Creating buttons on a motion menu

[jrd3263]

Hi,

I've tried searching the forums for this and have found some information, but still can't seem to get it...

I'm trying to create a motion menu that has these buttons: Play; Chapter Selection; Credits. I just want the words to be highlighted when selected, and then a separate color when activated.

I created the video with the animated text in After Effects. I exported it as an AVI, then converted with ProCoder to MPG2. When I drag the video/audio to the menu in DvdLab, the buttons are obviously in the video, but I can't edit them (set the selection color, activated color, links, etc.)
Also, the buttons aren't supposed to show up in the very beginning of the video, so, from what I've read, I have to create an additional "cell". I've created a "cell 2", but cell 2 shows to be the same as cell 1.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[usually_quiet]

It's hard to judge your experience level when it comes to authoring DVDs, because of the tools you are using, but I'm assuming you're a beginner. Please forgive me if I am wrong and have misunderstood the nature of your problems.

I think what you created with After Effects is a just video rather than a functioning menu, and you don't actually have buttons to edit at this point. I use a different authoring tool (GUI for dvdauthor), but you should be able to import the video for the motion menu as an asset for the background, and then add the buttons with the functionality you want using DVD Lab.

I think you need to create two videos, one for the part where the buttons come into view but are not yet available, which would play first as an intro, and one for the actual menu where the buttons are fully visible and available. If the one you made contains both parts, you can split it in two using a video editor.

[guns1inger]

There are two parts to a DVD button. There is the background image, which defines what the button looks like, and there is the sub-picture, which is the highlight that shows you which button has focus or is selected. The background image may be a still, or a video, or a still superimposed on video, however by the time you get to the authoring stage it is just a still image (usually jpg) or video, and no longer editable in DVD Lab Pro.

The sub-picture may be text, or a frame, or a graphic image. It is a still image, and is either on or off. The colour and the action is set at authoring time.

The process I use when authoring a delayed cell motion menu in DLP is as follows;

1. Create the background video in Vegas or similar program. This is what you are creating in after effects. This is where I put the any text that will appear in the menu, including menu choices. In the case of a delayed cell menu, I will have an intro section to the video, which fades in some manner through to the menu background proper. It is at this point that I fade the menu text in for a smooth transition. All of this is outside of DLP, and is purely video making. Render the results and encode to DVD compliant mpeg-2 video.

2. In DLP, import the video and audio asset for the menu, and drag it to the menu object. You now have a basic, single cell motion menu. Your text will fade in when required, however if you add your highlights now, the highlights will appear at the beginning of the menu, which you don't what.

3. Add a second cell to this menu. Drag the start of this cell to where the video has already transitions through to the menu section and your menu text has appeared on screen. This can be a bit hit and miss, so make some timings outside of DLP so you know where you want the cell to start.

4. With cell 2 selected in the menu editor, add your highlights. Now your highlights will only appear after the intro section has played. Set cell 2 to loop so that when the video finishes, only cell 2 plays.

5. Compile and test play.