need help with DVDA...( other forum kinda dead )

Mindmatter wrote on 4/13/2016, 12:19 PM

Hi all,
sorry for posting DVDA stuff here but the other forum is pretty much a ghosttown...

so I got this situation...
I set up a scene selection menu with 40 carefully designed custom buttons, each with their own media and text and chapter marker link...before i realized i cannot use the scenes on their own ( with return to menu after ending) as I hadn't made the 40 copies of the relevant main media.
It's because i imported the media first and then added a menu that automatically used all the chapter markers, instead of the other way around.
So I cannot set single in/out points for each scene...I would have to redo the whole thing by creating 40 copies of the original media related button and edit each single one again.
Is there any way i can use my current setup as it is and assign my custom buttons to separate in/out scenes? I tried everything...copying each custom made button, trying to paste attributes to a new button etc etc...no way..looks like I'll have to start from scratch. seemy kinda silly that there's no way to do this..I can assign an in/out to the first button but then all the others are unassignable, broken links.
I just cannot create a button first and asign it to in/outs - I have to do a copy of the first original media button and give that one nthe relevant in/outs. Very annoying.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

Comments

Eagle Six wrote on 4/13/2016, 12:56 PM

Hi Mindmatter,

Create another blank menu page. Copy and paste your custom button tothis poage and position it. If necessary change the track media and audio to your main video, then place the in and out markers at the correct locations via the lower right timeline window. If necessary change the change the 'End Action' under 'Media Properties' so it returns the Scene Selection Menu.

You should not have to render out 40 sections of your main video to embed in the scene selection menu (one for each button). That is what the end/out markers are for. Although it may appear there are 40 copies of the original main video displayed in the project tree, DVDA only uses one copy.

You should be able to copy your custom buttons from the current page to a fresh page as described above, but I would just change properties of your custom buttons where they are currently, less work.

From scratch, here is the Help Page:

Mindmatter wrote on 4/13/2016, 1:05 PM

Thanks Eagle Six.
I had already tried that. I know I don't need to render the chapters. But to do what i need, i need to tell DVDA that it has to create 40 virtual copies of the same media so that it can refer to separate in/outs of the same render.
the other really silly thing is that DVDA won't automatically use the markers and their names (!) when you start off with a menu and then add the media. It's maddening, really, because the other way around, it creates a perfect menu list with all titles readily written out as you named them in Vegas. But that way, it won't allow me to create a menbu where the end of a section returns to the main menu, no matter what the end action, because the end action only frefers to the realy end og the whole medium- video, it just continues to play to the total end of the whole video. Extremely nonsensical.

videoITguy wrote on 4/13/2016, 1:30 PM

Mindmatter, the topic has been covered many times in the DVDAPro forum - however - more that likely in the archives past two years ago when more people were working with authoring. I was unable to find the exact post - however see the following for background...

read the first link for a clue:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?forumid=22&messageid=842844

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?forumid=22&messageid=932035

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?forumid=22&messageid=898659

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?forumid=22&messageid=904011

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/showmessage.asp?forumid=22&messageid=861887

This may get you started in seeking the best workflow - knowing sufficiently well what many issues are in this area of authoring..

Mindmatter wrote on 4/13/2016, 1:39 PM

Thanks VideoITguy,
them posts basically reflect what i already found out...if I want a return to menu at chapter end, there's no way around a total remake, as I cannot assign separate in/outs to the menu structure as it is now - and that's just plain counterintuitive. Espacially given the fact the the whole menu with the exact titles and chapter points is already there!
go figure...

videoITguy wrote on 4/13/2016, 1:47 PM

The 'correct" answer to in-out point working for authoring is use one file, import as many times as you need - but the file will actually only occupy 1 file space on final disk. That's just the way it works.
I also import a second copy for that same file, but must use a different file name, to render with chapters - for using a second method of access. This means you cannot have more than 30min as at HQ setting for a total program length. I have found this very workable.

Eagle Six wrote on 4/13/2016, 2:19 PM

Mindmatter @ "I had already tried that. I know I don't need to render the chapters. But to do what i need, i need to tell DVDA that it has to create 40 virtual copies of the same media so that it can refer to separate in/outs of the same render."

DVDA will not create virtual copies, although that may be the term you use. All it does is refer to the original main video and play only the section you use the in/out set points, on the timeline, which tell DVDA to show only that part. Use the Set In Point and Set Out Point for each section you want to play for that scene/button.

added: It will then return to the Scene Selection Menu as you want.

Best Regards.....George

Mindmatter wrote on 4/13/2016, 2:58 PM

Yup, that's how it is.
The question remains - why??
DVDA could easily use the chapter markers that it already imported correctly, with text and numbers etc etc, and give un the option to return to menu at the end of a chapter or play the whole file to its real end. I just don't get why that's not feasable.

Besides, when you create a menu first, then add the media, why on earth does it not use the chaper markers and names automatically in that case, as it does when you first import media and then create a menu...??

Former user wrote on 4/13/2016, 4:39 PM

"DVDA could easily use the chapter markers that it already imported correctly, with text and numbers etc etc, and give un the option to return to menu at the end of a chapter or play the whole file to its real end. I just don't get why that's not feasable."

It might be feasible, but that is not the way it works. You have to import multiple instances of the video and create an OUT (becomes return point) point for each chapter/each menu button to return to menu.