spumux - Image transparency for menu.

[freevideo]

Hi,
Can you please tell me what transparency do you set when you are creating images for a DVD menu ? These images are for normal view, highlighted view (when a button gains focus) and selected view (when a button is selected). I have tried multiple combinations but none of them work. That is, the menu does not show the buttons. Also, when the DVD is played, the menu is skipped and the first title starts off right away.

Please help; I am at my wits end on this one as I have tried numerous options to get around this.

[Bjs]

The first problem is we have no idea what it is your using to either author / re-author with ... it would help knowing what equipment and applications you have and if you have tried other programs.

Spumux ... much easier to understand the log outputs to gain information about its operation from such programs as dvdauthorgui and others here in the tool section.

[freevideo]

The first problem is we have no idea what it is your using to either author / re-author with ... it would help knowing what equipment and applications you have and if you have tried other programs.

I have tried many options; GIMP, commands from mjpegtools suite, tutorials from MythTV, GIMP plugin and even a link from this forum. Perhaps, I am missing something obvious, but, it is not working for me. In my defence, most explanations are around, "This worked for me" rather than a good explanation of the underlying theory and its application.

Spumux ... much easier to understand the log outputs ...

You mean, there is actually a log file for spumux ? All I see is console output.

Anyway, let me describe me most recent attempt. If you could help me get around this, it would be terrific !

NOTE: I want a command line option because the menu images will be done by a friend who is far more creative than me; but, not much command line savvy.

First, I created a video that should appear as soon as the disc is run. This video is ini.vob. Second, I created a video for the menu. This is bkg.vob. These videos are generated off a PNG which is itself a scaled version (720x576 for PAL) of a JPG file.

ffmpeg -y -loop 1 -t 5 -f image2 -i ini-PAL.png -aspect 16:9 -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p ini.mp4
ffmpeg -y -i ini.mp4 -target pal-dvd ini.vob
ffmpeg -y -loop 1 -t 5 -f image2 -i bkg-PAL.png -aspect 16:9 -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p bkg.mp4
ffmpeg -y -i bkg.mp4 -target pal-dvd bkg.vob

I created three PNG in GIMP that are all of 720x576 pixels size - menu_image_bl.png (default), menu_select_bl.png (select) and menu_highlight_bl.png (highlight). This was done with the GIMP plugin for DVD authoring. While working with this plugin, I tried with both options of 100% transparency (0% opacity) and 100% opacity (0% transparency).

Image properties:

