The Preview Window

The Preview window is used for three aspects of authoring:

To define the size and position of menu buttons, and the button paths

To check placement and appearance when adding subtitles

To view simulation of video playback and program flow

Display of the Preview window can be toggled on and off from the Tool Bar.

The Preview window has two modes: Design and Simulation. To switch between modes, click the “LED” at the bottom left of the Preview window. In Design mode, the LED is red and the control panel at bottom contains a set of tools for working on buttons and subtitles. In Simulation mode, the LED is green, and the panel contains the same keys found on a DVD-Video remote control, allowing you to play the project in its current state as if it were playing on a DVD-Video player.

This section includes the following topics:

Design Mode

Simulation Mode

Design Mode

In Design mode, the Preview window offers a complete set of tools for working on menu buttons and subtitles.

Preview window in Design mode

Stream Indicators

At the upper left and right corners, respectively, of the Preview window’s control panel area, we find the Audio and Subtitle stream indicators:

Audio Indicator Shows the currently playing audio stream, as well as to change or mute the stream. Clicking the “+” and “–” buttons will cycle through the available streams for the current Track (up to eight). Clicking the Audio indicator itself will toggle audio playback between muted (indicator darkened) and audible (indicator lit).

Subtitle Indicator Shows the currently playing subtitle stream, as well as to change or hide the stream. Clicking the “+” and “–” buttons will cycle through the available streams for the current Track (up to 32). If the subtitles are Simple type or Infinite type, clicking the Subtitle indicator itself will toggle the display between hidden (indicator darkened) and visible (indicator lit).

Note: Menu type subpictures are always displayed. It is also possible to force imported Simple and Infinite subtitles to be displayed by using the Display_Start script file setting. See About the Script File Settings for more information.

Running across the middle of the control panel there is a horizontal tool bar for the Preview window’s design functions. Clicking the circular button in middle pops up a menu that offers an alternative way to activate most of these tools.

Cursor Modes

The left side of the control panel’s tool bar contains three buttons (described left to right):
Selection Tool Sets the mouse cursor to Selection mode, allowing you to select and resize menu buttons that have already been defined (if any).

New Button Tool Sets the mouse cursor to New Button mode. You create a new button on the current menu by clicking and dragging in the display, which defines the rectangle of the new button’s hotspot.

Eyedropper Tool Sets the mouse cursor to Color Picker mode (only available in the “Original Color” display mode; see Viewing Modes and Color/Contrast Settings). To define subpicture mask colors, click on a pixel in the subpicture, then indicate which of the four subpicture mask colors the selected color should map to.

Button Link Tools

The tools in the center of the tool bar are used for defining button links:
Up/Down/Left/Right Link Tools Arranged in a ring around the pop-up menu button, these buttons set the mouse cursor to one of four link modes: Up, Down, Left or Right. To define the order in which the buttons on a menu are linked together, click within the hotspot for one button and drag to the hotspot of the next button. For example, if the Down link tool is used to link Button #1 to Button #2, then pressing the Down key on the remote control when Button #1 is selected will change the selection to Button #2. Note that the arrows representing links in the Preview window are color-coded as follows: Up=red, Down=blue, Left=yellow, Right=green. When a given link tool is selected, only the button links of that type will be visible. (To see all of the button links, click the Selection or New Button tool.)

Vertical Link Tool Found just to the left of center, this button sets the mouse cursor to Up/Down link mode. In this mode, you can define Down and Up links simultaneously by clicking within a button hotspot area and dragging to the destination hotspot. For example, when the Vertical link tool is used to drag from Button #1 to Button #2, then a Down link will be created from Button #1 to Button #2, and an Up link will be created from Button #2 back to Button #1. When this tool is selected, only Up and Down link arrows are visible.

Horizontal Link Tool Found just to the right of center, this button sets the mouse cursor to Left/Right link mode. In this mode, you can define Left and Right links simultaneously by clicking within a button hotspot area and dragging to the destination hotspot. For example, when the Horizontal link tool is used to drag from Button #1 to Button #2, then a Right link will be created from Button #1 to Button #2, and a Left link will be created from Button #2 back to Button #1. When this tool is selected, only Right and Left link arrows are visible.

Viewing Modes and Color/Contrast Settings

A subpicture is a four color image. Each of the four colors in the subpicture image file (Color 1 through 4) is used to define an area of the screen. The actual color that will appear in each of these four areas during playback, as well as the contrast value (opacity) of each color, can be set in the Preview window. You also set the color and contrast for areas that are within button hotspots. This defines the appearance of hotspot areas both when a button is selected and when it is activated. See Color Tab for information on setting project-wide defaults for subpicture color-mapping.

