professional looking Menus.

[Afterlife]

I have both Maestro and DVD-Lab Pro.

I want to create professional Still menus, once I have done this then I will try motion menus.

Usually I use photoshop to create the background, then just insert into the Author program and then create text etc.

But I find this very limited, I heard some people actually do all the overlays directly In photoshop but have yet to find a guide which is universal and not geared towards Adobe Encore DVD.

I also looked at DVD Menu Studio (to work with DVD-Lab Pro) I find it very limited in functionality. I dont want simple lines or color changes when I change in the menu, What If I wanted say if the button was all text and selected its font 25, but if not its font 20? I know i can do this with Visible/Invisible scripts in DVD-Lab Pro but I want to know how to do it properly.

How do people make professional still menus that look awesome?

Thanks!

[lordsmurf]

I do professional quality still menus, and have no need for doing overlays in the PSD. Just import the objects separately. It's not difficult or even a hindrance. I import BMPs and PSDs into DVDWS2.

DVD Studio Pro on the Mac can do what you want.

DVD-Lab is not very good, as you've seen, and Encore sucks too, more limitware.

What you want is not all that desireable, so you don't see it very often. It's easier to arrange things in the authoring app itself, rather than force it to read layers from a PSD. And if you make a mistake, close the authoring app, restart Photoshop (because those two programs are usually CPU/RAM gluttens, cannot be loaded at the same time) and the make your changes, save, and then close PS and reload the authorware, re-import the new menus (none of the can just "update" for you). Now THAT'S a hassle.

I don't know if DVD Architect can do this, as I gave up fairly early into that software too, it's single VTS and that's no good for me.

[dipstick]

I disagree with lordsmurf. It's pretty hard to get more professional than Photoshop and DVD-Lab. I always do my layers in Photoshop and import as PSD into DVD-Lab. No problems having both apps open at once, and I have a 1.4 Ghz CPU. I also have both Photoshop and Premiere going at the same time, but that's another story.

The effect you're trying to achieve should be easy to create with "Switched Menus" using invisable links. Look it up in the DVD-Lab tutorials. Thanks for the idea though, I think I'll do that on my next menu.

Good luck.

[guns1inger]

I agree with dipstick. I have a series of standard DVD still templates created as multi-layer PSD files. (actually, all you need is two layers, background and overlay - I have more for editing purposes). DVD Lab Pro imports these quite happily (as does DVD Lab, for that matter), and allows further adjustment if required. DVD Lab is also more flexible thatn Encore and others as there is no bizzare naming conventions to be adhered to. You can call your layers Fred and Ethel if it takes your fancy.

[dipstick]

Here's something I quickly created as a test example:


If this is what you're looking for, I created it using "Switched Menus" effect from 3 two-layered PSD files.

[Afterlife]

Ok thats kind of what I was looking for.

I looked at the switched menus in DVD-Lab and its kind of what Im looking to do, but what do you mean two-layered PSD files(i know what layered psd files are), can you link the file so i can dl as an example.

So using your method could I do the following:

Have Game 1 written and upon selection it has like a graphical (almost like a teacher has circled it with a red marker) circling around it. Is the switching limited to colors or can I switch graphics etc?

Are there any tutorials for creating PSD layered menus? Or can someone please post a link so I can see these examples/tutorials in PSD format.

Thanks!!!

[dantruon]

Here's something I quickly created as a test example:


If this is what you're looking for, I created it using "Switched Menus" effect from 3 two-layered PSD files.

I didnt know you can do that with DVDLab Pro, i think you better write a tutorial for that because alot of people such as myself want to make it like that.

[Skynet107]

For me, the combination of DVD-Lab and Photoshop is fantastic. I merge everything to the background that has effects etc. and keep whatever layers I need for my subpictures/links. I often do my motion menu in After Effects (I love After FX!) which also has no problems with photoshop files.

It's a very powerful combination to say the least. On the few PAL to NTSC conversions I've done, I was able to duplicate the menu's exactly, and in some cases even improve on the menus.

[guns1inger]

dantruon - look at the tutorials for DVD Lab Pro at the Mediachance website (where you bought DLP), or click on the DVD Lab Pro link in the tools section and look at the guides list.

[dipstick]

If anybody wants to see how the menu actually looks, here it is:
sw.zip

Open the zip file and extract the VIDEO_TS folder. It is compiled with test movies so it is quite small (480 kb). You can play it using PowerDVD or WPC. If you want to see how it will look on a TV, just burn it onto an RW.

Afterlife, A two-layered psd file is simply a psd file that has two layers. In my case it has a bottom layer with all the graphics and rasterized top layer with the text that I want Highlighted (aka sublayer). To do what I did, you don't really neeed to use a psd, as you could do it all in DVD-Lab, but I prefere Photoshop.

You can use "Switched Menus" to add flexability to your menu options. You could make it more graphical like a teacher circleing the text, but you would need to use motion menus with the "Swithed Menu" effect applied.

I would write a tutorial, but I don't have the spare time. Plus I hate typing!

Feel free to experiment and good luck.

[Afterlife]

Im going to look into this and write a tutorial. I have done a few tutorials but never know how to upload them. In fact I have one on my pc for making a multiple subtitle/audio track for tvshows/anime with DVDMaestro.

Dipstick can you e-mail me the psd files? PM me for an e-mail address, thanks!!!

Skynet can you throw a link to an example of the psd images, im still trying to get my head around how you guys are doing this.

Thanks!

[dipstick]

Afterlife, Download this rar file:
sm.rar (1.6 mb)

You'll need Winrar or something that can open rar files to extract the project folder inside. I had to use Winrar to get the size below the 2-mb limit.

Inside you will find the 3 psd's and the DVD-Lab project file. Hopefully, you can open the project in DVD-Lab and see how I created it. Pay special attention to how I made the links to the other menus "Invisable All" and how I selected "Auto Action" for those links.

Have Fun!

[Afterlife]

Thanks dipstick!

[jimbucc]

The problem with switched menus is that they are slow. There is a lag between each menu when selected using the up/down keys. Perhaps a better way is to have another text item over the yellow text (it covers the yellow text completely). Then set each item invisible when not selected. I haven't tried this but I did something similar with a checkmark next to a text item.

I'll try it and report my results.

Thanks
Jim

[guns1inger]

You can try using different overlays. The restriction with that method is that overlays have only a colour and are on or off. It is difficult to get subtle results that way. The speed at which switch menus switch is dependent on the size of the menu (motion menus will usually be slower than still menus) and the player (some seek and read much faster than others)

[dipstick]

No doubt, Switched Menus are not exactly perfect. They can be quite interesting though and that's what custom menu creation is all about.

I only create them in about 5% of my menus. I still prefere a good still or motion menu.

[dipstick]

Here's what the menu I used for that dvd really looked like:


You cant see it in the picture, but only the buttons highlight when selected. The text remains the same color. I used the Text Selection tool in Photoshop to select the text outlines and delete them from the buttons. To change the text color, just simply paint it any color you want.

[Skynet107]

Here is a menu I did for The Pink Floyd Live8 concert

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/skynet107/floyd_menu.jpg
here is the psd file:
http://209.59.147.212/_temp/floyd_menu.psd

Import the psd file into DVD-Lab as a background, then drop the file onto your menu. The text layers are then set as links.

[guns1inger]

nice work