Need some Menu help from a DVD-lab PRO master

[jeanpave]

Hi.

I have a question about creating Menu buttons in DVD-lab PRO, please. (I'm using version 1.5.)

There are certain buttons that can be inserted into the menus. Say I take one of those, put it in, and then set it to 'Invisible Normal'.
My problem is that, when that button is finally selected in the DVD menu, only the outline of that button is showing, in whatever colour and transparency is selected. I mean, I don't see the texture of the button. (Even if that button has ten colours, and an interesting texture, as seen in the inventory, nothing is kept when invisible. If it's not set to be visible, then only its shape and the colour on top of it can be seen when that button is selected.)

So, how can I have that button behave as if it was Invisible Normal, but look as if it was Visible, when I actually select it?
If that button is a face, you know, with eyes and nose, and a different colour for the hair, or something, I don't want just the outline of a face and all in one colour, right?...

I hope I explained what the problem is properly.

Thank you very much.

[lordsmurf]

If you don't get an answer here, ask the question at http://www.tvpreservation.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/record-video-tech-21.html
and then PM the user "manthing" to look at it (and tell him LS referred you)
He's a pretty good DVD-Lab user.

However, you are using a pretty old version of DVD-Lab.

[16mmJunkie]

It's been awhile since I played with DVD Lab Pro(and 1.5 is old). But you have the ablity to change the level of color and transparency in the menu(buttons as well). In the menu section you should be able to go into the Gen-EFX and make the adjustments to Selected Objects (such as images, buttons or video stills). I think this is what your trying to do as per your statement.





If the Light ain't Bright, It ain't Right!!

[jeanpave]

Lordsmurf:
Thank you very much. If I don't get anywhere by way of this VideoHelp thread, I will contact Manthing for sure. I am just really surprised, for now, that I got two useful responses already.


16mmJunkie:

Thank you very much for the advice. However, in the Gen-EFX menu, I see only an 'Effects' tab, saying "Library" underneath, with the following options:
- Basic: Blur, Sharpen, Adjust Gamma, Stretch Contrast, Light Duotone, Colorize, Sepia Colors, Median Filter, Despeckle Strong, De-Noise (- I won't include all options for the next two categories, because you get the gist of it)
- Fun with Images: Crazy Color, ..., Mosaic
- The Background Maker: Cold Fussion [sic], ..., RGB Breakdown

This is very nice to find, as I haven't used it before, but I don't think there's a transparency option there. (There is one in the first tab of the 'Properties' part of DVD-lab - the one that starts with 'Fill Color' - on the other hand, but it's already in the opaque position.)
Oh, and, in case the fact may be relevant, this button is not part of the background image.

The thing is, the button looks the way it should look, if I set it to 'Visible'. Only when it's 'Invisible Normal' (or Selected), that's when only the selected colour is displayed. If the selected colour or activated colour is set to be fully transparent, then I don't see anything (- as if it would be 'Invisible All').


Finally, to both:
I know it's an old version, but it's an amazing program. Other than this issue, and the fact that the subtitles it creates are still showing up as unknown (in CloneDVD) even when you set them as 'English' during the authoring process, I have no reasons to complain about it or change it. So, I haven't. Obviously, though, if you can tell me these two features work properly in version 2.5, I might just go ahead and get it. Otherwise, why change what works so well, right?

[16mmJunkie]

Well, at least I tried....It may not be in this version....I'd try what LS mentioned or go to http://mmbforums.com/ipb/ which is a DVD Lab Pro forum. Good Luck, let us know the out come




If the Light ain't Bright, It ain't Right!!

[jeanpave]

Yes, but what's the name of the option you can use to make buttons more or less transparent in Gen-EFX? (I'll try a search in the DVD-lab documentation; maybe it's placed somewhere else in 1.5...)

Thank you, again.

[guns1inger]

No, you cannot do what you want to do the way you are doing it. The DVD spec doesn't allow it to happen. The issue is what constitutes a button.