Image: menu_image_bl.png
  Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 660x540+0+0
  Resolution: 28.35x28.35
  Print size: 23.2804x19.0476
  Units: PixelsPerCentimeter
  Type: PaletteAlpha
  Endianess: Undefined
  Colorspace: sRGB
  Depth: 8-bit
  Channel depth:
    red: 8-bit
    green: 8-bit
    blue: 8-bit
    alpha: 1-bit
  Channel statistics:
    Red:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 72 (0.282353)
      mean: 0.995354 (0.00390335)
      standard deviation: 8.40683 (0.0329679)
      kurtosis: 67.3501
      skewness: 8.32767
    Green:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 70 (0.27451)
      mean: 0.967705 (0.00379492)
      standard deviation: 8.1733 (0.0320522)
      kurtosis: 67.3501
      skewness: 8.32767
    Blue:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 65 (0.254902)
      mean: 0.898583 (0.00352386)
      standard deviation: 7.5895 (0.0297627)
      kurtosis: 67.3501
      skewness: 8.32767
    Alpha:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 3.52521 (0.0138244)
      standard deviation: 29.7742 (0.116761)
      kurtosis: 67.3501
      skewness: -8.32767
  Image statistics:
    Overall:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 63.5841 (0.249349)
      standard deviation: 16.4437 (0.0644851)
      kurtosis: 4690.11
      skewness: 345.932
  Alpha: none   #00000000
  Colors: 2
  Histogram:
    351473: (  0,  0,  0,  0) #00000000 none
      4927: ( 72, 70, 65,255) #484641 srgba(72,70,65,1)
  Rendering intent: Perceptual
  Gamma: 0.454545
  Chromaticity:
    red primary: (0.64,0.33)
    green primary: (0.3,0.6)
    blue primary: (0.15,0.06)
    white point: (0.3127,0.329)
  Interlace: None
  Background color: black
  Border color: srgba(223,223,223,1)
  Matte color: grey74
  Transparent color: none
  Compose: Over
  Page geometry: 660x540+0+0
  Dispose: Undefined
  Iterations: 0
  Compression: Zip
  Orientation: Undefined
  Properties:
    Comment: Created with GIMP
    date:create: 2013-12-30T17:54:20+05:00
    date:modify: 2013-12-30T17:54:20+05:00
    png:bKGD                 : chunk was found (see Background color, above)
    png:cHRM                 : chunk was found (see Chromaticity, above)
    png:gAMA                 : gamma=0.45454544 (See Gamma, above)
    png:IHDR.bit_depth       : 8
    png:IHDR.color_type      : 3 (Indexed)
    png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)
    png:IHDR.width,height    : 660, 540
    png:pHYs                 : x_res=2835, y_res=2835, units=1
    png:PLTE.number_colors   : 2
    png:sRGB                 : intent=0 (See Rendering intent)
    png:text                 : 1 tEXt/zTXt/iTXt chunks were found
    png:tRNS                 : chunk was found
    signature: 9b3ca9350fdd2ee5c71f38e84fd6c8aecd4501551ed5d1758f709bc8eccda630
  Artifacts:
    filename: menu_image_bl.png
    verbose: true
  Tainted: False
  Filesize: 1.91KB
  Number pixels: 356K
  Pixels per second: 17.82MB
  User time: 0.030u
  Elapsed time: 0:01.019
  Version: ImageMagick 6.7.7-10 2013-09-10 Q16 http://www.imagemagick.org

Image: menu_highlight_bl.png
  Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 660x540+0+0
  Resolution: 28.35x28.35
  Print size: 23.2804x19.0476
  Units: PixelsPerCentimeter
  Type: PaletteAlpha
  Endianess: Undefined
  Colorspace: sRGB
  Depth: 8-bit
  Channel depth:
    red: 8-bit
    green: 8-bit
    blue: 8-bit
    alpha: 1-bit
  Channel statistics:
    Red:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 101 (0.396078)
      mean: 94.0791 (0.368938)
      standard deviation: 23.3197 (0.09145)
      kurtosis: 8.25628
      skewness: -3.18006
    Green:
      min: 45 (0.176471)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 60.704 (0.238055)
      standard deviation: 54.6326 (0.214246)
      kurtosis: 8.69123
      skewness: 3.26438
    Blue:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 103 (0.403922)
      mean: 94.92 (0.372235)
      standard deviation: 27.0577 (0.106108)
      kurtosis: 8.10171
      skewness: -3.15331
    Alpha:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 22.1601 (0.0869024)
      standard deviation: 71.8314 (0.281692)
      kurtosis: 6.60234
      skewness: -2.93297
  Image statistics:
    Overall:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 120.636 (0.473081)
      standard deviation: 48.5294 (0.190311)
      kurtosis: 14.8454
      skewness: 3.50959
  Alpha: srgba(101,45,103,0)   #652D6700
  Colors: 4
  Histogram:
        65: (  0,245,  0,255) #00F500 srgba(0,245,0,1)
     25980: ( 12,255,  0,255) #0CFF00 srgba(12,255,0,1)
      4927: ( 71, 71, 63,255) #47473F srgba(71,71,63,1)
    325428: (101, 45,103,  0) #652D6700 srgba(101,45,103,0)
  Rendering intent: Perceptual
  Gamma: 0.454545
  Chromaticity:
    red primary: (0.64,0.33)
    green primary: (0.3,0.6)
    blue primary: (0.15,0.06)
    white point: (0.3127,0.329)
  Interlace: None
  Background color: srgba(101,45,103,1)
  Border color: srgba(223,223,223,1)
  Matte color: grey74
  Transparent color: none
  Compose: Over
  Page geometry: 660x540+0+0
  Dispose: Undefined
  Iterations: 0
  Compression: Zip
  Orientation: Undefined
  Properties:
    Comment: Created with GIMP
    date:create: 2013-12-30T17:54:21+05:00
    date:modify: 2013-12-30T17:54:21+05:00
    png:bKGD                 : chunk was found (see Background color, above)
    png:cHRM                 : chunk was found (see Chromaticity, above)
    png:gAMA                 : gamma=0.45454544 (See Gamma, above)
    png:IHDR.bit_depth       : 8
    png:IHDR.color_type      : 3 (Indexed)
    png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)
    png:IHDR.width,height    : 660, 540
    png:pHYs                 : x_res=2835, y_res=2835, units=1
    png:PLTE.number_colors   : 4
    png:sRGB                 : intent=0 (See Rendering intent)
    png:text                 : 1 tEXt/zTXt/iTXt chunks were found
    png:tRNS                 : chunk was found
    signature: e08f60e11f5e3374f7179ac5c1a2b4a99a22fb12afc91a8e849514ff3645e3da
  Artifacts:
    filename: menu_highlight_bl.png
    verbose: true
  Tainted: False
  Filesize: 3.33KB
  Number pixels: 356K
  Pixels per second: 35.64MB
  User time: 0.020u
  Elapsed time: 0:01.010
  Version: ImageMagick 6.7.7-10 2013-09-10 Q16 http://www.imagemagick.org

