fade transitions for text/menus?

mtnmiller wrote on 5/6/2007, 4:47 PM
Hello,
I know the basics of DVDA, but trying to get to more advanced effects for my latest project.

I have imported a motion background for my main title page, and have figured out that I can create a delay between when the background starts and when the menu items pop up by using the little green slider. Question... Is there a way to have the menu items fade or dissolve in, for a smoother transition, rather than just popping up all of a sudden?

Also, when I click a button to access a submenu, the submenu just appears. Is it possible to create a fade or other effect between menus? The Authoring program for Apple is great for this, with nice fades, water-drop effects, etc.

Thanks for any help.

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 5/6/2007, 6:48 PM
Is there a way to have the menu items fade or dissolve in, for a smoother transition, rather than just popping up all of a sudden?

yes. you need to render a video showing that & play the video as part of the background, then have the menu's "pop" up.

Also, when I click a button to access a submenu, the submenu just appears. Is it possible to create a fade or other effect between menus? The Authoring program for Apple is great for this, with nice fades, water-drop effects, etc.

Yes to that too. you create the video (or whatever) you want for the in between. I've never done this but search for "transitions" in the DVDA help index. it explains it step by step.
GeorgeW wrote on 5/7/2007, 4:55 AM
Is there a way to have the menu items fade or dissolve in, for a smoother transition, rather than just popping up all of a sudden?

In addition to creating a video with the fade-in buttons, you can also use the feature (in DVDA4 Full) called "Transformations" -- where you can have your buttons gradually move into position at the "Loop Point"
MPM wrote on 5/8/2007, 11:50 AM
FWIW... when you create the menu fades in DVDA, or any other DVD authoring software, you're just creating a video file... As the HappyFriar posted, might want to consider whether the place to create that video is DVDA or Vegas. For buttons & other graphic elements done in something like P/Shop, layers can be exported separately & used as overlay tracks in Vegas.

However you do it button highlights will jump into visibility... You can have your default button fade in already highlighted [this works], or maybe get creative with the color &/or transparency of the menu below that section of the highlight mask [I haven't played with this much yet].

For transitions from a menu page, you might try both separate video titles with end actions leading to whatever menu or media, and using your transition video as a menu page background with an "invisible" auto-activate button. Many retail video DVDs use the 2nd option, but with the scripting DVDA inserts in the layout I'm not sure you actually see any benefit.

mtnmiller wrote on 5/8/2007, 1:23 PM
Thanks for the tips.

I understand most of what you are suggesting, however, after investigating the "transformations", I still do not see how to fade in the button, or a button highlight, with this feature.

Would someone be up for providing a brief example of how do do this?

Thanks for the feedback.
ScottW wrote on 5/8/2007, 1:54 PM
1) Design your menu without buttons
2) use preview mode and take a snapshot of your menu
3) Add buttons to your menu - make the highlight mask hidden
4) Use preview mode and take a second snapshot of your menu
5) Take your first snapshot and drag it onto the Vegas timeline
6) Repeat with your second snapshot, and overlap the first so you have a cross-fade
7) render out to DV AVI or uncompressed
8) Back in DVDA, replace the menu background with the DV AVI
9) Remove your buttons, but leave the highlight mask
10) Set your loop point on the motion background after the buttons have faded in.

There you have it - the buttons will now fade in and the highlight mask will appear at the loop point.

--Scott
MPM wrote on 5/8/2007, 2:20 PM
"I still do not see how to fade in the button, or a button highlight, with this feature."

Sorry, as mentioned you can't fade in button highlights -- only fake it to make it appear that the highlight fades in...

"...after investigating the "transformations"...""...Would someone be up for providing a brief example of how do do this?"

Actually the help file does a decent job of it... Look for: "Buttons, Animating with Keyframes" in the help file index.
richard-courtney wrote on 5/16/2007, 8:55 PM
A few years ago many users wanted buttons to be delayed. Eventually
our requests were answered in a later DVDA release, but I looked at the VOB files
using VOBEDIT and found you could modify the navigation packets.

I suspect you could do the same modifying the color scheme alpha values.

In the book "DVD Demystified" ISBN 0-07-135026-8 the included DVD was
doing some fancy things.
Grazie wrote on 5/17/2007, 2:24 AM
SCOTT?!?! That is just TOO cute! Excellent idea/tip! So simple . . thanks.

Grazie
antone5542 wrote on 5/19/2007, 5:41 PM
Actually, there is an easier way to do this, at least with the buttons. It has to do with the Crop and Adjust feature in DVD Architect. If you search help for this you will find the info.

The basics of it are that once you have created the button and linked it, rt click on the button and choose Crop and Adjust. There you can adjust the opacity of the button by changing the Alpha settings (0 for totally transparent, 1 for totally opaque). You can keyframe it all so that the buttons fade in or start small and end up bigger, or whatever.

I have still not figured out how to do this with the transition videos, so if anyone has an idea for that I am open.
MPM wrote on 5/20/2007, 9:29 AM
If it helps...

I normally do the overlays for button highlights in P/Shop... Text or graphics or characters from a symbol font stay on one layer -- a duplicate layer has the selection filled with black for the highlight mask; both are saved separately as .png files with background transparency/alpha.

In Vegas the text/graphics/symbols image is overlaid on the video for the menu background, where it can be moved or faded & optionally faded with color to match the highlight in DVDA. Could just as easily use Vegas entirely (& do for special FX), but personally think P/Shop rasterizing is slightly nicer -- using Vegas solo the overlay & take a snapshot for the highlight .png.

At any rate what can fade/move in can just as easily fade/move out, so there's your exit video. Most retail video DVDs also use some sort of rapid flash, zoom, or other FX as the first part of any exit video -- you can't control when the viewer clicks the button, so there's no way to seamlessly match the background video (unless it's a still), & aggressive FX distract the viewer so that everything seems seamless.