You can't make Rollover button with DVDA. Just you can make frame rollover button. That's why Encore DVD is more effecient than DVDA.

PS)If engineers see this post, please make sure DVDA can support LG GCE-4040B drive.

okay, thx...I'll go for that invisble-button-thing =)

If the indicator does not overlap the button (such as a hand pointer located to the left of a button and points to the selected button), what I do is build each button in photoshop with such an indicator on the left and apply masking techniques to show the pointed button while hiding the reset.

Comes out to be very professional

I'm trying to do exactly what you describe - excep that I don't know how to 'apply masking technique while hiding the rest'. How is this done?

I have a menu with 11 lines of text - I made 11 versions of the background with a custom graphic next to each line of text. So far so good. But, how do I use these 11 versions??

Thanx!
Mike

You don't need 11 versions with each graphic. You only need one background with all of your graphics in their proper positions. It should be a black and white (or greyscale) image, and should not include the text links (actually, you could if you want, but it's not necessary).

See the DVDA New Features document for more info -- the section on custom highlight masks. There's even a good example in there to walk you through the process.

Rob

OK, that makes sense. I read that section last night.

However, it's not exactly what I'm looking to do. My goal is to have a custom
*graphic* for the menu cursor. That is, the graphic will move to each menu item when the user selects each menu item.

The sample .dar file that comes with DVDA2 (DVDA2_Sample.dar) shows how to do this with a mask. But the result is the *outline* of a graphic (in this case either a guitar, mandolin or cello) instead of an actual graphic of these instruments.

I'll keep playing with this sample .dar to see if I can accomplish what I want.
I'm also searching these forums for insight into how to do this.

Thanx!
Mike

The best you are going to get is a 3 color image by using the color chanel option in menu page mask settings. You make a 4 color mask.

From the Manual:
Maps color channels in the menu highlight mask to the four colors used in the color set selected in the Selected button colors or Activated button colors drop-down list.

A pixel containing any red channel component uses the color set's fill color (color 1), a pixel containing any green channel component uses the color set's anti-alias color (color 2), a pixel containing any blue component uses the color set's outline/background color (color 3), and a completely black pixel uses the color set's transparent color (color 4).

I am not aware of any way to use an actual image for the cursor.

cworld29,

OK, I see that now. I was playing with the color channel option and came close to what I'd like to do, but not close enough :^(

I have something that works OK for now so I'll stick with it. I'm using a custom graphic by creating a custom thumbnail and mask and then making the difference between the selected and non-selected color sets drastic enough to get close to what I want.

Thanx for pointing out the details of the color channel option in the manual - I didn't understand these details until I played with the color channel option.

Keep in mind that you're controlling highlighting, not actual images. Highlight can be comprised of three, maybe four colors. If you want actual graphics as your "highlight," you need to use several copies of your menu (causing a delay between when the viewer moves the cursor and when the TV screen updates to show the new graphic) as well as use auto actions (which you'll need another program for, 'cause DVDA doesn't have them). You can use MenuEdit for the latter, but there's not much you can do about the former, as far as I know. Considering the extra wait time for the viewer, I personally don't think it's worth it.

Better to use fairly simple graphics (but use shading and transparency to your advantage) and pick the right colors for your color set.

Rob

I finally figured out that highlighting reall means, well, highlighting :)
I did get a nice look to my menu so I'm happy.
Auto actions sounds like a cool feature; wish DVDA2 supported them.

Mike