Simple Menu with Spuce DVD Maestro

[Wookie]

Could somebody please help me with a simple Menu with Spuce DVD Maestro..
I'm putting two movies on a DVD-R. I just want to be able to pick either one at start up.. Thanks. I've only just started using maestro so I'm still finding my way around it

[Arky]

What follows is directly pasted from one of my own posts on another forum - I would have linked to that forum post directly, but I don't wish to ruffle anyone's feathers here on VCDhelp, so...:


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Make sure you are using Maestro in "workbook" mode:

View > Workbook Mode


Now look at the tree-hierarchy in the top left of the Maestro screen. Double click on "menu 1"

Now look at the bottom right of Maestro, to your assets bin, and find the image you wish to use as your background.

Drag and drop this image into the blank white screen you can see in the menu editor.

Maestro should take a moment and then display your image in the menu editor.

Good.

Now, if you don't have an additional subpicture image, you can cheat (this is the bit which usually confuses new users the most, so I am showing you a compromise which will help you get up and running, by which point you will begin to understand more clearly what is going on). To do this, simply use your left-mouse button and define button areas on your menu background, within the menu editing space.

You will find that Maestro automatically numbers your buttons.

Now I am assuming that you have already placed your video streams on your movie timelines (however many movies you have - it might be only one).

Now, look at the buttons you just created. hover over the first one with your mouse cursor, and RIGHT-click on it. You will see a drop-down-menu option, and you can choose where you want Maestro to "point" the button to (this connecting process can also be achieved using the "connections" window, but this is not so intuitive). For example, you might wish to connect the button to a menu (if you need to create extra menus, then you will have to skip this connection, and come back to it later, when you've created the menu you wish the button to eventually point to), to a chapter you created on the movie timeline (not essential - it's up to you if you wish to create chapter points on your timelines, or not bother). You will notice that this is exactly how SpruceUp works, too.

When you have finished making all your buttons, and connecting them to all your targets, you can look to the bottom of the menu editor and select the "connections" tab. When you have opened this connections window, look back to the tree-hierarchy in the top left of Maestro, and SINGLE left-click on the uppermost item ( if you haven't saved your project yet, it will be called "Untitled1 Project", and i should add that if you haven't saved it yet, you should do so right now or all your work may be wasted if things go pear-shaped!!). Having single-clicked on the uppermost tree-item, you will notice that more items appear on the connections window.

Within the connections window, there are three main areas:

top left - this is a list of potential events.

bottom left - this is a list of potential targets, which may be linked to the events in the top left.

top RIGHT - this is where you will take items from the bottom left, and ASSIGN them to the labels in the top left - SIMPLE!


YOU WILL NOTICE THAT SOME OF THE BOXES ARE ALREADY FILLED IN, AND THIS IS BECAUSE YOU JUST DID THESE USING THE METHOD OF HOVERING AND RIGHT-CLICKING, IN THE MENU EDITOR.


Please remember that while you are learning Maestro you do not NECESSARILY(!) need to worry about connecting ALL of these items. It is SOMETIMES ok to have empty boxes. I suggest that while you are learning Maestro, you begin with using the connections window in its most basic form. To do this, look to the very top left of the connections window, and you will see a label saying "All Sources". Now, RIGHT-click on this, and select "Show Basic Sources" from the drop-down option menu. REMEMBER this little trick, because it will become very important when you get more adventurous with Maestro projects, when you will need to be more specific and thorough about what items link to each other.

when you have satisfied yourself, in the BASIC connections window, that you have connected all that you need to, or at least all those items that you can understand, you can attempt a preliminary check on the project. To do this, look to the very top of Maestro, and look for the icon which has a red dot in the middle, and 4 arrows, each pointing like the 4points of a compass. Press this button and a simulation window should pop up. Check that your project navigation works ok. If it doesn't, check the connections window again, and also check the settings boxes which you could see in the menu editor, beneath the background image (I deliberately glossed over these in the above description, to avoid complicating matters, but I will discuss them in more detail if you have problems - often, you can, >FOR VERY BASIC learning of Maestro Authoring<, ignore the majority of these settings boxes).

