DVD Architect replacement

[Ken Mitchell]

I still use DVDA as my main program. Adobe Encore is my 2nd choice.

[Jeff Schroeder]

I too was unhappy with DVDA, and then I spent some time investigating all the little features and learned how to use it. It’s not the most intuitive but I have come to depend on it.

Jeff

2-Xeon X5680 @ 3.33 MSI Mobo 48GB DDR3 GTX 580 3072MB 16TB Attached Storage Win7 Vegas 11 x64

[Dave Haynie]

I’m still using DVDA. One big reason is that it’s very little work to do both DVD and BD with slight tweaks to the project.

Part of the trick of DVD creation. And to get where I’m coming from, I started doing DVDs with Pinnacle (formerly Minerva) Impression. This was probably the buggiest program anyone ever tried to actually sell. It was just for assembling assets — any graphics you wanted had to be done in your photo or video editor.

But that was a good lesson. This was kind of “to the metal” as to what a DVD could do, but it did allow me to do just about anything that was possible. When DVDA first came along, it made things really easy by comparison, but there were a number of things I could do in Impression that were impossible in DVDA. One example: I did a scene menu, with each scene shown as a drawing. When you put a particular scene in focus, it sprang to life with a small video representation. If you know how to “hack” DVD, that’s possible, but DVDA… nope.

This was a good lesson, because, once you realize that your DVD authoring program will never do everything for you, you simply need one that doesn’t get in the way. So I don’t expect a button press to not be abrupt… I chain that button press to a transisitonal video that then links to the thing the user is after… at that point, it’s totally under my control, and in fact, the more abrupt that change, the better. Once you hit the button, I want an instant transition to my link video… I’ll fade out the UI buttons, maybe drop in an animation, then lead, smooth as silk, into the video or sub-menu you’re after.

No DVD tool is going to do that for you, well. Some consumery DVD programs let you automate some kind of transition. If you’re in a hurry, maybe that’s what you want. But that’s always going to be limited, rather than the authoring app just not getting in your way, and letting as many of the real DVD features through.

-Dave

[Stephen Mann]

“I’m looking for advice for a software replacement for DVD Architect.”

Photoshop.

I’ve been using Photoshop to create my DVD menus (for DVDA) for so long, I don’t know any other way.

Here’s a link to a tutorial I wrote last year. It may be a bit dated, but the basics are the same today.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1421565/How%20I%20make%20a%20DVD.doc

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Sebastien Gravel]

Thanks for the instructions. Found a few points I will use in the future. Would you have a .psd template you could share?

I guess I just need to plan my DVD menus from the start instead of putting them together last…

[Steve Rhoden]

I most often simply use ConvertXtoDVD.….

Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Editor & Compositor.
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956

[Stephen Mann]

[Sebastien Gravel] ” Would you have a .psd template you could share?”

Sure. This isn’t the same psd file in my tutorial, but it is more simple. (And I have to go into the archives to find the psd file from the tutorial).

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1421565/DVD%20Menu.psd

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Stephen Crye]

This is fascinating! I would have never dreamed of using Photoshop.

steve

Win7 Pro X64 on Dell T3400, MultiTB SATA, 8GB RAM, nVidia FX 570, Vegas 10e (and 11) x64 DVDA 5.2(build 133) Sony HDR-CX550V

[Sebastien Gravel]

Thanks. I will try to improve my DVD Architect skills with your help!

[Eddie Mccracken]

Agreed… this is fascinating stuff. I can’t wait to immerse myself in it.

Thanks Steve!!

Eddie McCracken