DVD Menu

3DPiper wrote on 8/14/2011, 8:53 PM

I am having problems making a DVD menu..

The client wants text links on the left and a corresponding picture on the right..

When you use the up/down navigation, the text is highlighted with a graphic of a bar behind it (client provided) and the picture on the right updates to show a corresponding pic..

See here:

http://reels.creativecow.net/film/dvd-menu

how would I create this in DVD Architect? I am stumped...

Comments

PeterDuke wrote on 8/15/2011, 1:48 AM

You can separate the text and image of a button, but the minimal bounding box that includes both parts cannot overlap any other button or bounding box. I don't think you can do it with DVDA Pro, let alone the Studio version. But there was a time once when I was proved wrong. :)

Have you seen this done on a real DVD or is your example just wishful thinking? I have never seen a DVD like it.

3DPiper wrote on 8/15/2011, 5:11 AM

Thanks for the reply..

This is just wishful thinking of the client..

They provided a background image (no problem), the text links for each movie, the bar that navigates behind them as you press up/down, and the picture that changes as you navigate..

I originally thought to render the bar, text, and image for each link as one PNG with alpha.. Then hide the link if it is not active.. But since it's not text, I can't use the color sets like I can with text..

I also thought of just having a different menu or page for each link, but I can't change between menus/pages by just hitting up/down on the remote..

I'm really stumped on this one, and it is due today!

Steve Mann wrote on 8/15/2011, 5:58 AM

Peter is right.
"Have you seen this done on a real DVD or is your example just wishful thinking? I have never seen a DVD like it."

I haven't seen a Hollywood DVD menu that I couldn't replicate in DVDA.

Former user wrote on 8/15/2011, 6:08 AM

This is not easy to do and is generally slow on burned DVDs as opposed to a pressed DVD.

You have to have seprate screens for each menu item with the corresponding image. When you navigatte to the button (up or down) you have it set to AUTO activate. This auto activation takes you to the screen with the new image.

It will preview very fast on the computer, but the actual DVD will navigate slowly as it changes pages. I have done it so I know.

Dave T2

3DPiper wrote on 8/15/2011, 7:42 AM

Dave,

That is what I was thinking, but just couldn't figure out how to do it..

Could you email me a .dar based on that setup?

It would really help me out

trinitifx at yahoo dot com

I'll just let them see it and they can decide if the pause is too much or not..

Thanks!

Edit: This will eventually be for a pressed DVD, so hopefully the pause problem won't be an isssue..

I've been trying to figure out how to do it as you suggest.. I have created a seperate page for each text link.. It has a complete picture with the nav bar highlight the word and the correct picture on the side..

However, I can't figure out how to navigate up and down with the up/down buttons.. When I preview, I have to hit the next/prev buttons.. How do I remap it to up/down?

Also, once I'm on a page, how do I tell it to play the video when they hit enter or play? The only link is the next page link..

Sorry, just trying to figure this out..

-Matthew

Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/15/2011, 9:54 AM

I would think that the challenge there would be that it won't be instantaneous. Changing from menu to menu would take a second or so -- possibly with a black screen between.

The web site you've linked to uses Flash and HTML to do this trick. And it's a pretty high-end trick. It's pretty easy to do on a web site -- but I'd expect it's not possible to do with DVD Architect.

Former user wrote on 8/15/2011, 12:36 PM

Steve, you can do it with DVDA. But it won't react nearly as fast.

I will try to set one up tonight and post it.

Dave T2

Former user wrote on 8/15/2011, 6:41 PM

Here is a link to a quickly done project showing auto activate

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1196419353/84c6efa88eec53519cf96e675bee62eb?cid=tx-02002208350200000000&s=19105

It is limited to a certain amount of downloads, so be quick.

Dave T2

musicvid10 wrote on 8/15/2011, 7:43 PM

Dave, I haven't tried it on an actual disc, but that is pretty remarkable. I'll save it in my dvd apps folder as a template for a future project. Thanks!

Steve Mann wrote on 8/15/2011, 8:22 PM

I'll try to load some media tomorrow and try it on a real DVD.

Former user wrote on 8/16/2011, 5:55 AM

The other trick is to organize your disk so the MENUs are all physically close. This can be done on DVDA (I don't think the studio version allows it).

And most Hollywood type disk have the feature as title 1 so it is the first thing in the organized list.

Dave T2

3DPiper wrote on 8/16/2011, 8:33 PM

Thanks all, I got the project completed in time and it worked as they wanted it to..!

:)