Using Adobe Illustrator to Create Flowcharts for Encore2

by **Bill Hunt** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:35 pm

I’ve been doing some very intricate DVD projects (intricate for me, at least) and have found that I was spending far too much time with pencil & paper doing my flowcharts, before I began the Project. I was also using up erasers faster than I could replace them from Staples. Since I had Adobe Illustrator on my workstation and my laptop, I went to it for assistance. My general workflow follows:

Open an new AI document (8.5"x14" landscape works, and I have used 11"x17" for my wide-carriage printer too) and begin just like the Flowchart in Encore with the Disc with a circle. Create a 4:3 rectangle w/ Stroke set to ~3px. (can also be 16:9, if that is the format of one’s Project), and then dupe these, as needed. I’ll often just dupe the number of Menus and stick these dupes off on the Pasteboard for later use. If I have my Menus already, I’ll Import the PSD from PS and Place into the appropriate rectangles. Below each of these, I list the Buttons. It is my habit to re-name all Menu Buttons (and their Button Layer Sets) to reflect where I will wish to Link them, based on my Assets’ names. If I have the Menus already, I can show the link from the actual Button on those Menus. I usually place the Disc circle and the rectangles on a separate Layer, and then add my link-lines on a new Layer below. Each Chapter, or Timeline gets its own Layer for easy manipulation, and I’ve gone so far as to Capture (usually in PP2 a representative Poster Frame [File>Export >Still Frame] to be used in the Chapter, etc. rectangles for the Button links. I’ve been printing out these AI flowcharts for client approval and even added a “sign off” graphic that they are required to sign and date, before additional work commences. They also get a finalized AI printout, so they can follow all navigation. I then add arrowheads to the link lines, usually on the same Layer as the link lines. For Playlists and Chapter Playlists, I list each Asset (in the order of their play) and also any End Actions.

The beauty of this is that much of the layout can be used for other Projects. If I do not have the Menus created yet, I’ll just do a text name for each Menu, adding to that the image, when I get that far. With AI, I have saved a bunch of $ on erasers, my clients have a perfect vehicle to see the navigation, and I get a signed/dated copy for the files, in case there are any questions later. These also can be Exported to PDF for e-mailing. I’ve Save(ed)_As several versions of the base AI file, for future use. After the initial Document setup, it’s very easy to adapt the layout for each Project.

I’ll see if I can attach a JPG of the Flowchart. This was from an early Project, and the number of sub-Menus ended up taking most of the space. The Button Links were done in separate graphics boxes along the flow lines, rather than attached to the Menus, as I normally do these (to match the Flowchart in Encore2).

Hunt