DVDA menu structure

megabit wrote on 10/27/2008, 4:56 AM

I am aware there is a separate forum for DVDA, so please forgive me cross posting - the Vegas forum seems to me a bit more busy, and responsive (no offence meant to those helping people on the DVDA forum)...

OK, so I'm now close to finalizing my first serious project. What I'd like to do is have the uppermost DVD menu only offering the choice between "default" languages:

- when you choose Polish, the main menu (and its submenus)appear with all text in Polish, and - in those parts of the DVD containing Polish narration - no subtitles appear by default (however, the English subtitles should be available at any time)

- when you choose English, the menu structure follows with all text in English, and and - in those parts of the DVD containing Polish narration - the English subtitles are enabled by default

Does it sound logical? - I certainly hope so, but I'm afraid my current DVDA expertise is not enough to know how to arrange that:) And the thing is my deadline for final DVD is close, so I don't have enough time for learning.

Help appreciated; TIA

Piotr

Comments

megabit wrote on 10/27/2008, 5:48 AM

OK - I just started from scratch, and am building my menu structure following my intuition. So, unless there is something special/counter-intuitive to the scenario I described in my original post - please disregard)

megabit wrote on 10/27/2008, 6:34 AM

OK, so the time has come for a more specific question:

After I choose the default language, I can navigate to the appropriate main menu/sub-menus. Now; since the main content (the concert, venue impressions, and interview) are the same in both language versions - do I need to build two separate "paths" to them (one from the Polish, the other from the English text menus), and insert all the media TWICE?

Or is there a more intelligent method...

farss wrote on 10/27/2008, 6:49 AM

Shouldn't need to insert the same media twice, the button action can point to the same media UNLESS after that media plays if you want different end actions THEN you need to insert the media twice, one for each of the end actions.
DVDA is smart enough not to create two physical copies of the media if the only difference is the end action.

Just be aware, how you layout and design your DVD can impact the viewers experience. Remember that players heads can take time to move to another part of the disk. DVDA does not simulate this, you only get to see it after you burn a disk.

Bob.

megabit wrote on 10/27/2008, 8:26 AM

Shouldn't need to insert the same media twice, the button action can point to the same media

Sure Bob - just learnt how to copy fragments of menu structure between nodes (along with media pointers). It's fun - never did it before.

Just be aware, how you layout and design your DVD can impact the viewers experience

This got me thinking; how do I foresee, or impose, the way heads travel?

megabit wrote on 10/27/2008, 8:41 AM

Oops, first problem:

I have the media "Interview" pointed to twice (from the "English" and from the "Polish" menus). I' like its subtitle track to be OFF when played from the Polish menu, and 1 (eng) - when played from the English menu.

I don't seem to be able to do it. When I change "Set Subtitle Track" in the Media and Subtitle Properties in one instance, that change is global - so all calls to this media may either play with subtitles OFF or 1 (eng) by default.

Any known work-around to that?

nolonemo wrote on 10/27/2008, 12:32 PM

Cant' you just insert the media for the interview into the project twice, and set different subtitle properties for each instance - same as you would do if setting different end actions? For space purposes, DVD only uses the single physical instance of the media, so it doesn't impact your disc space.

megabit wrote on 10/28/2008, 12:29 AM

Well, in fact it IS inserted twice - the only difference being that - after creating all sub-menus and inserting media under the "Polish" top menu page, I simply copied this structure under the top menu "English". Anyway, it's present TWICE in the disk structure left pane...

I'm afraid my only solution will be to strip the Polish version of the interview off the subtitle track altogether, while leaving it always ON for the English version - unless I'm still missing something more smart than that...

EDIT

OK, found it - instead of modifying Media and Subtitle Properties, I need to modify the relevant Button Properties - now I have what I was after!

Sorry I made this thread sort of a monologue, but I hope some other DVDA newbie like myself, will benefit from it perhaps.

megabit wrote on 10/28/2008, 6:15 AM

One more post in my mono-thread...

Everything is working as desired, except that my iso image played back in Nero/ PowerDVD/ WMP does NOT show the information about the DVD / title / chapter names - even though I THINK I have entered all this info in my DVDA project.

I realize this is a purely cosmetic issue, but the DVD is going to be sold (my first one !!!), so it's a real issue.

Any typical omission that I might have done?

nolonemo wrote on 10/28/2008, 11:02 AM

I think the proof of the pudding is to create an actual physical disc and play in several different players.

megabit wrote on 10/30/2008, 2:46 AM

Another question altogether: is there a way to change the button highlight color globally (per project)? I don't like the default olive colour of the rectangle around selected buttons - do I need to modify all buttons properties one by one?

farss wrote on 10/30/2008, 6:06 AM

First off I'd change that rectangle, the default higlight looks pretty bad. Change the highlight to Image Mask Overlay, that'll help.

The highlight color is determined by a color set. Change whichever one you have selected for the highlight will change all button highlights I think.

Bob.

megabit wrote on 10/30/2008, 6:21 AM

No Bob - it doesn't seem to change the highlight properties globally; a real bummer...

farss wrote on 10/30/2008, 6:28 AM

No, sorry.
You'll need to change every buttons highlight individually however if you're lucky you can select more than one at a time to speed things up. The highlight color though you can change globally although by default DVDA assigns buttons on the first page to a different color set than the other pages.

Sorry I'm a bit vague but my DVDA PC is in the midst of a long render.

Bob.

megabit wrote on 10/30/2008, 6:35 AM

The color sets 3 and 4 are referred to as "project-wide", and yet - when chosen in the General pane of the main menu page Properties - they do NOT propagate....

farss wrote on 10/30/2008, 7:07 AM

That's correct from memory because that "project wide setting" means to do want them to be available over the whole project or just this page, kind of thing.
If you go to another page you'll find one of the color sets there is the one used by all the buttons on all pages other than the main page.

In fact if you go to a page other than the main page, select one of the buttons and see which color set it's using for the highlight and change that color set ON THAT PAGE, it'll change the highlight color of all buttons except for the main page.

Bob.