Authoring: Need more menu items

[WestbrookNH]

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VS10+ Create Disk authoring module questions:

1. How do I get more than just three menu items per menu screen? I've got 11 chapters, and that yields four different menu screens you have to wade through, besides the title screen.
2. How do I add thumbnails for menu items, rather than having just the text to select?
3. I would like to be able to click on a thumbnail image in order to select a menu item, and not the ugly, yellow not-quite-a-circle thingy. It's just not as visible or intuitive as clicking on a thumbnail.
4. Is there a way to add objects to the template you're working on? I don't see any obvious way to add another text box, or any other object for that matter.

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[sjj1805]

Please view:

Shared menus created by forum members
Create a DVD Menu from scratch
MF5/ VS9 /VS10: Share Menus, Transitions between products

[WestbrookNH]

Please view:

Shared menus created by forum members
Create a DVD Menu from scratch
MF5/ VS9 /VS10: Share Menus, Transitions between products

Excellent!

• "Creating a DVD Menu from scratch for dummies"

Precisely what I need!


Steve, once again, my thanks to you!

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[WestbrookNH]

Well, unfortunately, I don't have any versions of PhotoImpact.

And my attempts to import frames from MF2se made VS10+ very unstable, causing it to crash. It got better when I removed the .ufo files I had added.

What I'm looking for is something REAL simple, very much like the menus you present here:

http://www.steve-jones.pwp.blueyonder.c ... Thumb1.zip

http://www.steve-jones.pwp.blueyonder.c ... uttons.zip

The only thing I would add to "12buttons" is a line of text under each of the thumbnails.

But, alas, I don't know how I can do that without PI.

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[Black Lab]

You want to put 11 thumbnails on one screen? I hope you're viewing it on a BIG screen.

[WestbrookNH]

I've done the 12 thumbnails per menu with MF2-SE and never had any problem seeing them on my little 13" Toshiba. Don't need to see the detail of the images as much as get a sense of what they are, mostly by the titles underneath them.

On another topic, the strangest thing happened.

I had thought I had "lost" some menus and settings. I had done a lot of work and thought it was being saved, only to find when I reopened VS10+ later that the several authoring templates I had made had disappeared.

Well, I came back to VS10+ again after rebooting and all my previous authoring templates showed up in the VS10+ Create Disk authoring facility. What's even crazier, is that I had made these templates using the VS10+ Movie Wizard.

I liked the Movie Wizard, because it had a lot more to choose from in the way of templates, etc. It also had more than Navigation Buttons in the drop-down list box in the Customizing property sheet. It had Frames, and Layouts, too.

The main problem with Movie Wizard is that I could not find a way to save my work, close it, and come back to it later to pick up where I left off. It seemed to require you to do the authoring step in one sitting, with no coming back later if you have to close and do something else.

Well, now the VS10+ Create Disk facility seemed to have picked up these things.

Even weirder, all the "smart scenes" templates in the Create Disk facility are gone!!! Where did THEY go?? I wasn't a big fan of those anyway, but I am still curious.

Now, I don't know where Create Disk or Movie Wizard get their layouts, nav buttons, and frames, but you'd think it would be from the same place, or that you could choose a source folder.

Any illumination into these VS10+ idiosyncracies and mysteries would be heartily appreciated.


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[sjj1805]

Please refer to my previous reply concerning saving partially completed DVD Menu Authoring.
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 9619#99619

The 12 thumbnail Menu I created and shared did not have text beneath the thumbnails as I considered that the screen would be too cluttered with them.

VideoStudio 10+ keeps the DVD Menu templates here (when installed to its default location):
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template

[WestbrookNH]

Please refer to my previous reply concerning saving partially completed DVD Menu Authoring.
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic. ... 9619#99619

Steve, I'm certain I took the steps to save the project, not just with ctrl-s, but with an explicit save using the File menu.

I'm pleased that I got the templates I was missing, but I'm still mystified about how I got them.

Here are the exact steps I took.

I was skimming through your link on creating new authoring templates from scratch, but I couldn't do that because I don't nave PhotoImpact.

Then I browsed through your link on transitioning authoring objects between product versions. I was able to find the Layout templates, La*.ufo. I tried copying the Layout templates from Movie Factory 2.0 SE to this directory, but when I restarted VS10+, it was unstable and crashing, so I deleted the MF2-SE layout files.

I decided I'd give Movie Wizard a try again, so I fired that up and loaded the project into it. I did a few things and decided to see if I could come back to them before I got too deep. I saved the Movie Wizard project under a different name, but I could not reload it into the Movie Wizard.

I went back to VS10+ and was able to load the Movie Wizard project into VS10+, however VS10+ crashed when I tried to load the Create Disk facility. I was thinking I could use the Movie Wizard to create the authoring menus, since Movie Wizard has a LOT more options to choose from, and then finish the project in VS10+.

After VS10+ crashed, restarted it and tried loading the Movie Wizard version of the project again, but VS10+ crashed when I invoked the Create Disk facility.

I rebooted my system and started up VS10+ determined to finish the project from the Create Disk facility. I reloaded the original VS10+ version of the project using whatever VS10+ gave me in the Create Disk facility. I needed to complete the project and burn some disks.

I made all my changes, figuring I'd just have to live with 4 separate menus having three scene selections each. I noticed that one of the chapters needed an adjustment in timing, so I went back to VS10+ proper to move the chapter point.

At this point, I explicitly saved my work using the File Menu. Then I moved the chapter point. After moving the chapter point, I went back into the Create Disk facility and found that ALL my previous work with the authoring menus was gone! I was nonplussed!

