Video menu items, picture-in-picture for DVDA

ken c wrote on 7/29/2004, 10:20 PM

Hi - how can I get a 'picture in picture' effect (possible w/DVD1?) for menu items?

I'd like to make all these white boxes into small video screens, overlaid on the main video in the back . will DVD architect 1 (or 2) do this?

here's a screencap of the rough menu so far:

http://www.daytradingu.com/dvdmenucap1.gif

Can someone let me know if / how to do that?

thx much!

ken

Comments

JaysonHolovacs wrote on 7/30/2004, 9:14 AM

Yes, you can do video thumbnails, if that's what you are asking, and yes, you can have a video background for the whole menu as well.

I think you just drag the video clip to the video setting in the properties box for the menu. The individual thumbnails will only show the vide they link to, I think, but by changing the setting in their video properties you can both change them from still to video and set the start point(for either stills or videos).

Note that it's probably best to stick with AVI for the menu video, as it will be recompressed to encode the new video clips on it.

-Jayson

ken c wrote on 7/30/2004, 11:45 AM

Thanks Jayson, appreciate it, didn't know about setting it... the background moving video works great, but not the thumbnails, when I've tried to drag movie clips into place..

ken

GaryKleiner wrote on 7/30/2004, 12:15 PM

To play video on thumbnails, make sure the video file is set in the button properties under Thumbnail, and the Style is set to Animated.

Gary

ken c wrote on 7/30/2004, 2:04 PM

ahhh .. so that's it! thanks!

ken

JaysonHolovacs wrote on 7/30/2004, 3:06 PM

Yeah, as I mentioned(perhaps not clearly enough) is that I don't THINK you can have thumbnails that show a different video than the one they link to (although they can show any part of the video). Also, the length of the clip they will show is always equal to the length of the menu looping, as these cannot be adjusted independently.

Anyone know anything contradictory? I think this is right.

-Jayson

bStro wrote on 7/30/2004, 4:30 PM

Yeah, as I mentioned(perhaps not clearly enough) is that I don't THINK you can have thumbnails that show a different video than the one they link to

Think again. :) Just select the button on the menu and change its Thumbnail property. You can use whatever still or video you want. Changing the Thumbnail property has no effect on what video the button links to.

Also, the length of the clip they will show is always equal to the length of the menu looping, as these cannot be adjusted independently.

Close, but not exactly. The thumbnail clip can be shorter than the menu loop -- it will just repeat until the menu is ready to start over. (I just tested this.) The menu loop takes precedence -- if the menu video is shorter than the clip, the thumbnail will restart prematurely.

Rob

JaysonHolovacs wrote on 7/31/2004, 11:47 PM

Rob,
I stand corrected on the thumbnail video. Good to know.

But since in actuality it is one big video file, I assume when the menu loops, all thumbnails go back to start regardless of where they might be in their respective loops. Is this correct?

-Jayson

bStro wrote on 8/1/2004, 7:03 AM

Yes. See the last line of my previous post.

My point was that although the thumbnail video cannot be longer than the menu, it can be shorter, and it will loop however many times necessary before the menu itself loops.

Rob