Chapter menus

[dvdfun]

I rewrote my question since no one was answering my issue:

In Scenarist:
I have created three different still menu files.
After importing this three files in authoring app, I dropped Main menu file under VTS|Language folder. This menu got id "Root Menu". Now I dropped second menu file under VTS|Language folder. This is suppose to be chapter selection menu. So I gave this menu it's id "PTT Menu". After this I added third menu slide under VTS|Language folder. This menu is suppose to me more chapter selection menu. So I want to give it a id tag. But I am not able to give the id "PTT Menu". I get an error stating "Similar id present in the VTS" So I m wondering if it would be ok to leave the id as "No Menu" Will this affect and create any malfunction in the final DVD? Is my procedure correct of creating chapter menus? Is it necessary to give menu id or can I just leave the id as "No Menu" and loop the second and third menu PGC?


Can I have a continuos music playing even when I jump from one menu (pgc) to different menu (new PGC)?


I still dont understand a full use of subpictures under menus. What kind of tricks can I do?


Please help asap.

Thank you all in advance.

[Crazyjoe]

Originally posted by dvdfun


In Scenarist:
I have created three different still menu files.
After importing this three files in authoring app, I dropped Main menu file under VTS|Language folder. This menu got id "Root Menu". Now I dropped second menu file under VTS|Language folder. This is suppose to be chapter selection menu. So I gave this menu it's id "PTT Menu". After this I added third menu slide under VTS|Language folder. This menu is suppose to me more chapter selection menu. So I want to give it a id tag. But I am not able to give the id "PTT Menu". I get an error stating "Similar id present in the VTS" So I m wondering if it would be ok to leave the id as "No Menu" Will this affect and create any malfunction in the final DVD? Is my procedure correct of creating chapter menus? Is it necessary to give menu id or can I just leave the id as "No Menu" and loop the second and third menu PGC?


The identification as "Title Menu", "Root Menu", "PTT Menu" etc. is only an "index" for the DVD player. He needs to know, which pgc he should jump to, when pressing the "top menu" button on the remote for accessing the title menu and "menu" for accessing the current root menu.

Only ONE pgc per VTS (e.g. Video Manager for the Title Menu) can have such a flag! If you have more than one menu, which shouldn't be accessed via links from the actual root or title menu you'll have to give that index to a dummy pgc and select via command sequences to which menu pgc the player should jump.

The menu flags "PTT Menu", "Audio Menu" and "Subpicture Menu" are not necessary, because only some players can access these menus directly via special button sequences pressed together on the remote control.


Can I have a continuos music playing even when I jump from one menu (pgc) to different menu (new PGC)?


No, that's impossible. Each PGC that is player is "closed in it self". It's just a video. So the video track and the audio track stick together. The audio can't continue playing while the player executes a command or jumps to a different video.


I still dont understand a full use of subpictures under menus. What kind of tricks can I do?


What part of subpics for menus do you not understand? It's actually very simple. A menu can either be a still graphic for a still menu or a video for an animated video. Each button on that menu should be represented by a part of the subpic you use, so that the user can actually see which button is selected at the moment or activated.

There are many possibilities how to make more complex visuals. For example you could make button animations on the video of the animated menu and could "hide" parts of it by using the subpic. Or you could apply advanced subpiture effects like fading or wiping the subpic, which Scenarist provides.

Hope I could help a little bit. :)

Greets

Joe

[dvdfun]

Thanks Joe!

Menu id part is clear in my mind now.

about using subpictures. Yes I want to learn the complex use of it. I wanna be creative and make menus very attractive. (Not just attractive graphics art.)

ok lets start with a simple one:
for example lets say I have list of chapters (text). now when i am scrolling thru each chapter text, I want a picture showing up in the corner. This picture should change for each chapter selection. How can i do this. Can this be done by some subpicture trick? I have done this using Pinnacle Impression Pro.

Thanks in advance.

[Crazyjoe]

If i understand you right, you want a still picture of the corresponding chapter be shown, when the chapter text is selected in the menu?

You could do the trick with subpics easily, but it won't look very neat. You would have to put all the still pictures on the main still pic (or animated video) of the menu, and "hide" the not needed pictures with the subpicture (display contrast set to 100% and selection contrast set to 0%). But there's the problem, that there will be always a slight delay before the subpic is displayed, when entering the pgc, and also a slight deleay when exiting the pgc. So at the beginning and when leaving the pgc the whole video/still pic will be shown without the subpics and therefore all stills of the chapters will be revealed.

Another possibility would be to create a still picture (or video) for each of the possible chapter selections (with only the current chapter still pic showing). You would still need a subpicture (because it's a menu pgc), but in that case it should only mark the selection and not "hide" the still pic.

Then you would have to link the button of the visible still pic to the actual chapter point and the buttons for the non visible stills on that pgc to the corresponding pgcs which show that still pictures. On these buttons you'll have to activate the "auto-action" function of these buttons. This means, that the user doesn't have to press "Enter" on the remote, but the button command will be automaticly executed when the button is selected.

