Motion Button: How can I change set-in point?

[mltwitz]

In DVD Workshop2, the default set-in point for motion buttons for a chapter is the chapter start point. How can I change the set in time for the video content that is displayed in the motion button? In other words, I want a different scene to be displayed in the motion button, not the begining of the chapter.

If the answer is, I have to create extra video clips for each button and import them from the media library, I will be very disappointed.
I have over 150 titles/chapters, it would be way too much work to create that many short clips just for that purpose. I think I would rather switch to a software that can easily do it.

But I still have hopes there is some trick....

[Devil]

Sorry, no trick that I know of.

However, ask yourself whether you really need motion buttons. IMHO, they don't really serve any useful purpose as they're usually too small to really see what is being shown and they do increase your gigabyte overhead, reducing the space available for useful encoding, especially if you have many buttons. So time ago, I did an anecdotal test; on a mini-DVD, I put on 3 menus, doing the same thing:
1. Moving buttons with moving background
2. Moving buttons with still background
3. Still buttons with still background.
I then put it in the family player and passed the zapper to my wife and asked her for her preference. She chose 3., because, when she goes into a menu, it is to select what she wants and she found the moving buttons distracting and she took much longer to make her choice.

Obviously, with still buttons, you can display a key still from anywhere you like after the chapter start.

[mltwitz]

This, of course, is a matter of preference, I agree with you, in some instances, motion buttons can be distracting. But in this particular case, I DO need motion buttons and I DO need them to dispay a different scene other than the chapter set-in point, because it only shows a 5 second title card that is basically like a still image, so I'm losing that time in my animated button. See my point?

Having to create extra clips just for that purpose is really an unacceptable solution. It adds more work and additional video content to the project, i.e. quality decrease and transcoding time increase, where it should just use the same asset.

I mean, c'mon...even NeroVision Express (!!!) can do what I'm trying to do here. I can't believe Ulead missed this one. I do hope that this is already on the annoyances list and will be part of the next update! Yes? Anyone...anyone? Buehler? Buehler?

[sjj1805]

I sometimes create menus with motion thumbnail buttons and want the button to display a different part of the chapter than the beginning.
An example would be the very first button. lets say I recorded a TV program, I don't want all the opening credits etc appearing on that button.
This is what I do. (Use this example to tackle any other buttons.)
You create extra chapter(s) where you want the video to start that will be displayed on that button. Drag that video onto the button.
Drag the actual start of the chapter onto the text below that button.
Now Create the DVD but burn it to a Hard Drive folder.

You now edit the DVD with "MenuEdit"
www.dimadsoft.com/menuedit

All you need do with menuedit is "delete" the "button" which is your motion thumbnail. Deleting the button leaves the motion thumbnail in place, it just cannot get selected as it is no longer 'a button.'
You do however get to select the text below the button so are able to select the start of the chapter point.
Menu Edit will also allow you to alter the navigational structure eg which button gets selected when you press the up/down/left/right on your DVD remote control.

(Instead of text you could also use a "picture" perhaps a simple solid oblong below the thumbnail. Just use your imagination/artistic abilities.)

This procedure takes very little time, no re-rendering etc of the DVD because all that is being changed are a few entries in an IFO file.
Takes just a couple of minutes and very easy.
Regards
Steve J

[GeorgeW]

There is one method, but it doesn't help you on the initial menu play. Change the "Loop point" in the menu step to be something other than the start of that button. Unfortunately, the inital playing of that menu will start from the beginning of the chapter point, but subesequent loops will start with your new "loop point".

Regards,
George

[mltwitz]

These a great suggestions, thanks! I especially like sjj1805's.

I hate to sound like an old record, but nevertheless these are really just "workarounds" to a feature that should be standard! It is in all the other DVD authoring programs I have worked with so far, just not in Ulead's. Is there a way to make suggestions to the software developers for future updates other than this forum?

[Helge]

There is a way: go to Uleads web site (www.ulead.com) Log in as member (create your account if you dont have allready). Click technical support. Click Ulead Technical Service Satisfaction Survey. Fill out the form. There is also a free text field, where you can make your suggestions.

But I agree with you. Its sometimes good to know a workaround so you can do your work and are not fully blocked. (Some of the people here in the forum earn their money with video. For these its most important to have any solution for a problem, but also if it's just your hobby you surely want to get results.) Very difficult to understand why it last years to build in some simple features in a semi professional product. Like:

16:9 menus Its not that a new mpeg encoder had to be written, since other videos can be encoded allready 16:9. So it should not be so difficult to add a checkbox to the project settings, set some bits in the ifo different and set the parameters for the encoder. There is no really good workaround, since also I can patch the ifo files, the vob files remain wrong, which confuses some players.

Unicode characters Also its possible to have unicode subtitles, I cannot put unicode in buttons or text. Workaround: forget about dws menu editor and use instead PS to generate a background image. But why is there a menu editor? Why spend half an hour, if the same work could be done within a minute?

Does Ulead know that there exists people outside the USA?

[Devil]

Yes, because they are based in Taiwan.

You can sub-title, but not title in non-Latin characters. I have been struggling for years, as a beta tester, to persuade each new software I test to accept non-Latin characters (I live where Greek is the norm). Even the s-t "concession" took me weeks of struggling with them. There are well over 2 billion people in the world using non-ideographic, non-Latin alphabets, so their short-sightedness must be doing them harm.

[sjj1805]

I have now created a tutorial
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=12020

Steve J

[mltwitz]

Thanks, that's a great workaround!

I can't wait for this to be included as a standard feature in the next update of DVD Workshop....HINT...HINT...HINT (hopefully someone from ULEAD reads this!)

[ashmont]

I discovered another work around although I haven't tested with multiple chapters. The manual seems to imply that you can't add videos to a menu unless they link to something. This is not true. Videos can be added which link to either nothing or any menu or title.
My work around is:
1. go into the edit screen and find your title in the library folder (ie not in the title story board below the preview screen).
2. Double click on it and then use the in/out sliders to select the desired portion of video. You will get warnings which you can safely ignore.
3. Drag the video from the library onto the menu with the button tab selected (top left).
Now you have the portion of the video you want which you can link to the actual title. I tested this in finish screen and it worked. I didn't try with multiple chapters but I guess you would have to have multiple copies of the video in the library. Even then I don't know whether you can have different mark in/mark out points on the same physical video. Assuming you can this is clearly a very tedious option if there are more than a few chapters.

[ashmont]

I tested using my method in the last post with multiple chapters and it works perfectly. You just need multiple instances of your movie in the video library and you can set the mark in and mark out points individually for each. Yes its tedious but it is a work around. Having said that the need to control the set in point for chapters part way through a movie is probably less critical than for the first chapter when there are credits etc.