Image: menu_select_bl.png
  Format: PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
  Class: DirectClass
  Geometry: 660x540+0+0
  Resolution: 28.35x28.35
  Print size: 23.2804x19.0476
  Units: PixelsPerCentimeter
  Type: PaletteAlpha
  Endianess: Undefined
  Colorspace: sRGB
  Depth: 8-bit
  Channel depth:
    red: 8-bit
    green: 8-bit
    blue: 8-bit
    alpha: 1-bit
  Channel statistics:
    Red:
      min: 71 (0.278431)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 111.838 (0.43858)
      standard deviation: 40.3449 (0.158215)
      kurtosis: 8.60024
      skewness: 3.23197
    Green:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 71 (0.278431)
      mean: 42.0709 (0.164984)
      standard deviation: 12.1963 (0.0478285)
      kurtosis: 7.78749
      skewness: -2.80239
    Blue:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 103 (0.403922)
      mean: 94.9205 (0.372237)
      standard deviation: 27.0558 (0.106101)
      kurtosis: 8.10174
      skewness: -3.1533
    Alpha:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 22.1601 (0.0869024)
      standard deviation: 71.8314 (0.281692)
      kurtosis: 6.60234
      skewness: -2.93297
  Image statistics:
    Overall:
      min: 0 (0)
      max: 255 (1)
      mean: 120.417 (0.472225)
      standard deviation: 43.7842 (0.171703)
      kurtosis: 24.3858
      skewness: 4.72915
  Alpha: srgba(101,45,103,0)   #652D6700
  Colors: 4
  Histogram:
      4927: ( 71, 71, 63,255) #47473F srgba(71,71,63,1)
    325428: (101, 45,103,  0) #652D6700 srgba(101,45,103,0)
        65: (248,  0,  3,255) #F80003 srgba(248,0,3,1)
     25980: (255,  0,  0,255) #FF0000 red
  Rendering intent: Perceptual
  Gamma: 0.454545
  Chromaticity:
    red primary: (0.64,0.33)
    green primary: (0.3,0.6)
    blue primary: (0.15,0.06)
    white point: (0.3127,0.329)
  Interlace: None
  Background color: srgba(101,45,103,1)
  Border color: srgba(223,223,223,1)
  Matte color: grey74
  Transparent color: none
  Compose: Over
  Page geometry: 660x540+0+0
  Dispose: Undefined
  Iterations: 0
  Compression: Zip
  Orientation: Undefined
  Properties:
    Comment: Created with GIMP
    date:create: 2013-12-30T17:54:21+05:00
    date:modify: 2013-12-30T17:54:21+05:00
    png:bKGD                 : chunk was found (see Background color, above)
    png:cHRM                 : chunk was found (see Chromaticity, above)
    png:gAMA                 : gamma=0.45454544 (See Gamma, above)
    png:IHDR.bit_depth       : 8
    png:IHDR.color_type      : 3 (Indexed)
    png:IHDR.interlace_method: 0 (Not interlaced)
    png:IHDR.width,height    : 660, 540
    png:pHYs                 : x_res=2835, y_res=2835, units=1
    png:PLTE.number_colors   : 4
    png:sRGB                 : intent=0 (See Rendering intent)
    png:text                 : 1 tEXt/zTXt/iTXt chunks were found
    png:tRNS                 : chunk was found
    signature: e59be9b3d412427a468c07626a8bbaeda150c38566bd07c17f9dcaa78133a9f8
  Artifacts:
    filename: menu_select_bl.png
    verbose: true
  Tainted: False
  Filesize: 3.33KB
  Number pixels: 356K
  Pixels per second: 35.64MB
  User time: 0.020u
  Elapsed time: 0:01.009
  Version: ImageMagick 6.7.7-10 2013-09-10 Q16 http://www.imagemagick.org

