Please Help: evil movieclips position badly!

Question

Hiya,
I'm trying to use a custom skin I made with Flash CS3,
inserted by Dreamweaver CS3:
http://www.alternium.net/video_test.htm
I've been working from the tutorial at:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/flv_tutorial_pt2_02.html
As you can see from the top link, these controls are fubar.
The buttons, when located in the appropriate space, fall behind the
frame. In the file "video_test.htm", above, you can see that the
top of the play button is just barely visible in the lower left
corner. I've left the rest higher than normal on the y-axis for
illustrative purposes.
On top of that, all of the button states seem to be visible.
The seekbar handle looks possessed and the buttons can't make up
their mind which is on and which is off. Why is this? I'm using the
appropriate naming conventions: up_mc, dn_mc, over_mc, disabled_mc;
pause-set, play-set, stop-set, etc...
Can somebody please give me some good idea where I'm going
wrong?

Answer 1

One of the limitations of Sub-picture Highlights is that they are 2-bit color. Either that color or fully transparent, i.e. not that color. One only has 4 colors to choose from, but those CAN be changed back in Encore. Transparency (the opposite of Opacity in PS) can also be set.
Now, you state:
the highlight layer always looks badly pixelated and goes out of position
This is a two parter - the first is explained above. That Pixelation is a weakness in Sub-picutre Highlights. This is not something in Encore, but part of the DVD specs.
Now, for part two: back in PS, open up your Button Layer Set. You will see that your Highlight Layer is not visible. For this operation, turn visibility ON and select it. Choose the Move Tool, and use the cursor keys to Move that Layer, one pixel at a time to position it where you want it. Turn visibility OFF, and then hit Save to update back in Encore.
Also note that Sub-picture Highlights will appear OVER your graphics. Take that into consideration in their design.
For Sub-picture Highlights disappearing, check that your Menu's PAR matches your Encore Project. If you have NTSC DV 720 x 480 Standard (4:3), PAR = 0.9, that is what you Menu should be as well. For other Project specs, match those dimensions perfectly.
Good luck,
Hunt