How do you make professional menus?

[magnusnova]

Well menus and l what I guess you would call a "pre menu". I want to make professional looking dvd menus but I want it to kinda come together like a flash site does. A good example -->http://2advanced.com/flashindex.htm or http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/corpsebride/flashsite/main.html is like what i whant to create.(^^isnt that cool )Anyways I tried searching around but didnt find what I was looking for. I have Virtual dub,TMPGEnc,Adobe After Effects and Encore Nero and Windows Movie Maker if it helps. If some one could help me or point me in the right directon it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

here is more links
http://www.enjoygreenergrass.com/main_site/main.html
http://www.drachenboote.com/index2.html
http://www.kevin-kuranyi.de/

[guns1inger]

After effects is perfect for this type of work. I would also look at the trapcode plugins, specifically Stroke. But be warned - there is no 'make art' button. You need to plan it out and execute it piece by piece. I would ditch Encore in favour of DVD Lab Pro, but if you have already shelled out for it, it will do the authoring you need, once you have created the effects.

[lordsmurf]

Adobe Photoshop for stills.
Adobe Premiere for motion clips.

Author in either DVD Studio Pro or Ulead DVD Workshop 2

[magnusnova]

Sorry I took so long to respond guys, thanks for the info. Can you guys recommend any good free tutorials for AE because it seems very difficult to use?