Loop point bug?

StormMarc wrote on 6/7/2008, 10:32 PM

I'm using a video motion menu. I inserted three empty button highlights that are linked to different videos. I set my loop point halfway into the motion menu so I can bypass the music on the second time around.

The problem is that I can't get the button highlights to show up until they hit the loop point.

I have set the option for each button "Show Before Loop Point" to YES but it does not help. Any ideas? Thank you.

Comments

MPM wrote on 6/8/2008, 6:17 AM

Well, it’s working the way it’s supposed to. Your buttons start working, including the highlights, once the menu itself loads - that’s just the way DVDs work. To give a smoother transition between an optional intro video & the menu itself, DVDA can create a 2 cell menu (think of them as chapters), which is what you’ve done, but, only the second cell, the regular menu has buttons that work. For what you want to do it’s probably easiest to create a second menu, and have your first menu jump there once the video’s, done instead of looping. Just go to the menu end action in properties.

StormMarc wrote on 6/8/2008, 7:20 AM

Thanks for the answer but I'm not sure if I explained this right.

I have one menu and I have set background as a video. I inserted three empty buttons etc. If I preview the DVD at this point the buttons come up immediatly. But as soon as I move the loop point later down the video menu timeline the buttons do not show up until the loop point.

Isn't the button option "show before loop point" for this very purpose?

Thanks, Marc

MPM wrote on 6/8/2008, 5:24 PM

Hi Marc, maybe this will help?... From what you describe it does sound like it's broken on your PC, but just to be sure:

You should be able to insert an empty button on a new, otherwise blank menu, select it, and check the box for show before loop point -> now select the menu background and make sure you have some duration by increasing the default -> to do that Specify Menu Length under the Menu Page Properties, General tab... move the slider to the right. Now drag the green triangle from the top left of the timeline to the right to set a loop point, & you should be able to click on either side of that marker and still see your empty button (it'll just say Text) in the preview or project window. If that doesn't work, and it should, then maybe something's wrong with your installation, or, if others have the same problem (works fine for me), maybe there is something Sony needs to fix. The reason I talk about a new, simple project is it eliminates all other variables that I can think of - not because I think you've done anything wrong.

In case I've misunderstood... A DVD menu is a mpg2 video clip, the same as any title videos you add. What often looks like separate graphics or text are really part of that menu video - only the highlights are on their own tracks, like a transparent overlay or layer. When you create button graphics (like a thumbnail), or place menu &/or button text in DVDA, those will just get composited, become part of the menu video itself when DVDA prepares the DVD.

Now when you select a button & check the box for it to appear before the loop point, you're just controlling when that button's graphics/text appears on your menu video, in this case from the beginning of the menu video. Together with any transformations you add, you can have your button move or fade into place during your intro video rather than just pop into being when the menu displays - it's more -or-less the same result as compositing the graphics in Vegas, using something like track motion, only you're creating the final menu video in DVDA.

Unfortunately there's no work-a-round for having your highlights turn on when the menu displays and your buttons become functional - that's just DVDs.