Menu: Is this possible?

Sierra Nomad Photography wrote on 8/19/2009, 10:50 PM
Hi:

I recently acquired VP8 & DVDA 5. Currently I'm focusing on learning VP8.

However, I have some ideas for my menu, and want to find out if what I have in mind is possible? I'm going to have a main menu and 4 sub menus.

Desire #1: Main Menu: A map. The 4 sub-menus will cover different portions of that map. What I would like to do: When a sub-menu is highlighted (not yet selected) the area of the map that it covers is also highlighted. Highlight a different sub-menu, and the area of the map that that one covers becomes highlighted instead.

Desire #2: Main Menu: When a sub-menu is selected you zoom into the area of the map that is covered in that sub-menu. Menu Buttons don't appear in this sub-menu until it reaches full zoom.

Desire #3: I want to have two playback options: "Play All" or "Individual Selections". For each "Individual Selection" I want to include a 30-60 second introduction. However when playing the "Play All" I would like to omit the introductions. Is this possible, say by having the introductions play as part of the menu after the button is activated?

I appreciate any feedback.

Jon

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/20/2009, 5:47 AM
You can set up a video clip to play between menu pages -- so you can certainly create a series of menus with transitional segments between them give the illusion that you're zooming into areas of a map.
Sierra Nomad Photography wrote on 8/20/2009, 6:46 AM
Thank you. Can video clips also be played as part of the menu after one of the features has been selected (i.e. between the menu and the selection)?

Any thoughts on desire/question #1?

Thank you!
Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/20/2009, 8:22 AM
Well, technically the video clips are played BEFORE each menu page -- though the illusion is that they're part of the transition from one menu page to another.

So you'll just create one main menu page of the whole map, individual sub-menu pages of the close-ups of the map and transitional video clips zooming into each close-up for the transitions.

If you want to highlight certain areas of the big map as they are moused-over, you can do that by creating custom overlays for each "button" on the map in the shape of each section.

I'm not sure if I'm seeing in my mind what it is you're trying to accomplish -- but you asked if it's possible, and it is. How it's done is just a matter of your using your imagination with the tools that are in the program.

As I said, you can create overlays (button highlights) in any shape you want -- so you can make overlays for each section of your map. And you can create video clips of zoom-ins to each section of the map, which you can use between the main menu and the individual sub-menu close-ups of the map.
Sierra Nomad Photography wrote on 8/20/2009, 10:48 PM
Does your book explain how to do this?

Thank you.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/21/2009, 5:39 AM
No. What you're trying to do is pretty advanced -- and pretty specialized.

As I said, it's a matter of your custom-designing the graphics for the menus, the graphics for the overlays/highlights and creating the custom transitional clips between the menu pages -- all that in addition to setting up the custom links between them.

It is really quite a project you've set up for yourself!
Sierra Nomad Photography wrote on 8/21/2009, 6:53 AM
OK, thanks Steve.

I found a DVD set on DVDA 5. At $99 it's a bit more than I want to spend, but it may be what I need.

Jon
bStro wrote on 8/21/2009, 12:07 PM
Regarding #1, I'd recommend creating a Custom Highlight Mask. Essentially, you'd be marking each area with an empty button, and within the confines of that button you have a mask that determines the shape of the highlight. What may be tricky, depending on your map, is arranging the buttons so that they don't overlap. At any rate, this method uses just two files -- the menu background and a mask that defines all highlights.

Rob
Sierra Nomad Photography wrote on 8/21/2009, 4:40 PM
Thanks Rob!