Inserting Simple Text As Image Into DVD Between Scenes

[Zeek]

This one will probably fall under the category of simple to the point of being right under my nose while I'm misssing it, but...

I'd like to insert some very simple images (bmp, most likely) to use as introductory commentary in between scenes on a DVD project I'm working on. Not looking to get too fancy here...just some white text against a black background with no sound or something like that. I understand that the image format would have to be bmp or some other type that is uncompressed and have no trouble getting V-Dub and UVS 7, for example, to accept the images for processing. My big problem, however, is in sustaining the image across a specific amount of time or number of frames and this part is really stumping me.

After pouring over the usual stuff here in the forums, I've found quite a bit that seems related to this, but the overwhelming majority of it has more to to with watermarking, logos, and the like. Also, there seems to be quite a bit on linking multiple bmp's as successive frames to create a cartoon-like effect but, again, this is not really the realm of my problem.

The one notable exception to this that I've found is in this thread here. Solution here (from dipstick) sounds great, but I'm having issues with Wax2 that go beyond the scope of this post and am looking for a quick and dirty fix, if possible. Also, I'm not real familiar with avisynth, so I'd prefer to avoid that path, for now. And so:

1. (Obviously) Could anyone suggest an alternative to the one in this post?

2. Is my intended approach (appending bmp's to avi before encoding) a reasonable one, or would this be better done at, say, the authoring level instead? I have DVD-Lab, so maybe that's an option.

3. Why does V-Dub accept bmp's, yet just sits there with them and looks back at me when I try to do anything with them outside the realm of the logo filter? V-Dub is great and way versatile, and it seems to me that I have to be missing something there.

Any help, as always, is much appreciated. I'm pretty stumped on this one.

Thanks!

Zeek

[guns1inger]

If you have UVS7, you should be able to cut the video where you want the still inserted, insert the still, drag it to the length you want, then continue onto the next scene, all on the one timeline.

Does UVS7 have a titles generator for creating credits ? Use that to create the title pages instead.

I think you are trying to over engineer the problem, personally.

[Zeek]

Thanks, Gunslinger. I think you are definitely right about over-engineering. Something this simple should definitely not be this hard.

I came back because I was just about to post that Videomach (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/videomach.html) seems to solve the problem, after all.

Meanwhile, I'm still curious about what you said and definitely still in search of an easier way. I'll be having a second look at UVS to see about your suggestion. Normally I use it only for capturing (usually do my editing in V-Dub), so this may take some tinkering. For that same reason, I'm unsure ATM on the title/credits generator.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll tinker with it for a bit tonight and, if I get anywhere with it, will re-post.

[Shadowmistress]

If it were me, I'd do it all in the authoring stage. You mentioned you have dvdlab so it would be a simple series of branches and menus.

Mark out each scene with chapters and make one branch object for each scene (each branch holding only the one chapter). Set up multiple menus with your text for each scene and specify how many seconds you want before the force activate button kicks in. (eg. for 5 seconds it would be Duration: 5, Hi-lite default button:1, force activate button: 1) Turn your text into a link to the corresponding branch. Then draw connections from the end of each branch object to the next menu in sequence.

On your main menu, you can still link individual chapters and have the text showing, you just link each button to the proper text menu instead of the branch itself. And this setup should play your whole movie all the way through including the text.

[Zeek]

Not a bad idea. I would just have to keep separate the "real" chapters from the fake ones that would be in place for this new purpose. I'm not a DVD-Lab Genius, by any means, but I'm definitely following you. I'll give that a try tommorrow AM and see what I come up with.

Thanks, Shadowmistress...

[Shadowmistress]

Since your chapters will be different from your text breaks (I'm assuming you'll have more chapters than text breaks) let me mention something you'll be asking about next.

In order to have your next button function normally, you'll have to rightclick each branch object> select "UOP and settings"> untick the box that says "Strictly adhere to dvd-3 blah blah"> and in the dropdown box next to "next button" select "follow end link to movie or menu". In the dropdown box next to "Prev. button" you can send it to the previous movie, but not any menus. You'll have to repeat this procedure for every branch object. (Oh yeah, and make sure you add all the additional chapters in each branch as needed.)

If you have more text breaks than chapters (say, 10 breaks but only 4 chapters) I'm afraid you won't be able to jump directly to the desired chapter with your next button, you'll have to go through each one every time you hit forward.

Good luck.

[dcsos]

This is the most basic task for a video editing program to accomplish

Open the editing application.
Put the Bitmap with text on the timeline. Drag the right hand edge of the timeline "length" indicator further right to extend the default duration of the imported bitmap (usually a second)

now render in any format all the other non-editing programs you are using want to see

[44echo]

I do this very thing with VS9 on a regular basis. guns1inger is dead on. If you prefer working in the storyboard view (which I do), select the inserted image from the storyboard and in the upper left corner of the screen, you'll see a duration listed. Change it to suit and you're on your way.