DVDSP: Non-animated menus with music?

[C_S]

Kinda stuck here...

It's super-easy to add music to an animated menu in DVD Studio Pro, but it doesn't seem possible to add a track to a "layered menu." Why?

I have a static background with layers for different button states, so I can't implement those if I create an animated menu...

Is there any solution?

Thanks a lot.

[pants]

no, music can only be for still non layered menus or motion menus. either go for the motion, or just use simple or advanced overlay methods for your menus and then you can add audio. but there is no way to do it for layered menus.

you can sort of fake it by doing auto-action buttons/menus, to give the layered look, but on this method, everytime a new button state appears, the audio would start over. depending on you're audio this probably wouldn't be useful for you, unless it's just noise or something.

[xjeffx]

The reason you can not add music to your layered menus is because everytime a new layer is displayed, dvd sp basically loads a new menu. So for each button state, an entire new menu is created. It confused the heck out of me when I started using DVD SP but now I understand the DVD standard a little better and realize why it does what it does. You'll notice how slow it is changing buttons/layers, etc with this method. My recommendation is scrap the photoshop layers completely and just use overlays instead. If done right, you can have a really professional dvd this way. Most commercial dvd's just use simple overlays.

[WiseWeasel]

You can fake it by using QT to convert a still background image into a movie (using the import image sequence function, and setting i.e. 10 seconds per frame, then copying and pasting the video until it's the same duration as the audio, export to mpeg2), and use it as the bkg in the menu in DVDSP. Then just use overlay masks for the layered effect you want.

[C_S]

Ok, I'm going to need to tool with the overlay masks to see what kind of button effects I can achieve, but... I need some more clarification.

First let me show what my original layered menus looked like with button hover and select states:

SAMPLE:
Button hover state: http://www.tcnj.edu/~liloia3/stuff/gunDVD-hover.jpg
Button select state: http://www.tcnj.edu/~liloia3/stuff/gunDVD-select.jpg

Will I be able to acheive similar results using the overlay masks? Can I import a flattened .PSD with all button states visible or does it have to be converted to a .m2v?

Thanks.

[WiseWeasel]

Actually, I suggested the m2v as you used to have to have a video bkg to be able to use audio, but I believe that's no longer the case with the latest versions of DVDSP. As for the overlay you want, you can do it by keying to different colors for the selected and activated states. If you can have multiple layers in the mask, then you can have the different states in separate layers, each with their own color you would key to. If you can only have one layer, you would have to have the difference between the selected and activated states be different colors, and then key to each respectively (i.e. have the center triangle be one color, and the squiggly line be another, and key them each to different states as appropriate).

[C_S]

Ok, scrap that... I was going about it all wrong.

Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

The reason you can not add music to your layered menus is because everytime a new layer is displayed, dvd sp basically loads a new menu. So for each button state, an entire new menu is created. It confused the heck out of me when I started using DVD SP but now I understand the DVD standard a little better and realize why it does what it does. You'll notice how slow it is changing buttons/layers, etc with this method. My recommendation is scrap the photoshop layers completely and just use overlays instead. If done right, you can have a really professional dvd this way. Most commercial dvd's just use simple overlays.

I'll add that DVDSP, the new state new menu REALLY drags down the menu speed. It's almost painful.