The plugin also created an XML file to be used with spumux as shown here:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
  <subpictures>
    <stream>
      <spu force="yes" highlight="menu_highlight_bl.png" image="menu_image_bl.png" select="menu_select_bl.png" start="00:00:00.00">
        <button name="b5" up="b4" x0="40" x1="160" y0="420" y1="460"/>
        <button down="b5" name="b4" up="b3" x0="40" x1="180" y0="340" y1="380"/>
        <button down="b4" name="b3" up="b2" x0="40" x1="160" y0="260" y1="300"/>
        <button down="b3" name="b2" up="b1" x0="40" x1="220" y0="180" y1="220"/>
        <button down="b2" name="b1" up="b0" x0="40" x1="180" y0="100" y1="140"/>
        <button down="b1" name="b0" x0="40" x1="220" y0="20" y1="60"/>
      </spu>
    </stream>
  </subpictures>

I used this with spumux and followed it with conversion to VOB as shown below.

spumux menu_spu.xml < bkg.mp4 > menu.mp4
ffmpeg -y -i menu.mp4 -target pal-dvd menu.vob

At this point, I have the videos (ini.vob, menu.vob) and the images (menu_image_bl.png, menu_select_bl.png, menu_highlight_bl.png) ready for work with dvdauthor. The control XML for dvdauthor (as suggested in the GIMP plugin) is as follows:

<dvdauthor>
 <vmgm>
  <menus>
   <pgc>
    <vob file="ini.vob"/>
    <post>g0=0;jump titleset 1 menu;</post>
   </pgc>
  </menus>
 </vmgm> 
<titleset>
 <menus>
  <pgc>
    <vob file="menu.vob"/>
     <button name="b0"> jump title 1; </button>
     <button name="b1"> jump title 1; </button>
     <button name="b2"> jump title 1; </button>
     <button name="b3"> jump title 1; </button>
     <button name="b4"> jump title 1; </button>
     <button name="b5"> jump title 1; </button>
    <pre>
      button=g0;
    </pre>
    <post>
      g0=button;jump menu 1;
    </post>
   </pgc>
 </menus>
 <titles>
  <pgc>
   <vob file="movie.vob"/>
  </pgc>
 </titles>
</titleset>
</dvdauthor>

After dvdauthor, I converted the contents of the dvd output folder to an ISO image with mkisofs. Then, I ran it with ffplay. Here is what happens:

1. The ini.vob plays for 5 seconds duration.
2. The menu.vob appears - without menu or buttons - and disappears within couple of seconds.
3. The movie.vob starts.

