Video for Interactive Menu, Help Please

[janetjackson1814]

Hi everyone, i want to make menus for my DVDs. I use DVD Lab, which makes excellent Interactive Menus with moving objects. However this requires me to have a "video" already made to make it as a background instead of a still image.

My question is, is there any program out there that can allow me to add an image and video to one sole thing. For example there are some DVDs i have that when it starts on the root menu, there is like, let say the cover image of the DVD, and lets say there is a crop between the image and there is video playing there. Only the video part is playing and the image is just still. It is a combination of a still image and video. Is there any video program that would allow me to do this?

Thanks

Eve.

P.S. If you need more explaining please ask.

[racer-x]

Any good video editor will let you do that easily.

I recently created a motion menu like that for my son's football team. If you don't have the same tools as me, you can use equivelents. Here's how I did it:

1) I created an image (720x534 NTSC) in photoshop, I cut a circular hole in it and saved it as a .psd with the transparent layer.

2) I fired up Premiere 6.5 and inserted the .psd in video track 2. Set the transparency to "White Alpha Matte".

3) I inserted the video in video track 1.

4) I used the transform filter to resize and position the video to play in that circle.

5) you can use the titler to create the text if you want or you can create it in the image before you import it like I did.

6) Then output to apropriate mpeg-2.

Ofcourse I did a lot more than that, but you get the picture.

[[TJD]Roadwart]

I think the guides on the media chance website http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/tutorial/rendermotionmenu.html will help you out

[racer-x]

Here is a sample of the motion menu I made:


Is this what you're looking for?

[janetjackson1814]

Hi thanks so much, im kinda getting it.

Right now

1). i made the PSF image in Paint Shop Pro, and even though its not Adobe Photoshop, it seems to work.

2). Next i opened a trial version of the Adobe Premere Pro, and imported the image as a sequence.

3). Next i opened the video which is 4 mins 30 seconds.

4). I clicked both to be viewed in the monitor and then inserted them into the Video time line.

5). I placed the image on Video 2 and the Video on Video 1.

My problem now is that i see the image lasts for only 5 seconds, after that the image fades away leaving only the video footage. I would like to know how can i extend the image time for more than 5 seconds? Maybe at least 30 seconds.

Thanks so much!!

Eve,

[housepig]

My problem now is that i see the image lasts for only 5 seconds, after that the image fades away leaving only the video footage. I would like to know how can i extend the image time for more than 5 seconds? Maybe at least 30 seconds.

I don't use Premiere anymore, I use Vegas, and in Vegas it's simply a matter of grabbing the image in the timeline and stretching it out to whatever length you want.

check the help file - there should be some info about still images in it.

[racer-x]

Housepig is correct, you should be able to grab the end of the image clip and strech it so it's the same length as the video clip.

Go here for some excellent Premiere tutorials:
http://www.wrigleyvideo.com/

Good luck!

[janetjackson1814]

Hi again, thanks for all the help. I think its working. I merged an image and to make it extended i just had to insert the image 6 times to make it 30 seconds since the image itself was only 5 seconds.

On vegas, yes you can strech the image, but the Premere is kinda similar only that you have to repeat the process by multiplying.

Ill post the final menu here.

Thanks again,

Eve.