Improve Button Flexibility?

JaysonHolovacs wrote on 8/2/2004, 7:04 AM
Does anyone else think that the program should be a little more flexible about changing the media associated with a button? If, for example, you add media to the menu, it automatically produces a button for you. But that button is then permanently connected to that media; it doesn't seem like you can change what it points to. If you delete the button or the media, the other one is also deleted. If I have a menu with a link to media or another menu, and I decide I want to add a transition, I have to redo the button from scratch, try to get all the settings the same so the that the button looks/acts the same, then move the media somewhere else so the linked button is gone and then add in the transition, etc. Why can't I just retarget the existing button to the transition and the end of the transition to the final target media/menu?

-Jayson

Comments

bStro wrote on 8/2/2004, 7:34 AM
Double-click the button you want to change so that its timeline opens. Go to the Properties window and change its Video and Audio settings (for example, locate your transition video) in the Media Properties section. The rest of the buttons settings will remain unchanged.

Then drag your main clip into the project window, drop it on the root object, and change your transition video's end action to link to the clip. Or, if you're dealing with a menu-to-menu transition, change the transition video's end action to link to the menu.

[ Edit: This all assumes you're using DVDA 2. ]

[ Edit 2: Just realized this works fine if the button you're altering originally linked to a video clip, but not if it originally linked to a menu. Looking into that now... ;-) ]

Rob
bStro wrote on 8/2/2004, 8:08 AM
Just realized this works fine if the button you're altering originally linked to a video clip, but not if it originally linked to a menu. Looking into that now...

The immediate solution (some might call it a workaround ;) requires thinking ahead. If you create your additional menus by using Insert Page instead of Insert Submenu, then the Action settings for the button leading to that menu are more flexible about what you can change later on.

Rob
JaysonHolovacs wrote on 8/2/2004, 12:03 PM
Rob,

DVD-A2.0a.

You might be right, I might be thinking of menu to menu transitions I was adding, not Menu to media. So I have to use Add page, instead of Add Submenu. Doesn't Add Page add a menu page at this level and not below?

-Jayson
bStro wrote on 8/2/2004, 12:10 PM
Doesn't Add Page add a menu page at this level and not below?

Yep. Is that bad?

Rob
JaysonHolovacs wrote on 8/2/2004, 1:20 PM
Won't this page then be accessible from a "Next" type button on the previous menu? Or is that not automatically generated? Of course, I want it to only navigate from the transitions.

And no, this is not a big deal, but I like the idea of having a proper hierarchy, but it seems with transitions you have to break the hierarchy and just basically create your own through end actions. It's not so easy to see the structure of the DVD that way. I could just create all my assets at the root level then and link them all through actions, but they would be pretty confusing. It's not a big problem, and it doesn't prevent me from doing anything, but it does hurt the organization that it seems Sony is trying to provide by having such an organized project window.

-Jayson
bStro wrote on 8/2/2004, 5:26 PM
Won't this page then be accessible from a "Next" type button on the previous menu?

Yes, but it's a button just like any other. You can change its thumbnail, frame, mask, etc in the Properties window. Unlike in DVDA1, you can even delete the button without deleting the item it links to.

...but it seems with transitions you have to break the hierarchy...

Pretty much. That's the risk of thinking "outside the box" (cliche, I know, but it fits): If you still want to be organized, you'll have to think of a new way to do so.

For example, since every menu gets its own "folder" in the Project Overview, you could insert menus to organize all your clips and transition videos, but delete any links to those menus. Then create your actual menus, insert buttons for the videos / transitions / menus you need, and set your end actions as necessary. The ghost menus will just be for your sake so you can keep track of everything. When you go to prepare, DVDA will (I think) warn you that you have orphaned menus, but it will still prepare and burn.

Before you ask, I'm not sure if the orphaned menus would be available to the viewer via remote buttons, though I don't think they would...

Rob