBU” is generally only used on markers at still
boundaries. You should avoid using it on markers with video since it will cause the
playback to stop about once a second.
• DVD@CCESS: Select to make the name and URL settings available for this marker,
which allows you to add functionality to your title when played on a computer.
• Remote Control: Choose the place in the project to jump to if the viewer presses the
remote control’s Menu button.
• Macrovision: SD projects only. Choose the Macrovision setting to apply to this
marker’s video.
Adding Alternate Video Streams
One feature unique to the DVD medium is the viewer’s ability to switch between
parallel video streams with continuous audio. Only one video stream at a time can
serve as the active stream, but there can be as many as eight alternate streams, for a
total of nine “camera angles.” These can be different camera views, or angles, of the
same subject, or they can be any other video sources.
For example, a concert video could use different camera angles for the alternate video
streams, with cameras focusing on each musician. Stream V1, the main video stream,
could be an edited version of all angles while streams V2 to V9 could be unedited
versions of each musician. This would allow the viewer to choose whether to see the
whole concert or focus on a specific aspect of it.
In another example, the V1 stream could contain the normal view of a business
presentation, including the presenter, and the presentation’s slides could be displayed
up close on the V2 stream.
Multi-Angle and Mixed-Angle Tracks
DVD Studio Pro allows you to create either multi-angle or mixed-angle tracks. With a
multi-angle track, the alternate video streams are the same length as the main stream.
A mixed-angle track uses partial alternate video streams.
Authoring with multi-angle video is an exciting capability of the DVD medium, though
there are some disadvantages, the main one being that multi-angle video streams
consume a great deal of disc space. A DVD capable of holding 120 minutes of video has
its play time reduced to 60 minutes if there are two video angles (120 divided by 2),
and to 13.3 minutes if there are 9 video angles.
A space-efficient method of taking advantage of the alternate video streams is to build
DVD projects that have a single video stream for most of their playing time, but that
provide alternate streams in certain sections. This is known as using mixed angles.
About Alternate Stream Video Assets
If you want to switch between video streams while the DVD is playing, the DVD
specification sets some restrictions on the alternate streams. They must be in the same
MPEG format and have the exact same GOP structure as the main stream. It is strongly
recommended that you use the same encoder for all streams to ensure they match exactly.
For multi-angle tracks, all streams, including the main one, must be the exact same length.
For mixed-angle tracks, you use markers to define one or more sections of the main stream
that contain the alternate streams. There are three basic rules for the alternative sections:
• Within a track, you can use markers to define multiple sections to use additional
angles, but each section must have the same number of streams. For example, you
cannot have one section early in the track with two alternate streams and a section
later in the track with three alternate streams—both sections must have either two
or three streams.
• Each alternate angle section can be different lengths, but all streams within a section
must be the same length. For example, you can have one mixed-angle section early in
the track that is 10 seconds long and a second mixed-angle section that is 20 seconds
long. All alternate streams in the first mixed-angle section must be 10 seconds long; all
alternate streams in the second mixed-angle section must be 20 seconds long.
• You cannot use still images in the V2 through V9 streams. You can use still images in
the V1 stream as long as they are outside of the mixed-angle areas (places where
video is present in the V2 through V9 streams).
Creating a Multi-Angle Track
To create a multi-angle track, you need to use two or more suitable video assets that
are the exact same length and have the same GOP structure.
To create a multi-angle track:
1 Configure the Track Editor so that you can see as many video streams as you intend to
use.
2 Add the main video asset to the track’s video stream 1 (V1).
3 Add the second video asset to the track’s second video stream (V2).
4 Continue adding video assets to the next available streams until they are all in place.
You can name each clip in each stream using the Clip Inspector.
Creating a Mixed-Angle Track
With a mixed-angle track, the main video stream runs the full length of the track with
the alternate streams using only a small part of that time. Each of the track’s alternate
video streams is aligned to a marker, and all corresponding alternate video assets start
at the same point.
Each alternate stream must use assets with the same length, and their GOP structures
must match the main video stream.
To create a mixed-angle track:
1 Configure the Track Editor so that you can see as many video streams as you intend to
use.
2 Configure the V1 stream as needed. If you are adding multiple clips or still images,
place them all and make any necessary adjustments before adding anything to streams
V2 through V9.
3 Create a marker where you want the first mixed-angle portion to begin.
4 Add the second video asset to the track’s second video stream (V2) at the marker.
The asset snaps to the marker. Use the timeline zoom control to verify the asset is
positioned properly.
5 Continue placing video assets to the next available streams until they are all in place
and lined up with the marker.
6 Add a marker at the end of the angle clips by Control-clicking the clip in the V2 stream
and choosing Add Marker to Clip End from the shortcut menu.
7 If you are adding an additional mixed-angle section to the track, add another marker
and repeat steps 3 through 6.
You can name each clip in each stream using the Clip Inspector.
Important: To avoid errors when building your project, do not edit the V1 stream (add,
trim, or remove assets) once you have added assets to the V2 through V9 streams.