I shutdown VS10+ and restarted it, hoping to be able to find my authoring menus. I opened the project I was working on, went to the Create Disk facility, and there were my menus! But more than this, there were some menus I had created a couple of weeks ago and thought I had lost, as well as more objects from which to select in the dropdown list in the CreateDisk->Customize list box! Where did THOSE come from?

I was pleased, but mystified.

I'm writing this from my laptop, as my desktop is busy rendering a minor change I made to one of the menu items, and I do not want to disturb it. After the desktop is done with the DVDs, I will do a search for .UFO files in the VS10+ program's directory tree and see if I can find where the missing items are and where the previously missing mystery items came from.

I've been doing this off and on for a couple of years, starting with VS7-SE, so I'm not exactly a newbie, but I don't do it often enough to have it all fresh in my mind all the time. And I'm completely new to VS10+

As always, any and all comments are appreciated.

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[Black Lab]

Don't need to see the detail of the images as much as get a sense of what they are, mostly by the titles underneath them.

Then why not just have a text only menu?

[WestbrookNH]

Don't need to see the detail of the images as much as get a sense of what they are, mostly by the titles underneath them.

Then why not just have a text only menu?

The short answer is, because I want what I want.

The longer answer is that it is more intuitive for my target audience, consisting for the most part of aged aunties in Italy and Brazil, to click on an image than it is for them to know that the fuzzy, yellow, almost-a-circle thingy actually selects the text.

Furthermore, these DVDs are going to relatives and friends in foreign countries, whose first language is not English. I could do the menus in Italian and Portuguese easily enough, but I'm too easily confused and am likely to send the wrong version. It's confusing enough that I have to maintain a PAL and NTSC version.

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[Black Lab]

OK. That makes sense.

[WestbrookNH]

OK. That makes sense.

Well, consider an aging Auntie in Italy who wants to see the photo slide show of her great-nephews & nieces. Her visual acuity ain't what it used to be, and she knows just enough English to understand names and places and dates. If she has text only, the mouseover provided by the authoring software just isn't intuitive enough for her. Clicking on a thumbnail of the scene dated and named is a lot more intuitive for her.

Make sense yet?

And, to be honest, the mouseover provided by the authoring software was not very intuitive for me, either. I had to experiment a bit before I discovered that you had to place the mouse right on top of the fuzzy yellow circle, not on the text.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that's anywhere near as intuitive as clicking on a thumbnail.

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[sjj1805]

My initial thoughts are that when you copied over your menus etc from your other software you have copied them to the wrong location.
When your desktop computer is available again please let me know the results of your search for UFO files.

[WestbrookNH]

When your desktop computer is available again please let me know the results of your search for UFO files.

Thanks, Steve.

It's a long list! Compiling the list was an education in itself. I found where my custom Layouts went, but I don't understand why I can access them sometimes but not at others.

I also don't understand why I don't always have the Layouts and Frames to choose from as instead of just the Navigation Buttons in the drop down list box in the Share->Create Disk->Edit->Customize properites panel.

And it seems like there should be a LOT more Layouts and Frames and other customizations available than what I am seeing.

Here is the list.

C:\Documents and Settings\Papa\My Documents\Ulead DVD MovieFactory\5.3\Favorites\4x3\Favorites\*.ufo (filenames look like dates)
C:\Documents and Settings\Papa\My Documents\Ulead VideoStudio\10.0\Favorites\4x3\Favorites\*.ufo (filenames look like dates)
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Classic\Clas*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Cool\Cool*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Corporate\Corp*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Home Movie\Home*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Nature\Natu*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Romantic\Roman*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Sports\Spor*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Customize\Frame\F*.ufo and No Frame.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Customize\Layout\La*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead DVD MovieFactory 2 SE\Template\Customize\Navigation button\N*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\One Scene Button\05vs_OneS*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Scene Button\05vs_SceB*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Text Button\05vs_Text*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Frame\F*_W.ufo, and No Frame_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Navigation Button\N*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Scene Selection Layout\LaS0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Text Only Layout\LaT0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\4x3\One Scene Button\05v_OneS0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\4x3\Scene Button\05vs_SceB0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\4x3\Text Button\05vs_Text0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\4x3\One Scene Button\05vs_OneS0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\4x3\Scene Button\05vs_Sce_B0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\4x3\Text Button\05vs_Text0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Frame\F*_W.ufo and No Frame_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Navigation Button\N0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Scene Selection Layout\ LaS0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Customize\Text Only Layout\LaT0*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\One Scene Button\05vs_OneS0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Scene Button\05vs_SceB*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\Text Button\05vs_Text0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\HD Basic\16x9\Customize\Frame\HDF0*.ufo and No Frame.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\HD Basic\16x9\Customize\Navigation Button\HDN*.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\HD Basic\16x9\Customize\Scene Selection Layout\LaS0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\HD Basic\16x9\Customize\Text Only Layout\LaT0*_W.ufo
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\HD Basic\16x9\HD Basic\HDBasic_0*.ufo

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[sjj1805]

Most of your Menu Templates are missing.
Try the following first:

1. Run the VideoStudio Installation program and this time you will find a repair option - select that.
2. Run the Extra Content set up file.

For example this directory
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 10\Content\Menu Template\16x9\One Scene Button

Should contain the following files:
05vs_OneS01_W.ufo
05vs_OneS01_W_MS.ini
05vs_OneS02_W.ufo
05vs_OneS02_W_MS.ini
05vs_OneS03_W.ufo
05vs_OneS03_W_MS.ini
05vs_OneS04_W.ufo
05vs_OneS04_W_MS.ini
05vs_OneS05_W.ufo
05vs_OneS05_W_MS.ini
setting.ini