You could do some search on these topics on the "DVD Authoring" and "Advanced Authoring" Forums. You'll find many threads to these topics.

But if you have further questions to me, feel free to ask. :)

Greets

Joe

[dvdfun]

Joe, Thanks again!

Your trick should work, only problem would be everytime the still menu changes, user will see flicks...Not good!

If you get chance, please see DVD "Fantasia 2000" from Walt Disney. On the chapter menu, there is chapter selection(txt) on the right and as you scroll thru each chapter selection, related picture changes in the center. It's simple but becos of the graphics and neat background it looks really nice. I want to do something like that.

Thank you.

[Crazyjoe]

Unfortunately I don't have "Fantasia 2000".

But if I come over a similar title, I will take a look at the technique they use and try to help you. :)

Greets

Joe

[DaRat]

For F2k you should do the following:

Create your background, put it onto bottomost layer. Create the chap index on the right. Create the images (and text) shown on the left for each chapter. (if you wish you could make a highlight of some sort for the chap index). Now save a different image for each chapter showing he corresponding image and text (and possibly highlight). Import all of them into scenarist as still menus, also import a blank (all white) subpicture.

In track editor add the blank subpicture to all the menus. Switch to Scenario view. Drop your first chap menu onto the langugae folder of your choice, set its flag to "PTT Menu" in the info window. Drop the rest in order (just to avoid more confusion. lol). Now highlight the first chap menu, switch to simulation window. Make all the buttons (in case of users watching your stuff on a comp).

Assume your'e making the second menu. What you should have is a bunch of buttons with no navigations between them. Now make a up and a down link (or left+right or whatever :D) from the current chap number (chapter 2 in this case) so you'll end up with chap 2 with a up link to chap 1 button and a down link to chap 3 button.

[Chap 1]
^
|
[Chap 2]
|
¡
[Chap 3]

[Chap 4]

etc


Switch to the Subpicture and Highlight tab, go to buttons. Select button 1, check Auto Action. Do the same for button 3. Now go back to scen view, make the links by dragging links to other chapter selection menus. Do this for all your menus and youre done. Of course the first does not have a up link as the last does not have a down link.

Why dont you need a normal subpicture? As you import different menu image for all chapters, you should make the highlight in your fav paint program, you're not bound by the 4 color overlay, you may add a cool effect.

One final note: You may want to add a Mebnu button, eg a "Menu->" type of something so if the user press RIGHT on the remote he'll return to the previous menu. To do this simply add a right link to the menu button, and set it auto action.

[Crazyjoe]

@ DaRat

Thanks for the detailed explanation to dvdfun.

That's exactly what I suggested as the alternative to hiding not needed parts with the subpic (which has only a limited use, because of the 4 bit color depth of the subpic). :)

[dvdfun]

DaRat,

Thank you very much for the detailed explaination. I hope I understood it correctly. I am gonna try it. Seems like little lengthier process, but hey if it works, that's great!:) Wish me luck.:rolleyes:

Thanks once again!

[maa]

Originally posted by dvdfun
On the chapter menu, there is chapter selection(txt) on the right and as you scroll thru each chapter selection, related picture changes in the center. ~ I want to do something like that.
Simple answer:
DVD Lab
and there are tutorials for doing those kind of menus.

[dvdfun]

Thanks Maa,
I will look into that too....
but once I create those menus in DVDLab, can i import it into Scenarist?
Thanks,

[maa]

No - you either stick with DVD Lab or use the same routines with multiple switched menus in scenarist - it is a lot of work but you can make really nice effects. What happens is you use the mouse-over command to actually swap from one menu to the next. The content is exactly the same except for the picture that appears! (In DVD Lab that can be a moving picture too)Its only a trick but be prepared for a few hours work....

[dvdfun]

DaRat,

If I make seperate stills for each chapter pictures (menus), once I import those as still pictures, and when layed out in layout editor, each of those stills becomes seperate PGCs. Doesnt that mean there will be a black flicker everytime I do up/down to change chapters, since there is no seemless features for PGCs?

I havnt got chance to work on this menus, hopefully this weekend.

Thanks in advance.

[Crazyjoe]

Put the other tracks as cells to the first pgc. Set the cell time of each cell to infinite. As the jump command between the chapters use "Jump to Cell" instead of "Jump to PGC".
After that change the link type of the cells in the cells properties from "Non-Seamless" (default) to "Seamless". But that only works if the tracks you've used for the cells stick together in the track editor (means there should be no other tracks between them).

That should do the trick. :)

[dvdfun]

I thought of that, but I think, the PGC would play all the cells one after other considering all the cells as one big video (part) of itself.

[Crazyjoe]

Originally posted by dvdfun
I thought of that, but I think, the PGC would play all the cells one after other considering all the cells as one big video (part) of itself.

No, it won't when you set the cell duration to infinite! ;) Ever wondered why the playback of a still menu won't stop? ;)

[Crazyjoe]

Oh, one thing I forgot. The link between the cells can't be Seamless, because there's a highlightlayer and one ore more commands may be executet. Therefore they can't be seamlessly connected.

But at the moment I can't figure out a better solution. :rolleyes: