menuing dvd compilations easy

Bjs · RoadKill Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Location: Australia

In this guide you will need dvdauthorgui for our menu creations , pgcedit for authoring all commands , and imagetools too burn final compilation dvd

This is how to menu and author 6 preview titles I ripped from various dvds , and a basic menu to navigate it all

Dvdauthorgui :

In dvdauthorgui we will need to include one of our main titles or it wont do anything with the menu's , so in short here is my way of creating the menu first , this relates to VTSM menu items , where as I was using title 1 as the menu beforehand

So lets create our menu

In this example I will use 6 menu's , and add 1 title just to make dvdauthorgui happy

Note : For those trying too run this program under windows 98 , you will need to have a dvd player software installed , and vb runtime 6 files installed

Please visit dvdauthorgui site for 2 special plugins you might also require

Now back in dvdauthorgui we click that film looking icon

As this needs to use the first title in your dvd compilation you will need to use vobedit to demux the video and audio stream from the vob so they can be used here

If your first title is an mpeg , please visit my mpeg too dvd easy guide as it explains the operation in detail as to how to demux mpegs and convert the audio to ac3 format

this link is provided at the end of this guide down below

Ok , back in dvdauthorgui we now have

My video and audio streams from my first title , just to make it happy

Now we click this

Here I will select my first menu , it is already converted into an m2v , as for audio , just cancel that one , and go from there

As you can see , I have added 1 button

NOTE :

Dvdauthorgui version 1.01 is now capable of showing users where there buttons will be as in

Very nice work liquid217 , I'm a happy spud now , and it saves me explaining it to people here (those I teach how to use pcs here where I live)

On with the rest of the guide ...

Oops , you can now also skip the usage of pixel ruler to see where buttons lign up , again , thanks liquid217

But the rest of the information tied up with pixel ruler is still valid in moving things and how to use certain buttons .

Now just click accept button

I will now add my other 5 menus in the same manner

Then after all have been added

And here they are

Now sellect the first one , and we need to add the button area's , so double click the first one and I'll show you how this works

As this menu needs another button , hit

As you can see in this next picture I am using pixel ruler to get best alignment , just grab that lower slider , move it a tad to the right , and use that little arrow button to slowly adjust it too the left until the black above the button touches pixel ruler

Now move pixel ruler over to the right , and to adjust the length , use the slider where the hand cursor is to bring it close to pixel ruler , not on it , when close , you can now tap at the right arrow key on your keyboard till the black just touches pixel ruler

Now to deal with the height , just grab that slider and drag it below where pixel ruler is , and where the arrow cursor is in my picture , this is the adjustment for height , so bring this adjuster down to about 40 everytime you go to a new button as it just makes it easier to grab

To bring this button up to our upper most line for the button , keep tapping this next button till that black hits pixel ruler

Now place pixel ruler into a position thats just right below where we want this button to be and click this slider , then use the up arrow key on the keyboard to adjust it until the black is just touching pixel ruler again

Now repeat these steps for button two , but remember , you must click this first before you start editing , or you will be messing with that previous button

When you have completed this you click ACCEPT

Now go back and this time sellect menu 2 , and repeat the previous button knowhow

Remember , all menus for this guide from menu 2 to menu 6 have 3 buttons each

After you have added 3 buttons to menu 2 , you repeat the process till you complete menu 6 , remember always use the ACCEPT button when you have completed each menu

Well now , there's only one thing to do now , hit

In the next window , give it a name and hit save

This name will be used to create a folder , and the dvd will be compiled and placed inside that folder , so let it rip , and trust me , it dose what I say its about to do

Now that thats been completed , you can close dvdauthorgui and we go over to pgcedit , so do that now and select open dvd from the menu

Locate , in this case folder called newdvd , in there will be two folders called AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS , you just select the folder VIDEO_TS , and hit the ok button

This appears now

Check that box for VTS , and select scan button , then when thats done hit that close button

Now we have this , you might want to check out those commands that from what I can guess , came from dvdauthorgui , but I'll be making changes in those things later anyway , I prefer to delete every pre and post command found

The next thing I would do is bring in my other titles , as each of my menu's dose have 1 button that plays a title , so I need to bring in another 5 titles

Before we see this , about each menu I have

All menu's have a thumbnail of the title it relates too

Menu1 has play title 1 button , and 1 button for next menu

Menu2 has same as prior menu , but includes 1 button too return to previous menu

Menu 3 , Menu 4 , Menu 5 and Menu 6 are the same as Menu 2

Menu 6 next button , returns to Menu 1

Hope thats not too complicated for you too understand

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Now to import my 5 other titles

Now we locate our second title and when we do , we get this box

Always copy

Repeat till all titles are imported until we get here

Now is the best time to do this

The buttons have been correctly made in dvdauthorgui , so we done need to move those about .

Ok , now to take care of some colour stuff

Place a dvd in your pc dvd drive , when player software fires up , close it , and run another instance of pgcedit , and aim it at that dvd in the dvd drive

An error will happen , just ignor it , and as soon as its loaded , double click on any menu with ?b on it (number) , and we get this in the next window , hit that copy button , then go back to your dvd in pgcedit , and double click one of your menu's , and paste this info in

Once you have got this far , you can now close that pgcedit that is showing the dvd drive contents

Now you can copy this info in your menu as it has already been safely pasted into it , too all other menu's , once completed , save the dvd again

Right click on the first VTSM menu , and select button's , then hit that EDIT button , now hit

As you can see , I now have colours to play with since I did that trick with a dvd in the dvd drive

So play with them , find ones that work well for highlight and sellected buttons , then click OK

Now thats done you need to do this

Before closing this window , you must change this in order for your colour scheme to become effective

You should use this slider to move from button to button and check the same colour sceme is being used

When thats done , hit ok , then hit close in the previous window , and repeat the process again for all menu's

When done , save dvd

Remember when you go into each menu editor from now on , you must go to Edit , Paste Colour Scheme first , and change all the buttons so they use this scheme

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We have yet to make connections between titles and menu's so I'll start at the very top in this dvd

Ok , thats not ok , it should be changed to these

Now for here

This needs these

You might as well visit everything else and delete all commands as they are crap , and I'll give you working replacements

Now for each menu from here on , that mov thing gose up by 1

That link thing also gose up by 1

So in next menu it is (menu 2)

In menu 3 , they go up by 1 again

Hope your getting this , continue on

Now remember that yellow stuff in the above picture , notice how there are 6 white lines , followed by six yellow lines , this is a direct relashionship between ROOTM menu , and the actual number of menu's we have , 6 in total , so if there had been 7 , then you guessed correctly , there would have been 7 white , and 7 yellow lines , along with a 7th VTSM menu , plus a 7th title included

When completed this , save dvd again

Now we come to the title commands and these are also related to the above

Each title will have that second command

As for that one above , if you guessed the next title has that mov 2 thing , your correct

Title 3 dose the same thing , its mov is 3

And so on

when done save dvd

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Ok , only two thing to fix now , so double click on your first menu and look here

There should only be one 255 specified here where the cursor is , if you have one in that big box above , set that one too "0"

Do this for all menu's and save dvd

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Now before we forget something really important , lets tell our buttons what they actually do shall we

For the first menu , button 1 (plays first title - 1)

For button 2 (go to next menu)

Close that , and go to the next menu set of buttons

Menu 2 - button 1 is

Button 2 is (return to previous menu)

Button 3 is (go to next menu)

Now as you can see , each main button in the menu's play a title

Each button with the text RETURN on it gose back to previous menu

Each button with the text NEXT gose to next menu

You can see this if you move the button editor over to the right , add the command required to link to a menu , then click that button and the menu it is meant to go too will highlight itself in the main window for a few seconds , so you'll see if you have connected to the correct item or not

Now when you get to menu 6 , the next button (3) , now gose to menu 1 as in

Ok save the dvd , now having a sticky at all this work I have noticed we need something else

In order for this to really work and have those titles return to the respective menus they were called from when they end playing we need to create these 2 last items in this picture

To do this , just right click that VGM and select

And you get this

Now do that again only on that TITLEM

Now you gets it (dont worry about what I have in that previous picture , I was troubleshooting things)

Now to modify some commands to make it work as expected

These are to be added only to TITLEM

Now for that other dummy pgc

Now revisit each main title and replace that post command with this one

You need to do that for all the main titles , only the post command needs changing , sorry for that one

So in rapping it up you only needed to add these last two items

And the pre and post command I just mentioned

Now save the dvd , play it back and presto , when a title ends playback , it now returns to the menu that called it

Hows that for work ...

