Editing a disk menu

Davidk101

Senior Member Location: Brisbane Australia Joined: Jun 24, 2020 02:38 Messages: 172 Offline

Solved by

Jun 29, 2021 21:31

Finally, my project reached the point of creating the disk output. And I find that I'll need 2 disks to carry all the items I want. Not a problem: just mark the titles of each disk with disk 1, disk 2 etc in the menu.

And after a lot of fiddling around, I've found several items about creating the menu for the disk I need help with. A screen capture attached for reference for these
1. That intermediate menu between root and items is a bug-bear: what I want is the video items on the menu page or pages. removing the root menu seems to give that (item at bottom of menu preferences) but unticking that also seems to remove the ability to have play first or introductory item (that box gets unchecked too). However, the list box where that play first video is specified isn't blocked when root is disabled, and when an item is specified here, it plays on preview.
Which is what I want, but it seems to be contradictory. Is this normal???

2. Altho there is an ability to specify font, there's no ability to specifiy line spacing: you have to find a font which minimises line spacing in menu title descriptions. In the attached, the default font has a closer spacing than my preferred one (CataneoBT), so reluctantly I've used the default: which is at odds with the font I've used thru the various editied clips. Is there any way in this menu presentation to specify a line spacing for any font???

3. The font colour is not altereable; take the default, which seems to be releated to the general menu background colours. Is there a way to specify a font colour??

4. Adding text to the menu. eg, next page, back page, home alongside the arrow symbols. Is there a way to add text to the menu. at this level.

basically this isn't about creating a whole new menu, but making small changes to the theme which has been selected.


Filename	japan menu 1.jpg	Download
Description
Filesize	427 Kbytes
Downloaded:	4 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 29. 2021 21:32

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Jun 30, 2021 21:54

The Travel menu that you have chosen is a Cyberlink 4:3 original design created more than 10 years ago. I found that it is fluid and easily edited in the earlier versions of PD running windows 7. It is very slow to respond to every change made in my win 10 pc going the menu structure route that you have chosen to use as shown in your screenshot. I found that it is easier to create and name the chapters in the Chapter room of the timeline and then use the menu structure only to split the chapter name on two rows when needed. You do have to change the My Videos on the chapters page.

You are probably doing everything right. I would prefer a more modern menu with multiple thumbnails created more recently that is more suited to be edited in the PD18 menu designer.

1. You don’t need that Root menu. You can uncheck all 4 checkboxes and still add that First Play video. It just appears too slow on your pc when previewing. The menu will work properly on that created dvd.

2. and 3. You need to use Menu Designer to modify this menu. You can set the font, font size, spacing left to right, spacing up to down, and font color by highlighting each item separately. Better to save it as a different menu name so you won’t destroy the original.

4. In the Menu Designer, click the +T button to add new text that can be placed anywhere that is not part of the My Video template.

Check this thread on that Travel menu. See that wmv video on how fluid the menu preview worked last year on my win 10 pc: https://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/0/81602.page#335850 .

Hope that this help you to be successful with the Travel menu.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at Jun 30. 2021 22:35

Davidk101

Senior Member Location: Brisbane Australia Joined: Jun 24, 2020 02:38 Messages: 172 Offline

Jul 01, 2021 02:37

Hi Tomasc,
Great info.
I am not really into "chapters" - essentially parts within a larger video - and prefer to create smaller clips for specific places or things, which helps the management of the overall effort by breaking it into smaller chinks. These usually work out to be between 8-15 minutes long.
Distribution by DVD has been a long habit for a range of reasons, the main one being that older family members who would be interested (kids?? phfft. too into social media to care) are used to playing DVD's and have the gear for it. Doing it by dropbox or usb stick entirely feasible but unfamiliar territory for them. So a menu is a necessity.
I like menus to be direct, as simple as possible, and the idea of a root in these circumstances just made it hard until I realised it could be dispensed with. Along with that, adding extra text to a standard theme was really useful in another editor I use. If I am reading your response correctly, every variation to a standard menu (extra text variation in font sizes colours etc) needs another unique menu, using the menu maker and usable only once.

In the example - I just chose a theme from the standard ones in the ultimate package. The number of menu items supported per theme is not very evident and 3 seems to be a common number. In this case, the number of clips exceeded the size of a DVD, making the whole project a 2-disk affair, and labelling which disk was what is usually helpful. But adding extra text to label the disk, or movement buttons (next page, back etc) just wasn't available. I can't even add text to the title (eg disk 1 of 2) and just highlight it and specify a reduced font size - nope, the font size applies to the whole title.
Overall then, usable but not as flexible as others I have used. I'll get used to it.

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Jul 01, 2021 11:16

Quote In the example - I just chose a theme from the standard ones in the ultimate package. The number of menu items supported per theme is not very evident and 3 seems to be a common number. In this case, the number of clips exceeded the size of a DVD, making the whole project a 2-disk affair, and labelling which disk was what is usually helpful. But adding extra text to label the disk, or movement buttons (next page, back etc) just wasn't available. I can't even add text to the title (eg disk 1 of 2) and just highlight it and specify a reduced font size - nope, the font size applies to the whole title.
Overall then, usable but not as flexible as others I have used. I'll get used to it.

Your statements are not correct. If you use the Menu Designer to modify the Travel or any templates you’ll find it easy to do. Obviously you did not view the screen recording in the linked post showing 7 menu items in the Travel chapter menu. You’ll find adding and changing text in chapters easy if you use the chapter room. Avoid your use of the menu structure in your screenshot as your pc is too slow. Thousands of users are happy with creating and sharing their menu creations on the DZ can’t be wrong or are they???

You repeated the statement about adding text. Some needs to be done in Menu designer. Don’t get confused. The menus in the DZ may be a good place to see other users' creations and then do it yourself.

Hope this make it easier to create or use the menu you want.