Creating multiple menu buttons w/content

dfred wrote on 3/10/2007, 11:27 AM
I'm fairly new to Vegas & DVD Architect Studio and am stumped on something. Here goes:

I have, say, 50 minutes of video, which includes four different events, three are sports and one is music.

I know how to create menu buttons but what stumps me is that I want to create buttons and when a specific button is clicked, the video associated with that button plays - for example, press "sports 1" and the first sports clip plays, "band" and the band performance plays.

What I'm looking to do is set up a DVD menu such as one you'd find on a purchased DVD that might have the main movie, bonus features, behind-the-scenes, etc.

I am using Sony Vegas 6.0 and DVD Architect Studio 3.0a

I have looked through help and my manuals but am either searching incorrectly or missing these directions.

Any advice would be appreciated. Please email answers to fred11140@msn.com.

Thanks.

Comments

MPM wrote on 3/10/2007, 1:46 PM
FWIW, not trying to be a smart a__ or anything, reading thru the help & manual docs will go a long way to answering your questions. ;?}

Generally to create: "main movie, bonus features, behind-the-scenes, etc. " it's sometimes useful to sketch out your desired layout or flow, same as when designing a web site or whatever. If it's a fairly simple menu structure, can do it just as well in your head, but do spend a few minutes & think it thru.

In DVDA you can add menu pages as needed, using the default navigation buttons (to get from page to page), optionally modify their appearance, &/or insert empty buttons & manually set their actions.

For media you can drag a video for example to a menu page, which both imports it & creates a button. Or you can import it into the project itself, rather than thru a menu page, and then insert a button(s) that you set in the actions tab to point to it.
dfred wrote on 5/23/2007, 8:27 PM
I don't think you're being a smart ___ about this. I have read the manual and help and, for some reason, the information just does not "click."

Here is what I've done in the past - imported video and cut/edit out any parts I don't need or want. Then I use the transition feature so that one portion blends neatly into the next. Therefore this makes one continuous video, which I understand how to do and can add titles, credits, etc.

But what has me stumped is how do I make a menu and have it point to a specific portion of that video? Do I need to keep all clips separate and insert menu buttons in between those sections? I have been through the manuals and also through this web site and thus far still can't seem to understand it.

As for my layout - it's pretty straightforward. I'm recording 4 bands and they perform in a specific order. I make a DVD for the director but it would be easier for him (and the students) if they could view their respective group rather than watching the entire thing or fast forwarding through the whole thing to get to the few minutes they need to see.

Bear with me. I'm one of those who is not nearly as intelligent as many of those who post here. Any help is truly appreciated.
TOG62 wrote on 5/24/2007, 12:29 AM
I too am a newbie to Architect and just have the Studio version. It took me a while to get to grips with how to do this sort of thing. The best way I have found (mainly though reading through this forum) is as follows:

1/ For each section of the movie drag a copy of the video file into the project window.
2/ For ease of later reference rename each of these, e.g. 'Band 1', 'Band 2', etc.
3/ Select each of these entries in turn by double clicking and, on the timeline, move the start and finish markers so that only the relevant content is selected.
4/ Once you are happy with the content of each clip drag it onto the menu. Clicking that button will play only the selected content.
5/ Optionally, drag an additional copy of the video onto the menu to create a 'Play All' button.

DVDA will not write multiple copies of your footage to the disc, so this process does not reduce its capacity.

Mike
dfred wrote on 5/24/2007, 5:26 AM
Slowly but surely this is starting to click. Help me understand if I am getting on the right track (pun intended).

Here's what I did: I have two video clips - one of trees and one of band, both of which are loaded into Vegas from my video camera.

Each movie is made separately with appropriate fade in/out, etc., and saved with its own file name (such as band or trees).

Next, I use explorer - still in Vegas - to locate both clips and add them onto the timeline to make a full movie and add fade in/out, titles, or credits. This movie is then rendered to Architect. I am using Version 3.0a.