You may get some problems in playback in nero as I have , but this has been burn tested and works accordingly without problems

I prefer to use ifoedit to play test all my compilations as its free , so long as you have the appropriate required addon files for directshow and audio ac3 handling , it dose all I need , and a great trouble shooter as well for menu's

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IMAGETOOLS - BURNING DVD

Prior to burning those files contained in you VIDEO_TS folder on you hard drive , please delete that pgcedit backup folder first

Imagetools

Under xp with nero 6 api installed , its simple to use imagetools to burn our project with , only 3 things to do here and all have a hand cursor on them

1 : Slow your burning down

2: Locate our project dirrectory

Now place a blank dvd in the unit

3: Hit that burn button , and burn this project

4: be happy

Imagetools may also work with other api that support dvd burning , but I personally have not tested it

Hope you enjoy this as much as it drove me nutts

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For help , you can pm me on this guide

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PS : I noticed I mixed widescreen with normal , pgcedit seems to be the only program that dosent worry about this , which is cool

More Guides coming your way

1: How to create a menu using an actual title

2: How to create those menu pics as in Blair Witch Project a diferent way

This second one dosent do them the way its expected , but my way allows any graphics and 32 thousand colours , nice

I prefer to use an icon as the default "your butt is here mate" , nice effect , and unlimited possibilities , especially for all you vehicle crazed people .... Hows a holden monaro in the menu sound

3: Dvd's with selectable audio stream via submenu

4: Dvd's with selectable subtitles via sub menu

5: creating stackable menu's

Users may have seen where a menu item seen in pgcedit has 36 or more buttons , but spread over a number of cells .

These I edit using vobedit .

6: Motion menu's (avisynth + the gimp + virtualdub + bbmpeg)

Its motion menu's with either still or motion buttons my way

That should just about cover 85% of the required guides for pgcedit

Alot of work just to help newbies

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Other Guides :

Frameserving correctly from virtualdub to bbmpeg

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270071

Mpeg demultiplexing , audio conversion

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=269499

All this should keep newbies moving in the right dirrection

liquid217 · google addict Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

nice guide (at least the dvdauthorgui part. Im not very experienced with pgcedit). You may want to revise the dvdauthorgui part in the near future, since i have added an overlay to the preview screen. See the new test version: http://www.videohelp.com/~liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl?p=news
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DVDAuthorGUI
http://www.videohelp.com/~liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl

Bjs · RoadKill Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Location: Australia

Well , its installed , the new version , and its happy , mind you I still have a problem with 98 even with vbruntime 6 installed and power dvd on the other system , it just dose not want too play that pc ... A reload I thinks is in order for it ...

As for a few members , thanks for all the chearfull remarks on the guide , just happy it gets results ...

And , while the name dose have "easy" in it , it refers to the ability to reuse those commands in pgcedit more than anything else , so it would seem to be , maybe a little misleading ..

I am sure if newbies were to take it slowly , they would beable to perform the tasks required in the guide ..

As for that green ruler question , you have a pm waiting for you ..

I noticed one has mention pro's and con's , and beter ways of doing it , but none mentioned I see , or atleast free , but I'll give that a shot ...

How about buy the dvd ...

That raps it up ... new guide ... another 2 thursday , my bov guide and motion menu with motion buttons will be completed ... then only about 6 more to go .

liquid217 · google addict Joined: 21 Feb 2002 Location: United States

It won't be possible to allow the gui to continue to the authoring step without adding at least one title. That is a stipulation in dvdauthor that at least one title be present. I might make a suggestion and simply create a single small vob file, that you can add for a title.
DVDAuthorGUI 1.002 (non test release) should be out within the next few days.
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DVDAuthorGUI
http://www.videohelp.com/~liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl

r0lZ · Member Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Location: be

Thanks a lot for this nice guide, Bjs.
I will add a link to it on the PgcEdit homepage.
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r0lZ
PgcEdit homepage Hosted by VideoHelp (Thanks Baldrick)

Baldrick · Administrator Joined: 09 Aug 2000 Location: Sweden

Nice guide but I wouldn't call it easy.

Gregg · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2003 Location: Miami, FL

Pros: Free
Cons: Way too complicated!
There are easier ways to do all this.

absinthecarolinas · Member Joined: 18 May 2004 Location: United States

Hey, where can I find that groovy green pixel ruler?

Nice guide. I like to find free ways to do everything, and I always like learning more about PgcEdit. Thanks for your work!

-abs
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whitepirate · Member Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: United States

I need help I never burned DVD before. I need to know how to burn multiple dvd on one dvd disk.

Triangle · Posted: Nov 17, 2006 23:28

Hello,

I would like to inform the best way to burn Image is ti use ISO-burner free util. It is extremely easy to use and yet never failed me

spammer

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