Tutorial 2.B. - Naming convention for importing your layered Adobe Photoshop file

• The naming convention for layers in your Photoshop file
• Design considerations when creating your Photoshop file
• The naming convention for layers in your Photoshop file:

DoStudio includes a Photoshop importing application called Mosaic. Mosaic imports your layered Photoshop file and converts each layer into a 32-bit PNG for use in your menus. DoStudio then builds your menu elements.

Mosaic relies on a naming convention for your Photoshop layers that correspond to the three menu elements that comprise your pop-up menus in DoStudio: Menu Blocks, Sets, and Buttons.

Menu Blocks
To define a Menu Block in a PSD, you create a layer graphic in the root of the layers list and name it with the following prefix depending on whether it is the Main Menu block or a Submenu block:

Main Menu Block “mm:”
Example: “mm: Main Menu”

 

Submenu Blocks “sm:”
Example: “sm: Chapters Submenu”

If you wish to create a menu block with a transparent background, create an empty layer and name it according to the naming convention. If you create a transparent background, Mosaic will determine the size of the menu block from the size of the Set.

Sets
Sets are created by using the “sets” feature in Photoshop. Create a set and name it “Set 1” “Set 2” and so on, or name your sets more descriptively such as “Chapters1-5” or something like that. There are no special characters to enter in the layer name for the Set. You just give it a name.

You will place your button graphics and set background image (optional) inside the Photoshop set.
Sets will import with a transparent background unless you specify an image for the set’s background.

The naming convention for a set background is:

Set Background: “bg:”
Example: “bg: nameofsetbackground”.

Buttons
Buttons are placed in the Photoshop set and are named according to which button state they represent:

Normal: “n:”
Example: “n: Chapter 1”

 

Selected: “s:”
Example: “s: Chapter 1”

 

Activated: “a:”
Example: “a: Chapter 1”

Important considerations for creating your Photoshop file:

1. Text layers must be rasterized.
2. Mosaic does not recognize layer effects, so you must fully merge all layer effects into the layer.
3. Your buttons must be contained within the boundaries of your menu block.
4. You can see the actual size of the layer (incuding the transparent pixels) by selecting the “Show Tranform Controls” feature in Photoshop. When this is turned on, you will see a rectangle around the actual pixels in the layer. Mosaic reads this layer information and uses it to determine the size of your menu block.
5. Your buttons can not overlap.
6. Beware of Glow effects - they can cause overlap problems.