Can I remove Navigation button hot spot on main menu?

woodchuck · Post by **woodchuck** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:17 pm

I have just started using VS11+ and I can't seem to get the main menu to work as I would like. I have 3 short travel clips I want to have on the main menu. They are not related (except that we took all of them) so I want the user to select a specific clip from the main menu and not play all 3 in sequence.

When I add the 3 files to the menu (text or thumbnail) I get a total of 4 hot spots -- one for each of the files AND one for the play navigational button. I would like to disable the play navigational button. If I hide it, it still appears on the burned DVD as a green circle and it is still active.

Is there a way to remove the 4th hot spot?

I've read the tutorials and it seems that hiding the navigational button should disable it but it does not seem to be working for me. Perhaps I am missing something.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:02 am

I don't think hiding it disables it. What I do, besides hiding it, is to drag it as far off screen as possible. That way it can't be "accidentally" selected.

woodchuck · Post by **woodchuck** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:51 pm

You are correct -- hiding it does not disable it. I too have tried dragging it offscreen so it cannot be seen. But . . . it can still be used accidently because the navigation buttons will select it. If none of the 3 thumbnails is selected and the user presses enter the "hidden" button is activated and the entire DVD plays.

This is not a critical issue because these DVD's are only used by our family and we all know how it works. I was just hoping there was a way to hide/disable the "play all" button if I made DVD's for friends.

Thanks for your input.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:03 pm

Well if none of the 3 thumbnails are selected, and you don't press the Play button, how do you play your DVD

woodchuck · Post by **woodchuck** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:47 pm

If none of the 3 thumbnails is selected but you press the play button, it plays all 3 starting with the first. It does not return to the main menu between files. In other words, I suspect the "Play All" button is selected although you cannot see it.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:56 pm

woodchuck wrote:If none of the 3 thumbnails is selected but you press the play button, it plays all 3 starting with the first. It does not return to the main menu between files. In other words, I suspect the "Play All" button is selected although you cannot see it.

It can, but you have to set that in the burning stage (cogwheel, bottom left corner).

woodchuck · Post by **woodchuck** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:24 pm

I have the "return to menu" working fine as long as 1 of the 3 thumbnails is selected.

But if none of the 3 thumbnails is selected and the play button is pressed, it treats all 3 as 1 movie and only returns to menu after the 3rd has played.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:08 pm

OK, I follow you now but, unfortunately I don't have a solution. I'm not sure if that is how it is supposed to work or not.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:47 am

You have to use a third party program.

what you do is prepare your DVD as normal and hide the Play All button. Now burn to a hard drive folder.

3rd party programs that can then delete the Play All hotspot are
MenuEdit
PGCEdit

woodchuck · Post by **woodchuck** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:36 pm

I found a solution for removing and disabling the navigation buttons on a menu. This required Photo Impact so I downloaded the trial version. At this time I am not interested in creating menus from scratch so I will probably not purchase it. Here is my solution:

1. In VS11 save a menu to the Favorites Folder. You will find this under the advance editing option. Note the name of the menu.
2. Open this .ufo file in Photo Impact. Mine was in \My Documents\Ulead Visual Studio\Favorites\11.0\4x3\Favorites.
3. Using the Layer Manager (on right) scroll to find the navigation buttons. There should be 4 and they start with BTN_
4. Right click on each of the 4 layers and delete them.
5. File > Save to place it back into the Favorites Folder. You could also use Save As to give it a new name. Just be sure to put it in the Favorites Folder.

When you return to VS11, you should find your modified menu in the Favorites Folder.

FYI, you cannot "export" the menu in Photo Impact without navigation buttons, however you can save it.

I doubt Ulead would endorse this solution, but it works for me. This would probably work with VS10 as well.

sjj1805 · Post by **sjj1805** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:16 am

OK you removed the button in PhotoImpact BUT did the menu work?

woodchuck · Post by **woodchuck** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:27 pm

Yes, it worked for text menus and thumbnail menus.

I did not modify any smartscene menus because I would only use smartscene when I have just 1 movie.

I like this for my short movies (15 - 20 min) such as Christmas videos. I can put several on one DVD with a thumbnail for each one. When the playall button is removed the focus will be on the first thumbnail. If enter (play) is pressed, just the first movie will play and then return to menu. Without making this change, if play is pressed without highlighting one of the thumbnails, ALL movies play before returning to menu.

I also like to add chapter points but uncheck the "create chapter menu". I see no reason to have a scene selection feature for such short movies, but I like to be able to forward through it with the remote button.

I did not mention that it is also possible to change the color of hot spots in PI and whether the highlight is on the frame of thumbnail or on the image of the thumbnail. But . . . I don't remember just how I did that.