Motion Menu

[Chana1]

Hi, i would like to know how i can instead of having a still picture and audio playing as a background to a film.

How can i have parts of the actually film playing in the background?

I was watching "Miami Vice" and loved the menu it had parts of the film as background and thought it looked really kool.

So how can i do this? which is the easest app that'll let me do this and add audio at the same time while its playing.

At the moment i use "TSUNAMI-MPEG DVD Author PRO" but i dont think this is that good and dont think it can make a menu with film as the background.

Please help me out.

Thank You
C

[guns1inger]

I use my editor (Vegas) to do this type of thing. I just edit the video, using masks and effects etc to get the right feel, often de-saturating or colour treating the video so it works behind the menu items, then encode it to mpeg2. After that I just import it as a motion background to my menu in DVD Lab Pro and author. Sometimes I also do text effects etc as well, especially if I am doing a delayed cell motion menu.

You can certainly add motion menus with TDA, although you can't do delayed cell menus, so you would have to cut yours up into pieces and make several menus linked together.

[Chana1]

The way your saying is that hard? and does it take ages?

[guns1inger]

It takes as long as it takes. You need to identify the parts of the original that you want to have in your motion menu, extract these from the DVD, then edit them together. It's not difficult, but it could be time consuming depending on your level of skill and experience, and how much of a perfectionist you are.

If you look at many motion menus they are very similar in style to trailers, so study how trailers are edited, or better yet, see if you can use some of the trailer's footage for your menu to save time.

[12Quidkidinnit]

The way your saying is that hard? and does it take ages?

I wouldn't say doing something like this is hard, but it can take time, whatever software is used to achieve it.

Adobe Premiere Elements 2 (and 3) can also do this. They're not free but there is a free trial. I don't know if the trial version allows DVD authoring as I forgot to try before I got a full version. There have been a few bargains on ebay recently if you fancy giving it a go. I'd personally recommend version 2 rather than 3. I find it easier and more straightforward to use. You can import VOB files from a non copy protected DVD, plus AVI, WMV etc.

Here's a link to one if it's of any interest to you. I paid more than that for mine

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AVRI&viewitem=...6387&rd=1&rd=1

[thecoalman]

Creating the video aside, easiest app for that and just about any other DVD authoring task is DVD Workshop .

[Chana1]

I think its just a hassle for all this stuff now i find it too much all i needed was help on how to make a motion background i done that with vegas but found it hard to apply that in TSUNAMI-MPEG DVD Author PRO as i dont know how to use DVD Lab Pro find that very difficult...

So i gess im best of just finding out how to make a still picture with audio using TSUNAMI-MPEG DVD Author PRO

Thanks For The HELP thoe.

Chana

[thecoalman]

as i dont know how to use DVD Lab Pro find that very difficult...

That's a common complaint I've seen about DVD Lab Pro is you need to be a rocket scientist to use it. That's usually the price you have to pay to be able to do many different things however the app I listed above has similar capabilities. I'm sure there are many things DVD Lab Pro can do that it cannot but on the flipside it has many features that DVD lab pro does not such as native MPEG and AC3 enconding. If I had the choice of one video tool that would be what I would choose.

Anyhow setting up a motion menu or motion button is quite simple, drag and drop then adjust the attributes.

[guns1inger]

On the flip side, I find DVD Workshop Pro's interface too simplistic and wizard like, with the bits I need hidden away behind menus and arrows. For me DLP is great because everything I need is right there when I need it. Each to there own.