Scenarist: Quick question about PGC's and Cells

[jwsmith]

I have a menu with 9 buttons on it. I also have 9 separate video files all M2V. I import those, then I make 9 different PGC's out of them. Well i want the middle button to play all nine in order, but if they select say the first on, i want it to only play the first clip then go back to the menu, and the same for the others, they press the second one, it only plays the second clip. How do I do this? Do I need to make different titles or a number of different PGC's?

Thanx,

James

[Vulpine]

Here is one way of doing it (there might be an easier way):

link the button you want to play everything to a dummy pgc.

On the dummy pgc's PRE: Mov GPRM0,1 and jump to the first movie you want played.

On all of the movies' POST: Compare GPRM0 to 1 then jump to the next movie to be played.

At the root menu PRE: Mov GPRM0,0

Then link all of the movie's POST: to the Root menu (make sure you choose to add the post command to the end of the list).

Hope this helps.

[jwsmith]

thanx, but how do i make a dummy pgc?

[Jestorius]

Just right click on the VTS_Title and choose Add PGC.

Vulpine - it doesn't help becouse we don't know what you are talking about. Can you explain it again as others would in the kindergarden? I need it. Please.

[lucindrea]

i havent worked much with gprm's but it seems to me .. you assign a value to each button .. then have the button goto the dummy menu .. the dummy menu jumps to the film corrasponding to that number .. that film has a command at the end that changes the gprm and then goes back to the dummy ... when the dummy sees that the gprm is 0 .. it goes back to the main menu ... somthing like this

attached is a file .. the image on the right would be the setting on the button going to the dummy menu ... then the dummy menu does a bunch of compairs as showen on the left to see where it jumps .. i only made 1 compair for one jump .. but if you play with it a bit you can figure it out.

[lucindrea]

err ok .. attchment didnt seem to work .. try this
http://www.lucindrea.com/jumpset.gif

[mpucoder]

attachments must be reviewed by a moderator before they become available, so you can expect a delay (sometimes up to a day).

[Jestorius]

Lucindrea - thank you for your time and lesson. It helps.

One more question: Where do you place the dummyPGC? Under Videomanadger's Language or VTS Menu? Is it seamlessplay or is there a noticable jump between PGC's ?

[lucindrea]

check out http://www.lucindrea.com/test.scp ... save it as test.scp and inport it into scenartist .... check out all the commands on the jumps .... i just looked at it ... looks alot like the data ifoedit spits out ... well sort of .. and they should be seamless.. hehe i would of made links to buttons etc but cce is a very fast encoder and it's finished :-)

[Jestorius]

Thank you one more time. It was very kind of you. It gonna take time to get the logic behind the caos.

[Jestorius]

This test project is a very good tutorial to everyone in the start-phase.

As I can see the PGC_1 is the DummyPGC. It has a Post command with the statement - If the value of the PGRM0 is x then jump to PGCx else jump to VTS_TT Title_2.

All the PGC's has a Pre command - it is giving a value to the GPRM0. This value gonna be checked by the DummyPGC's Post command and jumps to the corresponding PGC. All the PGC's has a Post comand as well , it jumps back to the DummyPGC (PGC_1).

The only confusing thing is that you assigned a SPRM0 value to the GPRM0 in PGC_2's Pre flag. Does it has any special meaning to use the Menu Language Description Code ?
I see you have used the Break Command. What does the "Break" and "Exit" command do and how to use it?

As I see only the Title_2's PGC_1_1 can giv 6 as a value to the GPRM0. Is the Break a Pause actually and the Exit the Stop?

[lucindrea]

acctully .. i couldnt figure out a way to clear the gprm .. so i told it to make it the same as srpm ( an empty value ) .. that way nothing on the chain in the dummy would work and it would jump to title _2 ... the break was a mistake ... when i put it their i was thinking the dummy was the main and i needed a way to have it stop checking ( ie. if gprm = nothing ( srpm ) stop checking ) ... but hat should really be the command in the main menu ( title_2 )
like i said i didnt test this and i only tossed it together off the top of my head while waiting for cce to finish.

