ProShow Gold: Help Creating Menus

[Bubblies]

I hope this is in the right thread, and makes sense when I'm all said and done.

I have ProShow Gold. I'm quite impressed with it, all but the menus. I have 9 slideshows, all to be presented on one vcd. I have each slideshow with a thumbnail, and a brief title with it. I have3 per menu page.

What I can't figure out is how to set up a "next" button to show there are more menu pages. I can get to the next page of menus by clicking the next or forward button on my remote, but unless you know there are more menus, you wouldn't even think of doing that.

Is this possible? And how do I do it?

[Znooky]

Hi!
You can't have a next button, but if you have the Loop All option turned on, then the selection "Loop All" will have no 10 in your menu, indicating that there are more menupages.

You can make your own background picture using Paint Shop Pro or any other paining program and draw a next button directly in the picture and use it as a menubackground picture in ProShow. However with that solution you will have a Next button even on the last menu picture, wich won't be correct in your case.

// Znooky

[Bubblies]

Well fiddle. I was afraid of that. The loop all text gets in my way. I'll have to figure another way around it. It is definitely something I would beg for in a future upgrade.



There was something else I wanted to ask, but for the life of me, I can't think of it right now. Thanks for your response Znooky.

[Znooky]

Hi!
Theres is a way to work around your problem, but it's a little more work with it.

Anyway here is my suggestion.

1. Render your 9 slideshows as a separate video files (mpg1 VCD standard)
2. Make your menus in a paint program, like Paint Shop Pro or some likely with your thumbnails and Next, Prev buttons in the menus. Save the menu pictures as JPG.
3. Use VCDEasy and make MPG stills of the menu pictures
4. Add your mpg menu pictures first and then your 9 slideshows in VCDEasy
5. In VCDEasy, set the corresponding menus to handles each of your slideshows.

Menupic 1 --> Slideshow 1, 2, 3 with a Next button in it
Menupic 2 --> Slideshow 4, 5, 6 with a Prev and Next button
Menupic 3 --> Slideshow 7, 8, 9 with a Prev button

6. Author your VCD

As I said it's a little mork work with this solution, but your final result should be exactly what you are looking for. VCDEasy is very powerful and you can make simple or complex menu structures for your VCD.

// Znooky

[Bubblies]

Thanks again Znooky. Sorry for the delayed response, vacation is a wonderful thing.

I've tried VCDEasy, and maybe I'm just an idiot, but it didn't seem so easy to me. I'll have a look at it again, hopefully something will this time.

[Feslmogh]

ProShow Gold should automaticaly put a "Next" button on your menu.

[Znooky]

Feslmogh: Sorry, but ProShow Gold won't put a "Next" button in the menu if you are making a VCD or SVCD slideshow as what Bubblies is trying to do. The "Next" button in the menu will only appear if you make a DVD slideshow.

Bubblies: No you are not an idiot, VCDEasy is a powerful program but it might look hard to understand at the first time. I suggest you take a look in this guide. http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?name=_Guides&id=Chivi_MenuStill

This guide is for making a VCD with MPG-Still pictures and a menu. However most of the parts in the guides can be used in your case.

If there are things that you find hard to understand after reading the guide and trying to make your VCD then just post a question about it.

// Znooky