DVD-lab PRO assistance requested

[PharmBoy]

Thank you for reading my request.
I am wanting to make a Christmas DVD this year (I did it last year and now everyone expects one every year). I wanted to try something different, here is what I envisioned.
Pop the DVD in it goes to 4 different options.
The main option will be a quiz of what we have done in the past year.
It will go to a question (submenu) where there will be 4 choices each choice will link to a small video clip the three wrong ones hopefully to a funny video clip and then back to the same menu for the viewer to "try again". The correct one will go to a video and then go to the next question where this will all happen again until they correctly get all 10 questions correct at which point they will be directed back to the main menu where there will be 4 other links that point to simple movies.

My problem, I am a complete newbie to dvd-lab pro and want to set this up correctly from the beginning so I don't have to keep fixing it or redoing it. Would anyone have suggestions for me to avoid any pitfalls.

I am not clear what the difference between VMG and VTS menus are. I am not doing anything like wide screen or diff languages so would I only use VTS menus.

Do I want to just toss all the movies into the VTS movies folder or would it be of benefit to make subdirectories? Same question for the menus?

I hope I can do what I am planning otherwise I have to think of a new idea and its taken me 11 months to come up with this one!!!!

Your help is appreciated!!

Have a happy thanksgiving.

[Shadowmistress]

Step 1. Create new 1 movie 1 menu project.

Step 2. In the connections window, move the menu and movie to under where the title and play icons are so they're out of the way. (Trust me, you'll thank me later.)

Step 3. Go to Menu> Scene Selection Menu> Quiz...

Step 4. Input the number of questions you'll ask in the top left, select a template with the right number of answers (some have 4 some have 6).

Step 5. On the left, in the list, click on question 1 so that it's highlighted. Now fill in all the fields in the middle boxes. (Your question and possible answers and tick which one is correct.)

Step 6. Repeat Step 5 but this time highlight question 2 on the left list and continue repeating untill you finish question 10. Then click ok.

Step 7. You will see a quiz component in your connections window now, double click it. At the top left of this window click the little arrow and select Remove (Extract Objects). This will remove the white box and let you reconnect stuff to your movies.

Step 8. Add a Random List to your project.

Step 9. In connections window you will see 3 VM commands. Find which one of these has 3 out of 4 lines from every menu going to it. This is where the wrong answers go and the other VM box is where the right answers go (1 line out of each menu). The third one just starts the quiz and is only there for something to connect to. Now the WRONG answer VM command is connected to the quiz counter. Draw a connection from the WRONG answer VM command to the Random List.

Step 10. In connections window add as many movie containers as you have wrong answer clips. You don't have to have one clip for each possible wrong answer, we will be recycling these clips so any number is fine.

Step 11. Draw connections from every single one of these movie clips back to the quiz counter.

Step 12. Open the Random List and Add all your wrong answer movies.

Choice 1: Now, if you stop here, what will happen is that the viewer must answer all 10 questions correctly before they are able to view the "right answer" movie, or get an unlocking menu so they can freely view the rest of the movies on the disk. If this is how you want your setup to be, add your remaining movies, add your unlocking menu(s), and draw a connection from the Quiz Counter to where you want them to go once they solve all the questions (to the unlocking menu or the first movie). Then skip ahead to Step 16 to finish.

Choice 2: If you want the right answers to play random "right answer" movies, repeat steps 8-12 only this time substitute the word "wrong" for "right" in the instructions. Then skip ahead to Step 16 to finish.

Choice 3: If you want the viewer to see a movie for every right answer they get and you have 10 "right answer movies", continue with the steps.

Step 13. Add your 10 "right answer" movies to the connections window.

Step 14. Draw connections from each of these movies back to the Quiz Counter.

Step 15. Go into EACH quiz menu and relink the right answer button to the movie of your choice.

Step 16. Set up your Root menu either with an invisible all button with the "Auto Action" box ticked so that it goes straight into the quiz upon start, or as a regular menu with several choices and a button linked to it. The link for the quiz is "Quiz start".

