Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/2/2007, 2:27 PM
you mean so you can't see it at all? AKA "hidden button"?

Set the graphic to nothing & just use the highlight mask.
Rich Reilly wrote on 10/2/2007, 2:32 PM
I mean hidden only when inactive..highlight when selected
Rich Reilly wrote on 10/2/2007, 3:50 PM
Maybe folks can help explain this to me. It seems like you create a layer that is used behind the menu that has buttons on a transparent background. That layer is then selected in background media highlight masking. Then text boxes are drawn over the menu, the text removed and highlighting is derived from the layered image behind the menu??
Am I close at all on this?
I can't seem to change anything when I try it.
richard-courtney wrote on 10/2/2007, 6:50 PM
I hope I don't confuse you more.

The highlight is actually a separate image that has selection areas
(the dashed outline box) that truly is the "button". Everything except the highlight
mask is used to create an underlying video. (You could create this in Vegas
instead if you want)
The button color and alpha "transparency" can be used to show
what button is active or to hide what is below it in the video. The color and
transparency together is a color set.

You have four color sets to work with.
Under MENU PAGE PROPERTIES -> GENERAL TAB you can specify which
color set is to be used for Selected, Activated, and Inactive areas.

Selected is where you will be sent to when the SELECT or ENTER key is pressed.
Activated is a color briefly displayed after the SELECT or ENTER key is pressed.
Inactive is a color that is not currently selected. Most menus use NONE or
a transparent color. Sometimes designers use a solid color matching the background
color to hide the video below it for the inactive and a transparent for the Selected
to show fancy motion.

If you need more help can you post a still shot of your menu?

Rich Reilly wrote on 10/2/2007, 7:43 PM
http://share4pic.com/887313/sample_screen

Text is available as layers. Could settle for a graphic icon or dot that is invisible when not selected.

Having difficulty understanding difference between thumbnail images/masks frame masks and highlight masks.
richard-courtney wrote on 10/2/2007, 9:20 PM
In your recipe example I would use a highlight mask[.

The SELECTED color set you wold have the red. Teal for INACTIVE color set.

Thumbnail images/masks frame masks are used by DVDA to generate
the background video where you want a motion button.
Highlight mask, like above link, is used to describe where to display the color
on the DVD player.

You mentioned layers, are you using a psd file?
There is a specific name you need to name each layer for DVDA to import
it directly.
Rich Reilly wrote on 10/3/2007, 7:41 AM

So the thumbnails and frames are for putting video in buttons?
Yes, the sample is a layered psd file.
Before I saw your post I tried a background media approach:
I merged the text layers within the PSD, brought the file with pic layers and merged text into the background and selected the merged text layer as a mask using transparency, then put text buttons turned into empty image buttons over the text to be highlighted.
in preview mode, it seems to work fine with the remote control simulator (arrows)but the buttons don't highlight when mouse is over them..even though cursor changes to hand where the hot spots are drawn.
is this a weirdness of the preview mode or do I have improper buttons? Again, they seem to behabve when using the rc simulator.

And does using this type of highlighting prevent degradation/recompression of the menu that happens when button graphics are superimposed over a menu?
richard-courtney wrote on 10/3/2007, 9:38 PM
The DVDA online help topic PSD MENU IMPORT
does a great job explaining storing these in a PSD file.


The psd has a background-01-highlight layer and a quickly modified version
of your background.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is in your paint program set the highlight layer
as NOT VISIBLE or HIDDEN then SAVE the psd file. Otherwise it will be
shown as part of the background in DVDA!
MPM wrote on 10/15/2007, 10:39 AM
Maybe this will help...

Everything that you see on a menu, text, backgrounds, images, whatever, is just an mpg2 video. Composite the elements however you feel comfortable, but please remember that all the tools DVDA or any authoring program offer are just different compositing tools. You can lay out text for example over your graphics or video, using any number of programs, including DVDA.

Highlights can be thought of as stencils. Just like you slap paint over a stencil with a brush, painting the cutout on whatever's underneath, when you play back a DVD menu it colors the space enclosed by the stencil. Each button or link can have 3 separate stencils, and the overall, frame sized graphic holding the buttons has its own background transparency stencil. Buttons have 3 states, and for each state a different set of colors can be used per type of stencil. There are also different groups, which you'll often see as pallet sets.

Though the names vary a bit from place to place, you'll have fill, outline, and blending shapes or stencils. They're 2 bit, meaning on/off -- colored or not colored. These "Sub-Pictures" are created by and muxed into the DVD files by authoring software, and can be edited using software like DVD SubEdit. Graphic, video, and text subs are also Sub-Pictures working much the same way. You can have more sub streams with title video to match different display modes.

Personally I feel using multi-layered P/Shop files for backgrounds and/or highlights is over-complicated, not to mention tends to rule out other, often better graphics software. Use whatever software works for you, and with DVDA, import separate mpg2 and .png files for the same results quicker and easier. DVDA lets you set how you want your highlight graphics files interpreted -- you set how the different types of shapes/stencils are derived from your graphic: you can use transparency, intensity, and color. Create your shapes, fill them using one of the 3 methods, put them all on the same layer as a .png, and import.