[Jestorius]

NO,NO, No.... it was just great. Mistake or not mistake you show me the right direction. I guess I know what this DummyBusiness is. It is the same as Command Sequences in Maestro. If I place a Command Sequence in the First Play, it is the same as DummyEntryPGC in Scenarist.

I can just advice others to download it and think over the hole project. It's easy.

[lucindrea]

on another thread i was trying to figure somthing else out ... you can add a language under the VMG and then a pcg under that and make that pcg the dummy .. this also allows you to make jumps from one VTS to another... a few extra steps but you shouldnt have to jump from one vts to another very often.

[lucindrea]

exit and break ... i'm basing my assumtions on my C codeing exp ( ok about 5 other languages also ) .. Break normly means stop loop and exit normly means leave program .... at least thats the best i can com up with as the docs dont mention either command ... acctully their is alot of detail in the docs starting at chap 10 ( scenartist folder .. file named SenaristNT_Procedure.pdf ).

anyone who has ever written anything in any C based lang. ( php , java , even some perl ) should know just how powerfull conditional loops can be and their are entire books written on program flow control .... the way i look at it DVD PCG's are not all that differnt ... it's just a matter of learning the syntax to get it to do what you want. ... the only downfall is that their is little to no documention on the net on how DVD's are done ( somthing to do with a greedy recording industry )..

ok now i'm ranting .. i'll stop typing now :-)

[Jestorius]

now I 'm 100% shure , the dummyPGC is a placeholder for the command sequence.

I like the Command Sequence option in Maestro and I couldn't figure out how to use the same option in Scenarist. I was wondering why do I have to make the same Command list for every element again and again. But I don't have to if I use a dummyPGC and link all these element sharing the same Command list to the same dummyPGC.

[lucindrea]

hehe check this out

http://www.lucindrea.com/temp.gif

[jwsmith]

Ok, thanx for all the replys. I got the dummy pgc. Now is the main movie in the Video Manager or in VTS_1. If I have like extras, would i put that into VTS_2? And make anotehr VTS? But if I press menu on the simulation, it says no resume information! What does that mean?

[Vulpine]

In your new VTS, make sure that you have a language folder. Add a PGC to it, and it becomes your root menu.

On another note: I just did a preview section that did what you were talking about. I found that you don't really need a dummy PGC. In scenerist you can assign a value and jump all in one command. The dummy pgc method works, but if you want to avoid a slight delay while the DVD skips around, you can eliminate it. I can post details on how I did it, if it is of interest.

[jwsmith]

Vulpine,

Can you please post the details. I would love that.

Thanx...

[Vulpine]

Basically what I did:

Used GPRM5 as a flag to play all.

Button #1 is the play all button, Buttons 2-9 are the individual preview buttons.

I first cleared the GPRM5 on the PRE of the preview-menu. (see #1 on image)

On the BUTTONS (see #2 on the image) of the preview-menu, I set button 1 to: Set GPRM5 to 1 and LINKPGCN to preview 1.

On the POST (see #3 on the image) of each preview, I compared GPRM5 to 1 and jumped to the next preview if yes, otherwise I returned to the menu.

That's it.

Notes:
You can ignore the GPRM0, I used that to return it to this menu whenever the user hit the menu key, util they selected to go back to the previous menu via button10 (or hit the title button).

[jwsmith]

What images are you referring to? And how do you make it return to the preview menu with GPRM0? That is one other question I've had.

Thanx

[jwsmith]

Vulpine,

Do you think you can tell me how to use the Menu Key to go back to the menu page? And how do you make a main Title screen?


Thanx

[Vulpine]

About the images: As the moderators have said, it takes a little time for them to appear, since they have to review them. (up to a day)

To go back to a submenu when a when a user hits the menu key:
All you have to do is -
1. assign a value to a GPRM on the PRE of the submenu. (For example I used GPRM0 and assigned it a value of 2 - see the above image)

2. At the title menu PRE set the value to 0.

3. At the root menu PRE compare the GPRM to the value and jump when true (For example: if GPRM0==2 LinkPGCN submenu2)

4. Have a button the user can press to go back to the previous menu and set GPRM back to 0 then link (For example: Mov GPRM0,0;LinkPGCN menu)

To create a Title menu:
Add a language folder to your Video Manager
Then add a PGC under the language folder.