DVD Architect custom buttons?

[John Rofrano]

I want one for inactive, one for selected and one for activated. …I don’t want to use colors, just the images.

I don’t believe you can do this. DVD menus only have buttons, frames, and masks so all highlighting has to be done with a colored mask.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Bob Mark]

I was beginning to wonder if that was the case. I have a layered PSD file and I was hoping to use one layer for unselected and one for selected. One layer is only a red border outline with a transparent background. If that makes sense. I have tried all kinds of mask settings to get the red line to appear but no luck so far.
Thanks.

Bob

[John Rofrano]

I have tried all kinds of mask settings to get the red line to appear but no luck so far.

Yea, the mask layer is truly a “mask”, i.e., it can only be black and white and only controls the area of the overlay.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Bob Mark]

Ahhh yes. The gray-scale mask. I will need to tell my client the program has certain limitations…
Thanks.

Bob

[John Rofrano]

I will need to tell my client the program has certain limitations…

That’s incorrect. The program does not have limitations. The DVD specification has these limitations. DVD’s are not web pages. They don’t support hover and press graphics. All DVD’s have these limitations. If you look carefully at Hollywood DVD’s you’ll see that they are all just using masks in cleaver ways to highlight different parts of a graphic. They use the available color palettes to make the buttons appear to change color but it’s just a careful blending of masks and colors.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Bob Mark]

Yes. I think they thought it could be done like web pages. They supplied “selected and unselected” graphics. I will have to tell them no can do on DVD. Thanks.

Bob

[Joe Mantaratz]

I’ve posted this before and it works well it just takes a little extra time.
First forget about doing the work you are looking for in DVDA. Do all of your work in Vegas and then bring it into DVDA. Here’s what I mean.

Create the menu page exactly as you would like it to appear on the DVD including whatever you want to use for buttons or text etc.

Be sure to include all the elements you want then have make the duration at least 30secs and have the end finish in way that when you either loop it in DVDA or stop, it wont appear jerky.

Decide how you want your menu to change when a menu item is selected and create a transition clip. This will be a very short 1-3 sec clip that you will link to in DVDA when the menu item is selected.
For example you may have a simple pic background and three text menu items. You could create your transition clip to have that text change color or zoom or whatever you want. It doesn’t matter as long as it makes sense to the viewer. All you will be doing is creating these transition clips that will play when your hidden link is selected in DVDA…more on that in a bit.

Be sure to name your clips so they make sense…for example..
Bonus footage item should be named bonus footage transition or some variation that works for you. Bring them all into DVDA
Do not use the menu structure but rather replace the background with your newly created ones. Simply keep importing media to the project that you will select from.

Open up the button’s window and select any button…drag it to where you want it to overlay your Vegas created button/text whatever and then go to the properties and just choose text only. For your mask overlay choose what you like but I prefer underline as it does not cover my image.
Go back to the workspace and click and edit the text and erase the letters so you have only the highlight mask remaining. Note: you must have the mask overlays selected in the view options to see it.
Resize the mask as you like it…then edit its properties to link to your transition file.
After that navigate to your transition file and select properties/end action….choose your intended file. Remember this was only the quick transition and not the destination. You will have to repeat these steps for every navigation you have created.
Don’t forget to edit the button order so that when the menu page appears your highlight mask falls on the most logical link.

It is easier than it sounds…if you need help…please ask.

Render it to DVDA architect template.

[Bob Mark]

Thanks for that info. I think I understand what you are saying.
I am using all still images for the menu. No video is involved.

Let me explain the project. There are five videos shown on the main menu. They want to be able to see a “selected image” for each video when selected. So basically, to do that means using transitions to submenus of each of the selected images? Then, a link to the specific video from that submenu page? Does that sound correct? Thanks.

Bob

[John Rofrano]

They want to be able to see a “selected image” for each video when selected. So basically, to do that means using transitions to submenus of each of the selected images? Then, a link to the specific video from that submenu page? Does that sound correct? Thanks.

Yes. This will not affect the highlight, but when they press a button to select an item, you can show anything you want before going to a submenu or video with this technique.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Bob Mark]

Great. Thanks.

Bob