What am I missing ?

[manono]

Why not do it like normal people and use one of the GUIs for spumux. I use DVDAuthorGUI when I create menus.

NOTE: I want a command line option because the menu images will be done by a friend who is far more creative than me; but, not much command line savvy.

You can't have him send you the menu images? And, if not, it's easy enough to replace yours with his later on after making the DVD.

[Bjs]

GIMP, commands from mjpegtools suite

Confirm contents of iso are compliant with dvd specs ... your iso should not contain vobs using name "ini" and "movie" ... otherwise its non-compliant ... start over again.

spumux menu_spu.xml < bkg.mp4 > menu.mp4

? Where did MP4 come from ... Im pretty sure spumux has nothing to do here ... and if it did it was destroyed during the conversion using ffmpeg from mp4 to vob.

----

You friend can use spumux with mpeg stream, the necessary xml, and their image to produce the necessary output ... yet ... this may produce a much larger file ... it would be simpler for them to share the image file by other means.

[freevideo]

Why not do it like normal people and use one of the GUIs for spumux.

I have been accused of being 'abnormal' at times But, I think, it is perfectly reasonable to opt for a command line solution.

Confirm contents of iso are compliant with dvd specs ... your iso should not contain vobs using name "ini" and "movie" ... otherwise its non-compliant ... start over again.

oh ? I wasn't aware that the file names had to comply to a standard ! With the DVD spec rated at $5000, it will be difficult to find out about the standard.

Where did MP4 come from

It is generated from a PNG (scaled to PAL dimensions) from ffmpeg as 5 second video.

Im pretty sure spumux has nothing to do here ... and if it did it was destroyed during the conversion using ffmpeg from mp4 to vob.

I am unable to get dvdauthor to work without VOB files (for example, see this); hence the conversion.

[manono]

But, I think, it is perfectly reasonable to opt for a command line solution.

Maybe, if you know what you're doing.

Did you consider my other two suggestions?

[freevideo]

Maybe, if you know what you're doing.

I will immediately accept that I am no video expert; although, in the past couple of months, I have learnt quite a bit than your average "just pop into the DVD tray" person. (Compile ffmpeg, learn about its codecs, PNG file format, GIMP use, fiddling with DVD control file, etc.) But, I see this as a learning opportunity so that I can sustain the momentum of a non-profit initiative that I am planning.

Did you consider my other two suggestions?

I did have luck with DVDStyler. In fact, I found out that the structure of its XML file is similar to the one required by dvdauthor. But, it is too dissimilar to feed the XML of DVDStyler to dvdauthor directly; unless, one is up for some heroic compatibility efforts.

You can't have him send you the menu images?

Maybe...but, even then I want a command line option. My aim is to just drop the images onto a folder so that spumux processes it in a cron job.

And, if not, it's easy enough to replace yours with his later on after making the DVD.

You mention ...after making the DVD. Can you please elaborate this ?

[manono]

Can you please elaborate this ?

I don't know enough about the kinds of menus you're making - static or motion, buttons in the same places with both, or different places. However, I made a guide for this once upon a time. If they're both static it can be pretty simple (skip down to The Easy Way at the bottom. If they're motion menus and the buttons are still in the same place, it's still fairly easy, but you'll have to perform all the steps:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/254043-Guide-for-extracting-menus-for-editing-and-r...00#post1514500

If you're using Gimp that implies that at least some are static. You can send him the basic BMPs you create and have him use the text you created for the buttons in the same place when he creates the better ones. But this may be more easily done after he creates the menu images for you.

Also, if transparencies are a problem, DVDSubEdit can probably set that right after the DVD is made. The menu being skipped when the DVD is inserted is another problem fairly easy to fix, this time by adjusting the commands using PGCEdit. I still think an authoring program with a GUI would be much better if you're really at my wits end. The things you're having problems with are really basic and handled smoothly by just about any authoring program that also handles menu creation.