Anyway, if your project appear to work so far, look again to the icons at the top of the screen, and select the one which looks like a BarCode. This will ask you where you want to compile your project, so tell it what drive or partition you want it to go to (e.g. D:\ ). Be aware that if you already have a Video_TS folder on the root of the same drive or directory, Maestro will NOT warn you - it will just delete it and write over it with your new project, so you have been warned!!.

When Maestro has finished compiling your project, it will flash up a box with warning messages. LEARN from what these messages say. To begin with, because I have taught you how to "cheat", it will, quite correctly, say: "no subpicture found - default subpicture assigned!".

Don't worry about this. If there are other errors, they are normally quite well explained, and all you need to do is go back into the authoring stage and correct these errors, and then recompile. when you are happy with your encoded project (which can work perfectly well with the:

"no subpicture found - default subpicture assigned!"

error), you can try playing the title with WinDVD or similar. Please don't write the project to disk until it definitely works from the harddrive when you play it with WinDVD or PowerDVD etc.


IMPORTANT: the above instructions are a very slack method of just getting you into the swing of using Maestro - they are NOT intended to be an accurate tutorial!! the reason for this is that I believe that once you have gained the confidence and skills from completing the above, on a purely learning-basis, you will have the necessary foundations to understand the manual and to explore the remaining settings and features, so as to author a more professional project. Let me know if you have any problems, but please don't just ask me every little snagging point you come across - use the above in the context of the manual, and in the context of the existing guides you have read. Using proper subpictures, instead of cheating with default blank subpictures, is an entire post in itself, so get proficient withOUT them first, by cheating, (which WILL be functional), and then you'll be ready to move on to doing proper subs. I think many newcomers get too bogged-down with subpicture issues, and although these are of course extremely important in the longrun, this is a pity because the rest of the authoring process in Maestro is extremely simple and enjoyable.


Last edited by Arky on 27th July 2002 at 15:28


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If you wish to view the original thread in full, Wookie, check your PM for the relevant URL.

If the above information does not cover what you need, then please repost and be more specific about what you need help with. I'll be happy to assist, provided I actually have time to log onto the forum in the first place!


Arky ;o)

[Wookie]

Thank you very much I'll let you knowhow I get on

[blueoasis]

yes, thanks for that tutorial. great stuff.

[bugande]

Just create a 720x480 white picture to use as the subpicture. I use this and have no errors.

[Wookie]

Hmmm Got everything working...used a jpeg... created my buttons... set the menu to first play.... Very happy with it.....both movies play... but..... I can't get back to the menu... when i press the menu button on my DVD Remote nothing happens... how do I map this function please.... Thanks again Arky

[Wookie]

Can anybody help on mapping the menu button in maestro??? Please

[Arky]

Wookie,

it's funny you should ask this, the info you require is actually in the original thread on Doom9 where I pasted this from:


************************************************** *********** ...when you are in the menu editor itself, if you open the "Advanced" tab (which can be seen just at the upper portion of the options, towards the right) and hit the "auto Assign" button you may find a marked improvement for your 'cursor navigation' in menus.

##Also, regarding hitting specific keys with a remote (as opposed to mouse navigation), you can assign what you what you want to happen when you hit (for example) the "Menu" button on your remote, by looking at the connections window and finding the relevant item in the top left portion. When you've found this, just do as you did previously, by looking to the bottom left of the connections window and finding what you want to 'happen', and dragging it to the item you identified in the above portion of the connections window - SIMPLE! You simply need to look again at the "connections" window (make sure that you have the top of the hierarchical tree ~in the far top left of Maestro~ highlighted first, though, or you won't see all the available connection options for your project!). I only wish Scenarist was as easy to explain/use ...oh, BTW, if you can't see the item you need to see in the connections window, then right-click at the top-left, on that "All Sources" label, and select a more complex view. Remember that just because more options are listed, does NOT mean that you are forced to complete all the empty fields.
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This would all be much simpler to explain with the use of pictures, but if you've managed to follow my above post, then you should also be able to make sense of this one too

Again, get back to me if you still have difficulty, but the rest should be fairly simple to grasp.


Arky ;o)