You see a button as the whole image - background, foreground etc. The DVD menu only sees the overlay part of the button, not the background image. When you set a button to be invisible normal, all that is see is the high-light when you select the option. This is how "easter eggs" are made. The spec does not allow for the background image to be changed when a button is pressed, so you cannot see your fancy button design.

So the bottom line is that if you want to use fancy buttons that act like normal buttons, they have to be normal buttons. No invisibility.

The closest option I can think of would be a switched menu, where you have two versions of the menu, one with the button invisible on the background, and one with it visible. When the user moves the focus down the visible buttons to where the invisible button is, you do an auto-switch to the next version of the menu so that the button appears and can be chosen. Switched menus are covered in several tutorials at the Mediachance site.

[jeanpave]

Thank you for the reply, Guns1inger, but the thing is: it can be done, for sure. (One might have to use Scenarist, probably, or some other fully professional tool, but it has been done.)

See, I liked the buttons in a professional menu so much, that I'm trying to use them myself. So, I created the PNG files, with just the buttons, on transparent background, and put them into the DVD-lab button folder. But I can't use them like in that professionally-created menu, because I either have to show all the buttons at the same time or to allow just an outline to be visible when selected.

A switched menu would work, for sure (- and thanks for suggesting it -) if I didn't have a motion menu in the background. (And no, I'm not trying to select any of the background - if I perhaps mistakenly implied that.)

I guess my complaint is this: DVD-lab says it allows you to use custom buttons. Fine. In its menu, then, it says that 'Invisible Normal' means that that button will be visible only when selected. But it's not actually visible. That's the problem. Only a single-colour shade, over the outline of the button, is visible. That's a little disappointing, isn't it? And I can't see why showing the full button when selected can't be done in such a menu.

P.S. Oh, and thank you very much for suggesting the other forum, Lordsmurf. I did contact Manthing.

[jeanpave]

Hmm.

In the meantime, I found this:
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/inverse.html

It's astonishingly similar to what I am trying to do, only that I'm trying to do it with a video playing in the background.
(Of course, it won't work with a MPV video in the background - I tried. Just my luck...)

[guns1inger]

Post an example of a disc you have that does this

[Alex_ander]

In the meantime, I found this:
http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/inverse.html

It's astonishingly similar to what I am trying to do, only that I'm trying to do it with a video playing in the background.
(Of course, it won't work with a MPV video in the background - I tried. Just my luck...)

Yes, this can only work with solid color background. The pointer images here belong to background picture and in 'normal' button state are hidden behind rectangular highlight areas set to full opaque (transparent in 'selected' button state). Those rectangles (or other figures) can only be of solid color matched with the color of background (which can't be motion type).

[jeanpave]

Post an example of a disc you have that does this

I wouldn't BS somebody to try to achieve something that's not possible. So, here's an example: 'Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'. Not only does it have fully textured, complex buttons over a motion menu, but the buttons are slightly different from one another, too.

Yes, this can only work with solid color background. The pointer images here belong to background picture and in 'normal' button state are hidden behind rectangular highlight areas set to full opaque (transparent in 'selected' button state). Those rectangles (or other figures) can only be of solid color matched with the color of background (which can't be motion type).

Hi.
I guess I was hoping there was a work-around. Or that maybe someone really smart figured out a way to use that trick to mask buttons over motion menus, too.

[guns1inger]

I wasn't trying to imply you were BSing us, I actually want to see a disc doing this so I can see how it is done. I am not sure if the version of Dodgeball that I have has the same menu, but I will have a look at it and see.

[jeanpave]

Sure, no problem, Guns1inger.

The Dodgeball menu I'm talking about has a motion menu which contains a video with some highlights from the movie, including when White Goodman (Ben Stiller) says "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood", and stuff like that. The buttons are wrenches.
If your version doesn't have that, I can up just the menu I have, on MegaUpload, so you can see it.

This DVD has fantastic menus. They must have spent days making all of them... But, you know, they probably used Scenarist.