Playlists and chapter playlists

A playlist is a group of timelines, slide shows, or chapter playlists that play sequentially (from each one’s specified chapter) and can include one end action. Playlists provide more efficient navigation possibilities than end action overrides alone. After creating a playlist, you populate and edit it by using the Playlist Properties panel. You can specify different audio and subtitle tracks for timelines accessed from a playlist also. You can choose playlists as a link or an end action from other elements. A playlist plays back all the elements included and cannot be interrupted, except by the viewer using the remote control. You can also chain multiple playlists together using end actions.

Note:

Playlists govern multiple timelines. To order chapters within a single timeline, use chapter playlists.

Playlists let you set the order of playback for several elements at once, making authoring more efficient. For example, if a project includes a collection of short films, with director interviews and critical reviews for each, all contained in separate timelines, you can organize them in a variety of ways using playlists. You could create a menu with a Play All button to play each short film, the interview, and critical reviews in a linear fashion. The Play All button links to a playlist that contains all the timelines laid out in a linear order (first short film, interview, review, second short, interview, review, and so on). To play only the shorts, you’d create a Play Shorts button that links to a playlist that contains only the short films’ timelines. If the project includes several films by the same director, you could make a button for that director, which links to a playlist that contains the director’s short films, interviews, and reviews—and present them in any order you wish.

Drag pick whip (C) to timeline (A) to add it to playlist (B) displayed in Playlist Properties panel.

Encore provides the following options for chapter playlists in timelines for Blu-ray and Flash projects:

Sequential: Play chapter playlists sequentially
Random: Let the Blu-ray player play a set of chapters randomly. It may play the same chapter multiple times or play multiple chapters.
Shuffle: Play all the chapters in random order.

Encore provides only the Sequential option for chapter playlists of DVD projects. You can access these options in the Chapter Playlist panel.

Select the timelines and slide shows you want in the playlist. To select noncontiguous items, hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac OS) key while you click them.

In the Project panel, choose Playlist from the Create A New Item menu at the bottom of the panel, or choose File > New > Playlist.

Enter a name for the playlist, and click OK. Encore creates a playlist and populates it with the selected assets.

Select the playlist in the Project panel, and bring the Playlist Properties panel to the front, if it’s not visible.

Edit the list of assets in the Playlist Properties panel as desired, by rearranging the order, or deleting or adding more of the assets. (See Edit a playlist next.)

If desired, set an end action using the End Action pop‑up menu or the pick whip. If you don’t set an end action for the playlist, then the end action of the last asset in the playlist will be activated.

From an expert: Building playlists

Learn how to easily build playlists using the tools available in Encore CS6.

Jeff Sengstack

http://www.infiniteskills.com/

Use the controls on the right side of the Playlist Properties panel to edit the items in the playlist, including the pick whip, a pop‑up menu, and the Up and Down Arrow buttons.

Select a playlist in the Project panel.

Edit the playlist as follows, using the Playlist Properties panel:

To reorder the timelines and other assets, select them one at a time and use the Up and Down Arrow buttons to move them each to a new location in the list.
To add a timeline, slide show, playlist, or chapter playlist to a playlist, drag the pick whip to the asset in the Project panel or Timelines panel or to a chapter point or a slide in the Timeline or Slideshow viewers. Encore adds the asset to the end of the playlist.
To delete an asset, select it and click the Delete icon or choose Delete from the pop‑up menu. You can select multiple, noncontiguous elements by holding down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) and clicking each one.
To specify a different audio or subtitle track for the asset, choose Specify Link from the pop‑up menu. In the Specify Link dialog box, select the asset, specify the new tracks using the Audio and Subtitle menus, and click OK.

Chapter playlists function much as playlists do, but provide a means of playing a single timeline’s chapters in a nonsequential order. You can also use chapter playlists to change the end action or other timeline properties. After creating a chapter playlist, you populate and edit it by using the Chapter Playlist Viewer.

Note:

You use chapter playlists to link together chapters within a single timeline; you use playlists to link together multiple timelines.

For example, suppose the main timeline for a pottery-making video progresses from an introductory workflow to a discussion of tools (with chapter markers for each tool type) to a series of demonstrations (chapters for making a bowl, a vase, a pitcher, and a plate), then to glazing and, finally, to firing in the kiln. With chapter playlists, you can quickly create different paths for different viewers.

You make a main menu with buttons to play the entire video, or to play each demo separately. To play the entire video, you simply link that button to the main timeline. To play the individual demonstrations, you create a chapter playlist for each possible path you want (a bowl chapter playlist, a pitcher chapter playlist, and so on). When the viewer clicks the pitcher demo button, for example, which is linked to the pitcher chapter playlist, the pitcher demo plays, then glazing, and so forth—the viewer sees only the relevant parts. Or you could create a chapter playlist for the viewer who only wants to see the overall workflow, without watching the individual demonstrations. In this instance, you create a workflow chapter playlist, and add to it all the chapters except the demonstration chapters.

You can create a chapter playlist to present the chapters of a timeline in a nonsequential order.

Choose File > New > Chapter Playlist, or choose Timeline > New Chapter Playlist. If a timeline is selected, a chapter playlist is created from it. If no timeline is selected, Encore prompts you to choose one.

In the Chapter Playlist Viewer, either select the chapters you want to work with on the left side of the viewer, and then click the Add button , double-click them, or drag them to the Chapter Playlist on the right side of the viewer.

Arrange the chapters in their new order by dragging them in the Chapter Playlist.

Specify the necessary links and other settings by selecting a chapter on the left side of the viewer (in the Master Timeline list) and making updates in the Properties panel.

Double-click the chapter playlist in the Project panel to open it in the Chapter Playlist Viewer.

Edit the playlist as follows in the Chapter Playlist Viewer:

To add a chapter, drag it from the left side of the viewer to the list on the right side or double-click it.
To reorder the chapters, drag them to new locations in the list on the right side of the viewer.
To delete a chapter, select it in the Chapter Playlist on the right and click the Delete icon. You can select multiple, noncontiguous chapters by holding down the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac OS) and clicking each chapter.