Skipping Chapters/Scenes WIth Scripts?

Esotic wrote on 1/25/2007, 9:17 AM
Is there any way to define multiple paths through a video using scripts (or some other mechanism)?

I have a long play video, but I would like to able to define multiple edits or cuts... i.e., the "Directors Cut" would just play the video, the "Long Form" might skip a couple chapters/scenes, and then a "Short Form" would jump through and just show highlights.

Can I do that in DVD Architect without rendering out all my chapters/scenes as separate files? I was looking at scripting, but so far haven't made any progress.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-Dave/Esotic

Comments

bStro wrote on 1/25/2007, 11:49 AM
1. Add your video to a menu.

2. Double-click its button (or its icon in the Project Overview) and set its chapter points on the timeline.

3. Go back to the menu, copy its button, and paste it once for every "section" you expect to have in your "Long Form" version. (Consecutive chapters count as one section.)

4. The first button is your "Directors Cut" -- leave that where it is. In the Project Overview, one by one select each of the other copies and drag them onto the root level icon (looks like a disc).

5. Rename each copy to something useful -- ie, LongForm1, LongForum2, etc.

6. One by one, double-click each Long Form copy and change its In and Out points to include just the part of the video you want in that section. If, for example, you want a section to have chapters three through six, drag the Out point to the chapter six marker and then drag the In point to the chapter three marker.

7. When you're done with all sections, insert a Playlist and add the sections you want.

Rob
nolonemo wrote on 1/25/2007, 12:56 PM
bStro, thanks for the neat tutorial.

I previously had accomplished the same thing by inserting multiple copies of the media in the project overview, setting the in and out points for each, and then for each one (starting with the first in sequence) setting the destination in the end action tab of the media properties to the next copy of the media in sequence. (I inserted and linked an empty button to the first one, and set the destination of the last one back to the menu.)

The playlist method is somewhat simpler, though, I wonder what are the advantages/disadvantages with the two methods?
MPM wrote on 1/25/2007, 9:10 PM
AFAIK sounds like you're talking about angles, as on the Wedding Crashers DVD.

Title vid is broken into cells, which can be referred to by chapts. Buried in the IFO files is a set of instructions on the order the cells are played back, and which ones are played back. Looking at such a DVD in something like Shrink or recode might be confusing because it sees this as two separate titles. If you've got DVDA 4, it can do angles. I'm pretty sure there are ways to do it outside an authoring app as well.

Creating a compilation, when rendering the DVD layout DVDA will create a cell wherever you've got a chapt point set, and create the directions re: which cells play when for the DVD player. Setting a playlist involves just the directions (no need to split or create a cell). With DVDA how closely the compiled code actually compares to using angles I don't know -- you might be able to find out in general by posting at videohelp or doom9.org

Using something other than angles might cause intermittent problems with the Next/Prev buttons -- I've had them with DVDA compilations anyway -- but not having checked to see how DVDA actually writes the layout don't know. The only way to determine the difference might be to create a layout using angles, and one using other methods, and compare them in PgcEdit. OTOH, if you've got v.4 do angles & don't worry about it, and if your version can't do angles, doesn't really make any difference. ;?P