VideoStudion 10 Plus DVD menus

abcdefilm · Post by **abcdefilm** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:39 am

As I experiment with the VS10 trial I found no way to make a main menu with a button or link to a chapter menu, a bonus features menu, or any other menu for that matter. It seems everything has to be on the main menu. Is it this way? Is there another way other than by buying Ulead DVD softwares? Please help and thanks in advance!

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:37 am

You certainly can make sub-menus for chapters. Just click on Add/Edit Chapters above the Create Menu button on the first page of the burning screen. When you do, a new page appears which invites you to insert chapters into each of your main videos. Once that is done, you go back to the main menu, select a template and set it up. You will need to set up the chapter menu pages at the same time. Then when you are previewing your menu, you will see that when you click on the icon representing one of your videos, it will bring up the chapter page(s) for that video.

Adding a Bonus Features button in the commercial DVD sense is more problematic. There is no provision for this as such in Video Studio. However, if your bonus features are mostly videos and/or photos, then you could make a single video out of all of them and insert this after all your main videos in the burning timeline. Video Studio would see this as just another video on the DVD. When you go to make chapters for it, you would need to choose the points where each new sequence starts. Separating each by a five second colour matte insert within the single video would make identification of these points easier.

Then you would give each of these pieces an appropriate name (e.g. Deleted Scenes, Bloopers, Photos). That way, you could name the icon on the main menu 'Bonus Features' and when you click on it, it would take you to a page with all the separate ("chapter") buttons for each individual bonus feature.

As I say, this might work if all your bonus features were video/photo based which could be easily combined into one video. It might be more problematical if you wanted to add music as a bonus feature. However, you could probably even add this as part of a video, using a black matte insert (or some appropriate photos even) in the video track for the time that the music plays for.

abcdefilm · Post by **abcdefilm** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 1:52 am

Thank-you so very much, Ken! Your answer really clarified things.

Another related question to the Ulead Community:

When playing adding project chapters, does the DVD play the whole project starting from the chapter point, or does it play from that chapter point to the next? So if I were to add "Bonus Features" of photos and videos, when I play the main movie will it play through to the bonus features? Or am I just plain confused!?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 2:23 am

In creating your menu, there is a button which allows you to choose, after a main video is played, for it to move automatically to the next video or to return to the menu. I think, though, that this applies to the whole disc. So you would have to have the main menu come up after each of your main videos, if you wanted this to occur with the Bonus Features.