donhieu
20th January 2003, 06:49
"One needs to give in order to get"
Hi, I am new to this forum, so I thought that I give something before I ask my questions. This is just little tricks that I like to share for the people who uses DVDMaestro. I bet that a lot of people already know them, but I think they need to be emphasized more. The tricks are how to achieve transitions between menus and how to have an opening sequence seamlessly move into the main motion menu of a DVD.
First, when you buy a DVD from the store, their motion menus are really interactive and professionally done. Everytime you press a button, the menu suddenly moves to a new menu, it doesn't jump, but it smoothly move to another menu. This is done by menu transition. The transition is actually a short video clip that is the end part to the main motion menu. During the editing process, it was cut out and saved as a separate video clip and later imported into DVDMaestro as a motion menu. Now, when you set up the links for your buttons in the main motion menu, you set the target of a button to the transition. After that, you set the timeout of the transiton to zero and set the timeout endaction in the connection window of the transition to where ever you want to go next. In other words, when pressing that button, the transition is being played, and then the actual target is next. The trick is that the last frame of your main motion menu must match with the first frame of the transition. This will prevent jumping. It will make your dvds more professional. Trust me.
The second trick that I like to share is how to have an opening sequence smoothly move into a main motion menu. Hollywood DVDs usually have an openning sequences that takes you right into the main menu. This is easily done by BUTTON OVER VIDEO. I learn this technique inside this forum, so it is not to my credit alone. I did considerable amount of search before I find it. When I bought DVDMaestro a long time ago to run my business, they gave me a poorly worded user manual, so I learn DVDMaestro on the net. Ok,first, you must have the opening sequence and the main menu as one unique video clip. Then, import that clip as a "video asset" into the timeline. It's obvious to the software that this is a video track but to you, it is a menu. Next, button over video is done by putting a corresponding SUBPICTURE overlay into one of the SUBTITLE tracks. Then in the video track of that subtitle track, which is your main menu, you must set a chapter point at a timecode where you want your button highlights to appear. Right click on the chapter marker and choose edit marker. Check Button Highlights. Chapter point is also checked which is ok, don't uncheck that. To put in buttons, you double click on the subtitle track that the subpicture overlay is, and it will let you edit that subtitle like a menu. There you go. Make your dvds look good.
I know that this is long but I think I have explained it step by step, so if there are any suggestions or questions, please post below. Thank you for reading.
P.S. U2 won the Golden Globe for Gangs Of New York, God bless them and America!
Hi, I am new to this forum, so I thought that I give something before I ask my questions. This is just little tricks that I like to share for the people who uses DVDMaestro. I bet that a lot of people already know them, but I think they need to be emphasized more. The tricks are how to achieve transitions between menus and how to have an opening sequence seamlessly move into the main motion menu of a DVD.
First, when you buy a DVD from the store, their motion menus are really interactive and professionally done. Everytime you press a button, the menu suddenly moves to a new menu, it doesn't jump, but it smoothly move to another menu. This is done by menu transition. The transition is actually a short video clip that is the end part to the main motion menu. During the editing process, it was cut out and saved as a separate video clip and later imported into DVDMaestro as a motion menu. Now, when you set up the links for your buttons in the main motion menu, you set the target of a button to the transition. After that, you set the timeout of the transiton to zero and set the timeout endaction in the connection window of the transition to where ever you want to go next. In other words, when pressing that button, the transition is being played, and then the actual target is next. The trick is that the last frame of your main motion menu must match with the first frame of the transition. This will prevent jumping. It will make your dvds more professional. Trust me.
The second trick that I like to share is how to have an opening sequence smoothly move into a main motion menu. Hollywood DVDs usually have an openning sequences that takes you right into the main menu. This is easily done by BUTTON OVER VIDEO. I learn this technique inside this forum, so it is not to my credit alone. I did considerable amount of search before I find it. When I bought DVDMaestro a long time ago to run my business, they gave me a poorly worded user manual, so I learn DVDMaestro on the net. Ok,first, you must have the opening sequence and the main menu as one unique video clip. Then, import that clip as a "video asset" into the timeline. It's obvious to the software that this is a video track but to you, it is a menu. Next, button over video is done by putting a corresponding SUBPICTURE overlay into one of the SUBTITLE tracks. Then in the video track of that subtitle track, which is your main menu, you must set a chapter point at a timecode where you want your button highlights to appear. Right click on the chapter marker and choose edit marker. Check Button Highlights. Chapter point is also checked which is ok, don't uncheck that. To put in buttons, you double click on the subtitle track that the subpicture overlay is, and it will let you edit that subtitle like a menu. There you go. Make your dvds look good.
I know that this is long but I think I have explained it step by step, so if there are any suggestions or questions, please post below. Thank you for reading.
P.S. U2 won the Golden Globe for Gangs Of New York, God bless them and America!