Different shaped thumbnails?

mickbadal wrote on 1/30/2008, 10:34 AM
Is there an easy way to make thumbnails in DVDA that are a bit less simplistic than square shaped, say a skewed rectangle shape instead, or a circle?

Or if the only way to do this is to make a custom background in VMS and/or Photoshop, can you point me to the right starting point that explains how to connect such a thing to DVDA so it knows how to select the custom thumbnails in the background image?

Comments

bStro wrote on 1/30/2008, 11:49 AM
There are a few ways. Search DVDA's online help for "custom highlight." You want the first three topics that come up -- Creating Custom Masks, Creating Custom Menus using Layered Graphics, and Creating Custom menus using Single Layered Graphics.

The first entails creating up the files necessary for an individual button

1. Thumbnail (the image you want represented; you can just point to the movie itself if you want to use a frame or the video itself).
2. Thumbnail mask (hides the areas of the thumbnail you don't want visible).
3. Frame (any decoration you want such as a border).
4. Frame mask (hides areas of the frame you don't want visible).
5. Highlight mask (hides areas of the highlight you don't want visible).

The second is used to design the entire menu as a layered Photoshop PSD file, with each layer being a different part of the buttons. You need to name each layer according to DVDA's naming specifications for it to recognize each piece.

The third is used to design the entire menu as one flat graphic. You then create a highlight mask based on that for the entire menu.

The first method is best if you are creating a reusable theme since you're just creating buttons that can be applied to any project. The second is closest to the "standard" for other DVD authoring apps (like Encore), although the naming conventions are different. The third is, in my opinion, the most efficient and, frankly, more flexible. I can create the entire look in Photoshop (or any image editing app, really) without being hindered by "boxes."

Rob
john-beale wrote on 3/28/2008, 12:48 AM
are there any example .psd files I could download somewhere, with highlight mask layers that work in DVD-A Pro 4.5 ? Just a simple one, even one button would be a tremendous help.

I've created what should be a valid Photoshop PSD file for a custom menu with layers named according to the help instructions. It just crashes DVD-A when imported. Help!
Kennymusicman wrote on 3/28/2008, 10:33 AM
I should have some simple stuff lying around for you - conversely though - you could send yours this way, and I/we could have a look at it in case it's something simple?
john-beale wrote on 3/28/2008, 11:15 AM
I've been having trouble with importing a custom menu from a Photoshop file. I made a PSD layers file for a very simple menu with one button. There are three layers: background, button image, button highlight. It is for a NTSC widescreen DVD so the resolution is 873x480. When I import this menu, DVD-A 4.5 crashes. If you have a moment maybe you could have a look? The psd file is here:

http://www.bealecorner.com/D30/misc/DVDA-Menu-test.psd

specifically, the menu appears to import but when I try to view it, I get:

"An error occurred during the current operation. An Exception has occurred."

Sony DVD Architect Pro
Version 4.5a (Build 59)
Exception 0xC0000005 (access violation) WRITE:0x8CA5E17 IP:0x3931FBC9
In Module 'stl2plg.dll' at Address 0x39310000 + 0xFBC9
Thread: RenderThread ID=0x141C Stack=0x533F000-0x5340000

[...lots of hex codes...]

Note: Just realized that I should be using Version 4.5b, I just installed that, but anyway it has exactly the same error.
john-beale wrote on 3/28/2008, 12:30 PM
Problem solved! Thanks to Kennymusicman for finding the reason.

My PSD file was a black and white file, and it was in Photoshop's "greyscale" mode. Once I changed the Photoshop file type to RGB then it works. Good to know!

Note to Sony: It would be useful to have an error message about this sort of thing.