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Notes On Creating Menus in DVD Studio Pro 4

DVD Studio Pro 4 can import many common image file formats when creating menus, including Photoshop and other formats. When using Photoshop files, individual layers will be recognized but some effects may not. For layered menus, buttons should have separate layers for the selected and activated states. Tips for menu graphics include avoiding thin lines that flicker, using larger text sizes, and flattening any Photoshop layers using effects before importing. There are two methods for creating menus - standard which allows backgrounds, shapes, audio and layered which uses only the layers of a Photoshop file without audio or motion.

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31 views2 pages

Notes On Creating Menus in DVD Studio Pro 4

DVD Studio Pro 4 can import many common image file formats when creating menus, including Photoshop and other formats. When using Photoshop files, individual layers will be recognized but some effects may not. For layered menus, buttons should have separate layers for the selected and activated states. Tips for menu graphics include avoiding thin lines that flicker, using larger text sizes, and flattening any Photoshop layers using effects before importing. There are two methods for creating menus - standard which allows backgrounds, shapes, audio and layered which uses only the layers of a Photoshop file without audio or motion.

Uploaded by

eeetete24
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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NOTES ON CREATING MENUS IN DVD STUDIO PRO 4

Digital Production 2, WEEK 2, 2009

DVD SP can import the following graphics files formats:


Photoshop PSD files
PICT
BMP
JPG
QuickTime Image files
TGA (Targa)
TIFF
PNG

When using PSD files individual layers will be recognised, although some unrasterised effects (such as layer
effects) will not. Be sure to name your photoshop layers well to avoid confusion in DVD Studio.

If creating a layered menu in Photoshop, you must also include as least two layers for each button – one
layer for the button in its ‘selected’ state and the other in the ‘activated’ state.
The ‘normal’ state of the button can be included in the background or added as an extra layer.

TIPS FOR MENU GRAPHICS


 Avoid using lines less than 4 pixels thick. Thin lines can cause flickering when viewed on TV’s.
 Don’t use Serif fonts or fonts with thin bits – these will flicker more than plainer fonts.
 Use ‘broadcast colours’ filter to constrain the colours within PAL broadcasting limits.
 White must not exceed values of 235 for each R, G, and B to remain within the PAL system.
 Use the de-interlace filter if your background has been taken from video.
 Keep text over 24points in size.
 Try to avoid lines that are close to horizontal or verticle – these will create step-laddering.
 Use drop shadows on text.
 When using Photoshop, you need to ‘flatten’ any layers using blend/transfer modes, layer effects or
layer styles. You can usually do this by merging the effected layer (ie when using a glow effect) with
an empty layer. DVD Studio does not support these Photoshop features.

To Flatten an effected layer in Photoshop (not flatten the whole image):


1. Add an empty layer below the effected layer.
2. Select both layers, then use ‘merge layers’ . Merging will delete the effects or style, so you may
want to create a duplicate layer for the merge.

There are two methods for creating Menus – the standard method and the layered method.

In standard menus you can mix overlays with shapes, use still images or video as the background, and
include audio. Layered menus us the layers of a Photoshop document to create the entire menu, and can
not use audio or motion backgrounds.
In layered menus all the graphical elements used are taken from a layered Photoshop PSD file. This includes
the background, button graphics, and highlights. For this to work you need to create two extra layers for
each button (for each state of ‘selected’ and ‘activated’). Ie. If you have two buttons, you’ll 4 extra layers in
addition to the buttons and non-interactive graphics.
Layered are restricted in that they can not use audio or video. Interaction with layered menus is also slower
than using standard menus (this can result in the ‘two click’ effect when viewing on a computer).

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