there were no links in your reply

Here is the link
http://www.dmnforums.com/cgi-bin/displaywwugpost.fcgi?forum=sonic-foundry_vegas&post=060217192110.htm
Sorry.

Ed

Thanks, I read that one.

I guess what I am trying to do is not possible with DVDA. I think what I want DVDA to do is allow me to specify an image as the highlight rather than highlight the menu item with color. Or,create a menu item with a frame or thumbnail media then mask it out when not selected then when I go to highlight have a way to make the mask "disappear" and reveal the image underneath.

What I would like to see happen is have a text only menu item then when highlighted has an image show up next to or behind or on top of the text.

I can approximate this with simple shapes that are filled with color as the menu is highlighted as in the link you directed me to, but a real image is out of the question.

Thanks for the assist.

Dik

I think you answered your question. If you have 5 items in your menu you can have
5 animated stars on the background video. Then choose a color and apha level to
mask nonhighlighted stars leaving the highlighted star showing.

I think I get what you want to do, but it would be clearer if you could give an example of a DVD that does what you're trying to emulate. ;)

Rob

bStro,

OK, a simple example is She's the Man (staring Amanda Bynes) On the menus, when you navigate from item to item, a check mark or an X appears to the left of the item. These "icons" are not simply flat color-filled shapes (masks) but are 3Dish images with depth and shadow. They are only present when the menu item is selected. I have even seen (can't remember what DVD) a similar technique where an animated image is used as the icon.

While I've not seen the DVD in question, what you seem to be describing is refered to as "Switched Menus"

Basically it's not a single menu. It's a group of similar menus and the difference between each menu is the item selected.

So, lets say you have 3 items on the menu - you start with the same background, and then create 3 different background pictures, one picture has item A selected, the second has item B selected, the third has item C selected.

In DVDA you create 3 menus, one with each background. Each menu has 3 buttons but you've set things up so that the buttons aren't actually visable, and defined the 2 non-selected buttons so that when a button is navigated too, it is activated automatically, depending on the non-selected button activated, it takes you to the appropriate menu with the background needed showing the new selected button. For the selected button on the menu, you set the action up so that when enter is pressed on the remote (the button is activated), that the appropriate action is taken.

--Scott

OK, YES, YOU 'DA MAN !

I followed your directions about linked menus and it works the way I want!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Dik

If anyone is interested in seeing what I did to accomplish this I have uploaded the .dar and associated files at:
http://www.linkswift.net/images/Project/LHS Band Project.zip. (70 Mb)

The key areas to look at are:

1. Button properties Highlight where Style is set to "Custom" and Mask to "None" (you get this by Remove any mask that is present) and on the Action tab set Auto-activate to "Yes" for the hidden buttons and "No" for the button you want to see.

2. You need n menus and n buttons on each menu where n equals the number of links the user will see. n-1 of the buttons are invisible and 1 is visible on each menu.

I found it easier to create all the menus first and work on the last menu and then select and copy/paste the text and buttons from the last menu to the other menus. Then going back and cleaning up the destination links on the other menus

P.S. please disregard the video clip associated with this project, it is raw and unedited just used as an example ;-) .

Hope this helps someone else.

Again kudos to ScottW for pointing me in the right direction.

Dik

Have you played the disc in a DVD player yet? I would gather that some, if not most, DVD players will pause a bit as you're navigating among the buttons since it has to move the laser from one menu to another. The length of that pause will vary from player to player because some are faster than others. Just FYI.

Rob

You are correct. I hadn't considered that and did burn to a DVD. There is a noticeable delay. I would think that DVDA would be smart enough to put all the menus near the same place so there is little distance to travel. I think I can live with the delay to get the effect I want. It would be better, however, if DVDA allowed media to be the "highlight".

Any ideas for how one could "optimize" to minimize the delay.

Or, can you suggest a different approach to accomplish the same result as the sample I posted?

You are always going to have the possibility of delay. IIRC, the menu backgrounds are in fact right next to each other in the VOB - still, the DVD player is going to need to find and execute a series of commands that specify where the next background is located, set various registers to keep track of where we were and where we are going, load the new background image, set the correct button as selected, etc.

It's not DVDA that's disallowing the media to be "highlighted" (so to speak), it's just the way DVD's work.

--Scott

It would be better, however, if DVDA allowed media to be the "highlight".

That's something you'd have to take up with the folks / groups that wrote the official DVD specifications. DVDA is simply following the rules. :) The makers of the She's the Man DVD and other DVDs that act as you describe are, in a sense, "cheating."

I don't have anything against DVD producers that circumvent the specs, especially if they can do so without breaking their product's functionality otherwise; but at the same time, I can't fault Sony for not helping us "cheat."

Rob

Did you try RCourtney's suggestion? That one seems like it would work, although I think you'd need the area beneath the "highlights" to be solid colors. I could put together a sample DAR file if you need one.

Rob

I wasn't clear on what "colors and alpha levels" ment. I read up on alpha etc. but it didn't click in as a solution. Maybe a .dar would help thanks.

rj

Here's a DAR and the image files used. No videos included, nor did I even set the links to lead to any, but the menu navigation itself gives the effect I think you want.

The area of the background where the buttons are located is a solid color. I have set the menu so that the active button (ie, the one image you want to be visible) has a transparent highlight. (Click an empty area of the menu and go to the General tab of the Properties window.) The inactive buttons (the images you want to be hidden) are to set to Color Set 4. You can use whichever color set you want, just be sure to adjust that color set so that its fill color matches the solid color used behind your buttons. In my case, the background there is RGB(17, 78, 134), so that's what I set the fill color to for the menu's highlights.

Using this method, the image buttons are covered for the buttons that are not currently selected, while the button for the currently selected button is not covered...thereby making it visible. And only one menu needed.

If you don't want the background area behind the buttons to be a solid color, you may be able to work something out by using a highlight mask. Throw a motion background into the mix, and you'll have to get creative than I. ;-)

Hope this helps.

Rob

Rob

I just downloaded, and tried, your example - brilliant!

Many thanks
Wayne

Rob,

Nifty, simple way to make this work when the background is solid. Thanks!