Import psd chapters, thumbnail media problem

DavidMcKnight wrote on 4/24/2006, 7:06 PM
Don't usually post on the dvda forum, but my projects are getting a little more complex. I've got an issue with the behavior of a menu loaded from a psd file (motionism menus) - DVDA 3.0c, btw

I've created two graphic files, here -

http://mcknightvideo.com/dvda/before.jpg

http://mcknightvideo.com/dvda/after.jpg

to show what is going on.

In the before pic, the Bride Prep button is what we're looking at. Everything about that was merged into the button-03-thumbnail. There is also a button-03-highlight, which is the white around the frame.

When I set thumbnail media on the button to be a frame from the video, you can see the results in the after.jpg. It covers the whole thumbnail, including the text of the selection. When naming the layers in photoshop, there are 4 layers: A text layer, a frame layer (that I can't tell makes any difference), a highlight layer, and a video layer which is the black area in the before.jpg. I think the video layer should be thumbnail, but how do I get the text to come across? Is there an undocumented button-01-label or -text type, anything like that?

If I didn't mention...I really need to get this done tonight, so the prepare can be running overnight :( Thanks for any assistance.

David

Comments

DavidMcKnight wrote on 4/25/2006, 9:07 AM
I solved my immediate problem by importing just the background and creating my own chapter links. (ugly in dvda). I would still like to know what all the corresponding items are in better detail than the help provides, or find someone that has used the motionism menus successfully with dvda.
bStro wrote on 4/26/2006, 6:09 AM
If you haven't read the section in DVDA's online help or PDF manual (the one on the disc -- the printed one that comes with the program is extremely abbreviated) on using layered PSD files as menus, you should start there.

There's not a standard operating procedure for how layers should be arranged, named, etc to be imported as menus in general. DVD Encore has its conventions, DVD Architect has its conventions, and I suppose other authoring apps with a feature like this have their conventions as well. Since DVD Encore is quite a bit more popular than DVD Architect, and since it and Photoshop are "sister products," in a manner of speaking, it's no surprise that companies such as Motionism develop their menu files with Encore in mind.

As such, if you haven't already (and maybe you have), you should start by checking your PSD files to see if they need to be tweaked for use with DVD Architect. At the very least, this might mean renaming some layers. (I don't have Encore, and I don't have any of Motionism's menus to look at, so I don't know the conventions used there.)

Regarding your situation, near as I can tell, the "Bride Prep" text is gone because it is, as you say, merged into the button-03-thumbnail layer of the PSD file. When you changed the media's thumbnail to be a frame from the video, that removes button-03-thumbnail from the mix (including the "Bride Prep" text).

Can't be sure, but I'm guessing that Motionism expects users to edit the PSD file and add an appropriate thumbnail to the button-03-thumbnail layer if they want their own picture there. Another option would be to add a button-03-frame layer with the "Bride Prep" text at the bottom. This would allow you to use the media itself as the thumbnail media and still keep the "Bride Prep" text in tact.

Rob
DavidMcKnight wrote on 4/26/2006, 11:21 PM
Thanks for the post Rob, and very good points. There is usually more than one way to solve these problems. I hadn't thought about bringing a pic into the photoshop layer. I can try that and had also thought of leaving all thumbnails off the psd file and only creating them once everything was in dvda (it would be just a simple graphic and not a highlighted area). If you're interested I could send you one of these psd's to fiddle with if you want. Another set of eyes on this wouldn't hurt; you can email me through the board if you like.

thanks!
David