After rendering, I see a window that says "send to DVD Architect" and I click this and Architect opens and the full-length movie is already there.

If I want to add submenus with individual buttons to link to each segment, such as trees and band, I double click each clip and it automatically pops up into the menu.

At this point I can rename the menu (text) and then drag it into the main project window, thus giving me menu buttons from which to play the selected clips. I would do the same for the 4 bands which I will be taping at an upcoming concert.

Please let me know if the above is correct and/or any other advice you may have.

Now here's where I need a litle more help. First, are chapter markers necessary for all videos? I see them, know how to add and delete them; however, if I have a clip of trees and a clip of band that each have their own menu button, do I, or why would I, still need the chapter markers?

I have noticed a glitch in my program. I purchased this a year ago and it has been present since we got a new computer about 6 months later. I open Vegas and load video, etc., as stated above. However, sometimes when I render, I get nothing but a few seconds of black screen. I figured out I can remedy this by finishing project in Vegas and rebooting the computer before rendering to Architect. Not sure why this happens but if you (or anyone) has any advice as to how fo fix this I would appreciate it. It's an extra step but if it yields a nice finished project, I don't mind doing it. Computers are funny sometimes, anyway.


I have been reading the forum and, to be honest, some explanations are way over my head. Moving up to Vegas was quite a leap from the "Click to DVD" on our Sony PC purchased 4 years ago. That program was extremely beginner (my speed at that time) and now with Vegas i am willing to learn yet the manual only seemed to confuse me more and more.

Thank you so much for your help. Keep the advice coming. I have my new test movie saved and am going to reboot the computer (it wouldn't render) and see what else I can do with it. Will check back here later for more updates.
Galeng wrote on 5/25/2007, 1:33 PM
dfred,
I follow about the same process that Mike stated. If I have 5 different sections of the video that I want to show, then I drop 5 instances of the WHOLE clip into the project overview window. Double click on each one and set your in and out points.

If you just use one instance of the video clip and set chapter points, you can start at the right section, but the video will then continue to play through to the remainder of the chapters too.

Galen
Galeng wrote on 5/25/2007, 1:36 PM
dfred,
I follow about the same process that Mike stated. If I have 5 different sections of the video that I want to show, then I drop 5 instances of the WHOLE clip into the project overview window. Double click on each one and set your in and out points.

If you just use one instance of the video clip and set chapter points, you can start at the right section, but the video will then continue to play through to the remainder of the chapters too.

About chapter poiints. They are useful, if for example your band clip includes three different numbers. You could set chapter points to move quickly from the first to the second to the thrid arrangement.

Galen
dfred wrote on 5/26/2007, 4:10 PM
Hi Galen,

Thank you for responding as well. I followed Mike's steps and finally understand how to insert the menu buttons. I'd appreciate if you could walk me through a couple of other things I noticed as I went through this.

I thought I read somewhere, maybe in the manual or here at the forum, that you can add items to the menu without them changing the size of your project - maybe I misread something or misunderstood what I read. I thought I could put the entire video, start to finish, in a project and then add a menu for each section of that video, such as each band by grade. However, when I tried this, the overall project was too large for my size DVD ( a regular 4.7) though would have fit on a DL disk. If there is a way to add a menu without it increasing your project size, I have not yet figured that out.

Second, I see how to add the chapter points as well as how to rename them. I did not attempt to insert these in the current project but your suggestion of using them for each arrangement of music is an excellent one - and one I will do for future videos.

But now I need some clarification related to this. According to the printed manual, you can "create scene selection menus..." but the manual does not say if these chapter markers automatically appear in a given menu. For example, I have a clip of the 5th grade band and they play 3 songs. I can put a chapter point for each song - that much I understand. But if I drop the clip into the project overview window then double click to put the menu buttons, will these chapter markers automatically show up? I guess I will have to experiment with this and get my own answer, though you, or someone, might reply before I have time to experiment with this current video.

Thank you again for helping. I truly hope by asking so many questions that someone else might come along and learn from this current information exchange.

dfred