I think that about covers it. Now you can add chapters and other fancy stuff as you like. It's alot of work to do and I don't envy you.

(Pity I have such a shitty monitor and must keep 640x480 resolution, otherwise I'd do screencaps and turn this into a guide. )

[PharmBoy]

Thank you so much for replying!!
And for such a detailed answer!!
Maybe you could answer one question

I had looked at the quiz option on the website but shyed away from it as it was in the advanced option but you have clarified it to make it a little easier.
Another reason I didn't think it would work is that I have a specific video clip for each wrong answer and each correct answer. For instance question 1 may be:
Where did we go for vacation this year:
a.) The moon
b.) Egypt
c.) Mt. Rushmore
d.) North Carolina

If the viewer hits a it shows a little edited video of my kids walking on a simulated moon, b shows a picture of them in sand, c shows out heads on Mt. Rushmore and then d would take them to a video clip of what we did in NC and then to question #2.

Can I still do the quiz option if I don't want random no video clips??

I was thinking it would just be individual submenus (alot of them) and it just wouldnt tally the score at the end.

Thanks again and have a great thanksgiving.

[Shadowmistress]

Yeah you could... but think about it though. 10 questions x 3 possible wrong answers on each menu with it's own special clip is 30 wrong answer clips. If you have that many, then sure, go for it. I just didn't think you would.

Do Steps 1-7, skip 8-9, do Step 10.

Now, what do you want it to do after the viewer gets a wrong answer and watches the wrong answer clip? Let's say they got Question 6 wrong. Do you want to give them another crack at question 6 or start from the beginning or what? This is Step 11.

[PharmBoy]

The thought was that they would get another crack at the question. Actually most will pick the 3 wrong answers and then the correct one just to see all of the funny clips.

On the website it talks about keeping score and having a box display how many you got right. Is that what the quiz counter does? Is there a chance that older DVD players would have problems with the quiz counter and the dvd not work. The answer correct isn't a must but I wasn't sure if this was something done in addition to your instructions or would be done if I followed your instructions exactly?

PS
When I say 30 wrong clips that is correct but some are just a mpg of a picture that they see for 10 seconds and it goes away.

[Shadowmistress]

On the website it talks about keeping score and having a box display how many you got right. Is that what the quiz counter does?

No. The quiz counter is just a counter list. Sorta like a play all list. It's only function is to play the next question in sequence to the last. Every dvd player will play that.

The score keeping feature is at Step 5, but on the right side. To be honest with you I haven't really used it yet so I'm not sure what's needed to set that up. But the VM commands for right and wrong answers are what keep the tally. I don't think your disk would fail if the dvd player can't comprehend that, I would imagine that the score would just not show up. My instructions don't account for the score at all so it may be there or it may not, I don't know.

The thought was that they would get another crack at the question. Actually most will pick the 3 wrong answers and then the correct one just to see all of the funny clips.

Allright, since you want to do it that way, you will have to link each button manually.

Step A: Do steps 1-7, and then add your clips one menu at a time and link all your buttons before moving onto the next menu.

Step B: Draw connections from the 3 wrong answer movies back to the menu they come from. Also draw connection from the right answer movie back to the Quiz list.


Now since you mentioned that some are just photographs, might I suggest a filesize saver? Instead of encoding the pics to 10 sec mpgs, why not just drop them into a menu instead? So if you have say 1 wrong answer mpeg and 2 pics, you add one movie container and 2 new menus. Then add a movie container for correct answer as well. This method offers you alot of flexibility and you can drop audio in there as well. But if you choose to do this, you must set the menu timeout period.

To set the menu timeout: In the menu, create an "invisible all" button and link that back to the question menu it comes from. Then under properties, go to where you see Duration: inf. Set that to as many seconds as you like, Hi-lite default button 1 and Force activate button 1.

Once you're done with all that, do Step 16 (setting up your root menu) and you should be good to go from here.

[PharmBoy]

Thank you sooooo much for your help
Thats a good idea about using menus instead of short video clips to accomplish the same thing. Again many thanks!!!