DVDAuthorGui and text buttons on a still menu

[the gladiator]

I should have found the free authoring program that meets my very basic needs: DVDAuthorGUI, but… is there any possibility to add a “text based” button (such as in DVDStyler and in Gui for DVDAuthor) ? I wouldn’t be very happy if the only way would be to draw the still m2v menu image with the needed text included.

Thanks in advance for your help

[liquid217]

Yes, it is possible to do text highlighted buttons from within DVDAuthorGUI, but its not easy. The GUI really wan't designed with text style buttons in mind. It would be much easier to use dvdstyler or GFD, if that is an important feature you need in an authoring suite.

With that said, if you have a graphics tool, and have a good deal of experience with it, it shouldn't be too hard. Create your menu just as you want it in the graphics editor (assuming you are using 720x540 NTSC as your initial workspace). Make sure your text buttons are on their own layer). Once you finish with the design, resize down to 720x480 and save your jpg.
Next, display only your text layer, modify the color, and reduce it down to 4 bit color. Copy the area around the button and create a new image with only that one button. Save this new image as a BMP. Note what the coordinate positions you are copying from, so when you use the menu editor in the GUI, you can easily line them back up over the image. Do this for each button.

I assume this would work. Ive never tried it, but I can't see any reason it wouldn't. Like I said, the key issue is your skills in using your graphics editor (paintshop pro, the gimp, photoshop, paint .net, etc)

[the gladiator]

thanks a lot for your clear answer, liquid217; I'll look forward to some next release of your package then, keep up your woderful work !!!