size and quality on picture to make menu?

[Mr_Moonlight]

I have a question How big should the image be for the menu to look nice on tv? I use dvdlab and last time i tried to make a dvd the menu turned out orange and looked realy bad,then i used a wallpaper size 1024x740...Help me please

and as i still ask is there any good homepage with good looking menu's that i can take ideas from?? ThanX for the help...

[reboot]

640x480 minimum. I usually try to get larger if possible. Save as .bmp, because dvdlab is going to convert it to bmp anyhow.
1024x768 works really well. import it into paintshop (or other graphics editing program) and add black borders all the way around, 70 pixels. This will ensure that the actual picture is within the TV Safe zone in dvdlab.
When you say it turned out orange, are you sure you didn't make the whole background an active link? This would put the pink translucency on it, as a selected button. (a mistake I made once)

To get ideas for menus, just watch a few good dvds. The Matrix (all 3), Shrek, and Kill Bill are good examples.

[Mr_Moonlight]

Thank you for the help,at last i can continue with the dvd.But i didnt uderstand the black border thing,kan you post and image or something?

Ah hehe now i now what i did for mistake,i did the whole bg as a link lol..

ThanX for the help man

[FulciLives]

I use TMPGEnc DVD Author and mostly do NTSC format DVD discs.

When I'm creating a menu background and I'm using original or scaned in graphics etc. I do it in a window of 640x480 then when I'm done I resize it to 720x480 and save as a BMP which I then load into TMPGEnc DVD Author.

Now when I resize from 640x480 to 720x480 everything get's stretched out a bit making things look too "fat" but the aspect ratio actually returns to normal when I import it into TMPGEnc DVD Author.

I tested this by putting a perfect circle in a graphic of 640x480 ... stretching it to 720x480 (circle no longer perfectly round) then when I import the 720x480 into TMPGEnc DVD Author the circle becomes perfectly round again.

I stress this might just be the way TMPGEnc DVD Author works. In other words not all DVD Authoring programs will work this way (I don't know).

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[reboot]

In DVDLab, on the Main Menu (and all menu) screen, there are two sets of small dotted lines.

Any menu background picture you want to use, should fit inside the inner set of the dotted line. This is called the "TV Safe" zone.
Because a TV has "overscan", anything in DVDLab that is outside those dots may not appear on your screen, so if you have a nice picture like this

and you want the whole thing to be visible on the TV, you need to add borders to it, like this

Imported into DVDLab, the one with no borders does this

and cuts off the top, bottom, and sides.
Add borders, and you get something like this


Dvdlab does the same thing, takes a 640x480 image, stretched to 720x480 to compile, and when played back, is at 640x480 again. One would assume that most authoring apps work this way, because of the different aspects of video/monitors/TV's.

[Mr_Moonlight]

Thank you every one now i understand how it works,but i dont now how to make the border 70 pixles in adobe photoshop could someone explain it for me?

[FulciLives]

All televisions have overscan so it is true that the extreme edges of the image gets cropped off but I would still use an image that extends all the way to the edge ... just make sure that the "important" stuff is within the TV SAFE area.

If you put TOO much black around an image you risk the black being seen and that would not look good if you ask me.

For a 720x480 image I would put no more than maybe 16 black on either side and maybe no more than 12 on the top and bottom.

That would make you final image 688x464 in a "window" of 720x480

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[awai]

Here's the easiest thing:

1. In Photoshop CS, create a new project and choose NTSC DV 720x480 (with guides). This will create a NTSC compliant size image with the safe areas created as guides.

2. Next resize, the image to 720x540. Make sure the pixel aspect ratio is set to square (image/pixel aspect ratio). This will allow you to create your menu with the correct aspect ratio for a 4:3 tv.

3. Draw your menu, making sure all the important stuff is within the safe areas.

4. When you are done, resize the image back to 720x480.

Note: Photoshop CS does allow you to edit using a pixel aspect ratio set for DV, but I find the resampling it does for display makes it difficult to determine how exactly things will look. It's much easier to work using a square pixel ratio.

Other Note: The color profile of your monitor will not match that of your tv. You should try importing your image into something that can use the firewire to output to DV device connected to an actual monitor (like Premiere Pro, Vegas, Encore 1.5 or DVD Architect 2) to see what the colors will actually look like.

[Mr_Moonlight]

ThanX guys,now understand it ^_^

[reboot]

Many ways to get a good image as background
The example I gave above, was exagerrated to show the difference.
Depending on the size of the original, borders can be added anywhere from about 15 pixels to about 70. I find that 50 is a happy medium in most cases, trying to ensure that I have the best viewing of the image, and at the same time, having no black showing on the TV.
For those of us that don't have Adobe Photochop, a little experimentation in PSP or even Irfanview goes a long way.

[Mr_Moonlight]

i have another problem now,when i finished the dvd in dvdlab and compiled it,it looked strange on my computer and the fonts i had chosen was pink.Well here is a screen shot from the dvd i made,ithink it looks strange...



here is how it looks in dvd lab

[FulciLives]

Why don't you add white around the picture so it is white all the way to the borders instead of black? Might look nicer that way.

Also that font is horrible ... too detailed and too small to look good on a TV screen.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Mr_Moonlight]

Yeah i can try white,i took black beacuse people here told me to-The black is going to dissapear or something if i understand right??

well what font is the best to use? i want some stylish font ^^ not boring Arial or something

[Mr_Moonlight]

Okey i have tried everything now with photoshop cs etc,on my tv the picture looks good but the whole picture is moved about 10 cm to left? in TMPGEnc dvd author i have the picture in tv safe area,soo whats wrong?

[gwoiler]

For video... too much detail can cause a flicker. But on DVD menues, one way to get the aspect ratio correct is too start out with a blank page 800x600 which is 4:3 and when you are done resize it to 720 by 480 and it will be perfect when watched on TV and you have good detail too.

Glenn

[Mr_Moonlight]

i try with that ^^

[Mr_Moonlight]

i got help from a guy now soo thanks everyone for taking your time helping me...