Use Video in DVD Chapter Buttons

bcf1ca wrote on 3/10/2016, 5:25 AM

Hello

Within editing a DVD menu, is there a way to use a small clip of the video attached to a chapter point? When looking at the Properties of a menu entry, I see an option to Use Frame From Movie; what I'd like it to be able to do is have a small clip of video from within the chapter to play within the menu button, not just a static image.

I see that I can specify a background movie clip, but what I want is a static background image with clips of the movie playing within the menu buttons.

Is this possible in VPX7?

Thanks!

Barry

Comments

browj2 wrote on 3/13/2016, 12:02 AM

Hi Barry,

No and yes. How's that for an answer to one question.

No, because you can't make the button a video, only a frame of a video or another image.

Yes, because you can add in videos to the background, make the buttons smaller or use a different model without images.

I tried modifying a psd file, but I couldn't find a was to change the image to a video.

See the video below for the method that I found.

bcf1ca wrote on 3/14/2016, 1:51 PM

Thanks for the reply John. I'm surprised that this can't be done, as other, less expensive/capable packages offer this ability. Oh well, perhaps in the next release...

Incidentally, I don't get a video when I click on your link. It's just an icon with an image.

Barry

browj2 wrote on 3/14/2016, 3:21 PM

Hi Barry,

I re-sent the video; looks ok now.

I seem to recall being able to do it in Pinnacle Studio several years ago, but I may be mistaken. I agree with you, the feature should be there. Maybe we should each send a message to Magix.

Do you have Xara or PhotoShop and have you ever played with the psd files?

I played with the psd file a year or two ago with the idea of making the buttons larger and more obvious, and I looked again the other day to see if there was a way to change the bitmap image to a video. No luck. I also ran into a problem with a dual language video; the language buttons did not show up in the psd. Haven't looked since.

bcf1ca wrote on 3/15/2016, 6:54 AM

Thanks for the video John. I'll play around with the ideas you suggest.

I'd be happy to send a message to Magix requesting this as an enhancement for future versions. Where do you send these types of messages? There is nothing obvious to me on the Magix website.

No, I haven't played around with PSD files; I use Corel PaintShop Pro as my image editor which can handle this file format. I'll give it a try one day when I have some time.

Thanks again for your response.

Barry

johnebaker wrote on 3/16/2016, 3:50 PM

An alternative method to achieve chapter videos is to create a background video with the chapter button videos incorporated in it as shown in the image below and export it as a MXV file.

Note: I used a screen grab image at 1920 x 1080 to set the chapter button videos size / position - and set all videos to 10 secs for this example.

HiRes version here

This video is then added to the chapter menu as shown in the image below and to make the 'button' video visible the Preview images option is turned off - this renders the buttons transparent

HiRes version here

Using this method maintains the same appearance as the static menu and the highlight and select actions/effects work correctly.

This video shows how it looks and working in MEP - I do not have VPX 7 installed, however the method should work.

I cannot get a screen grab video of it working as a BD disc due to the way my software BD player works..

HTH

John EB

bcf1ca wrote on 3/17/2016, 7:47 AM

Clever! Thanks for the idea.

Barry

browj2 wrote on 3/17/2016, 12:49 PM

@John EB,

That was my missing link. I didn't know about the effect of turning off "Preview images."

I'll have to try it.

Thanks,

johnebaker wrote on 3/17/2016, 1:51 PM

@ John CB

. . . . That was my missing link. I didn't know about the effect of turning off "Preview images." . . . .

And the reason I was so long in answering was that I had done this before but forgot the turning off 'Preview images' option - it was one of those light bulb moments!!!!

Cheers

John EB