How to do menu transitions in Maestro

[henkjanl]

Some time ago i read some threads about people asking how to do menu transitions in Maestro (can't find these treads anymore otherwise I replied to them) . The only solution mentioned was to setup the transition as an separate movie, set the button to the movie and set the end action of the movie to the next menu. This solution works OK if you play the DVD from hardisk, After burning the pause before and after the transition is to long (e.g. the menu transition doesn't play smoothly). This is because when you select the button the DVD skips to the end of the dvd en after the transition skips back to another menu.
Now the way I did it: Just make an extra menu with the transition movie as background, set the timeout to zero and set the timeoutaction to the next menu. Ignore the warnings you get from Maestro after compiling the dvd, this is because you have no buttons and no ovelay bitmap.
Now you have a smooth playing menu transition also on your standalone.

Happy authoring,

Henk-Jan

[auenf]

i think the other suggestion (by easy2 iirc) was to use button over video.

Enf...

[henkjanl]

Your'e right I remember somthing about that, but I never figured out what he ment by that. Sorry I am quite new with dvd-authoring, I just figured out how to use command sequences.
But I think the advantage with the way I did it, is that the transition stays within the same vob file as the rest of the menu's so it plays more smoothly. I could be wrong of course because I don't know what you mean with button over video, so maybe an explanation will be a good thing.

Greetings,

Henk-Jan

[auenf]

button over video is the same as 'White Rabbit' (set a chapter to 'button over video' in the edit marker screen)

off the top of my head, im sure you can use angles as well to make multiple selection transitions smoother, but start with just a simple one

im sure this doesnt make complete sense cause im half asleep ;)

Enf...

[easy2Bcheesy]

I'm a bit confused why you would want your transition to be a separate menu with a timeout. In practise, on a set-top DVD player, you will get a pause when you select your menu option (you can't avoid this), then a pause when you finish the transition as it jumps to the next menu (which you CAN avoid)

I simply put the transition before the menu stream, make one MPEG2 stream. Then set the loop point on "playback control" to the beginning of the menu. The loop point is also the point at which the subpicture kicks in and the buttons start to work. IE - Maestro is designed to allow very easy transitions!

Voila - a transition with no jump at the end, and once the menu has run through, it loops back to the point just after the transition. Easy.

[henkjanl]

Ok I will try to explain what I am doing before everybody gets confused. I am doing a complete reauthor of Jurassic park III, because the version here in The Netherlands doesn't have a English DTS track. So I ripped the English DTS track from the UK version which doesn't have Dutch subtitles.
The original JP III has an moving main menu which I did like easy2Bcheesy describes. When you select one of the other menu's you get a moving transition and then an still menu with a background tune of 3 minutes. If I do this the easy2Bcheesy way I have to transfer the bitmap which is only several kb's to an 3 minute mpeg which is at least 150Mb (I have 4 menus so 4*150=600Mb). I am sorry that I am making this so difficult for myself but I want my DVD the same as the original without wasting space (I have only 4,7Gb).
So that is why I did it the way I described it. Now the menu after the transition is just a still menu which takes less space on the DVD, and with the time out of the transition menu set to 0 the pause is minimal. I compared it with the original on my Philips standalone and I can't see the difference.
Again I am sorry that I get everybody confused but I thought more people had the same problem.
Yesterday I finisched my Jurassic Park III remake, and I am very happy with it. I now have JP III with english DTS and dutch sutitles, I even managed to keep the directors comments including subtitles.

Greetings,

Henk-Jan

[easy2Bcheesy]

Sounds like you sorted your own problem out!

But just to be irritating you could have used buttons over video. On the movie just put your transition MPEG2 down, then take your still and put it right next to it on the timeline, dragging it over to 3 minutes. Put a chapter point where the still begins, setting it to be "buttons over video" and you would achieve the same effect with no pause :)

You can mix MPEG2 clips and stills fairly easily on a Maestro timeline, and the stills take up almost no memory.

[henkjanl]

Ok that explains a lot, I think I understand it now. My new Jurassic Park III is still on DVD+RW so I give it a try this evening.

Thanks,

Henk-Jan Lievers