The right side of the control panel’s tool bar contains four buttons (described left to right) that activate different viewing modes for the Preview window. These modes also determine which color and contrast settings (normal display, button selected display, or button activated display) are currently available for editing with the four Color/Contrast indicators found along the bottom of the Preview window’s control panel.
Original Color Mode Displays the subpicture overlay from the source file (without displaying the video stream in the background). The Eyedropper Tool is only active in this mode. The Color/Contrast values are not editable.

Display Color Mode The default display mode, which shows how subtitles and subpictures will normally look when overlaid on the video stream. The Color/Contrast values can be edited. To change the color mapping for a given color (1 through 4), click the indicator for that color and select a new color from the pop-up palette. To increase or decrease the contrast, click the “+” and “–” buttons on either side of the color indicator (the DVD specification supports sixteen contrast levels from transparent to opaque).

Selection Color Mode Shows how the portion of the subpicture that is within a button hotspot will look when the menu button defined by that hotspot is selected. The color and contrast values for selected buttons can be set independently of the Display Color Mode. Areas of the subpicture that are not within any hotspot will not be affected by the settings in this mode.

Action Color Mode Shows how the portion of the subpicture that is within a button hotspot will look when the menu button defined by that hotspot is activated (the viewer presses Enter or Select on the remote). The color and contrast values for activated buttons can be set independently of the Display Color Mode. Areas of the subpicture that are not within any hotspot will not be affected by the settings in this mode.

Simulation Mode

When the Preview window is in the Simulation mode, the control panel represents a DVD-Video player remote control.

Preview window in Simulation mode

Stream Indicators

At the upper left and right corners, respectively, we find the Audio and Subtitle indicators:
Audio Indicator Shows the currently playing audio stream, as well as to change or mute the stream. Clicking the “+” and “–” buttons will cycle through the available streams for the current Track (up to eight). Clicking the Audio indicator itself will toggle audio playback between muted (indicator darkened) and audible (indicator lit).

Subtitle Indicator Shows the currently playing subtitle stream, as well as to change or hide the stream. Clicking the “+” and “–” buttons will cycle through the available streams for the current Track (up to eight). If the subtitles are Simple type or Infinite type, clicking the Subtitle indicator itself will toggle the display between hidden (indicator darkened) and visible (indicator lit).

Note: Menu type subpictures are always displayed, as are any subtitles imported with the Display_Start script file parameter set to “Forced.” See About the Script File Settings for more information.

DVD Remote Keys

Across the middle of the control panel we find keys corresponding to those of typical DVD remote control (described left to right):
Title Corresponds to the Title, Guide, or Top Menu key. This key causes playback to jump immediately to the Track indicated by the Title icon in the Storyboard area. Typically, this is defined as the top-level menu of the menu hierarchy, or the first Track on the DVD.

Menu Corresponds to the Menu key. This key causes playback to jump immediately to the Root Menu, the Track indicated by the Menu icon in the Storyboard area. Typically, this is defined as the main menu of the project’s contents.

Return Corresponds to the Return key. This key causes playback to jump immediately to the Track indicated as the Return track for the current Track playing (if any). Typically, the Return track is defined as the menu immediately preceding the current Track. (Although the Return function is not commonly used in movie titles, it is extremely useful for interactive titles.)

Up/Down/Left/Right These buttons correspond to the remote control keys used to select items on a DVD menu. The sequence of button selection will follow the Up/Down/Left/Right links that have been authored for a given menu.

Enter Corresponds to the Enter or Select key. This key is used to activate the selected item on a DVD menu, causing it to jump to a new Track as defined in the authoring.

Play/Stop Corresponds to the Play and Stop keys, which start and stop playback of the DVD content, beginning at the currently selected Track or icon (AutoStart, Title, Menu) in the Storyboard area.

Skip Backward Corresponds to the Skip Backward key. This key is used to skip back to the beginning of the current chapter. If pressed twice quickly, it skips to the beginning of the previous chapter (or previous Track, if any, when on the first chapter).

Skip Forward Corresponds to the Skip Forward key. This key is used to skip forward to the beginning of the next chapter (or next Track, if any, when on the last chapter).

Volume This slider, at the bottom right of the control panel, sets the playback volume of the audio content to one of 11 possible levels. To the left is quieter, to the right is louder.

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