I have NOT seen where the Menu Designer does much automatically gp!

It's been quite a learning curve for me to grasp what I can and cannot do with it )Menu Designer). Maybe someone else has more information and if there is an 'automatic' chapter/menu generation mode of operation in PD... but I'm not familiar with it.

I am familiar with the function inside PD though - at least in PD13 that allows for generation of chapters at the beginning of each 'clip' in the timeline - see attached png.



CS PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray Drive

Quote: At least in PD13 that allows for generation of chapters at the beginning of each 'clip' in the timeline.

CS

Hi, CS!

Actually, that's true of Power Director, going back as far as PD5(the earliest one I remember using). but, like you, I don't know if, or I don't think gpklos5's suggestion is possible.

Cheers!

Neil.

Neil,

Well, we are talking about a 'Consumer Video Editing' product aren't we (PD)?

I know many come in here expecting PD to perform miracles, and - actually it does pretty well as far as I can tell - but I am certainly no expert when it comes to comparing editors.

And I have not been real fond of the Menu Designer - it has taken me a while to understand that 'beast'. But once I 'got it' - I can make it do what I want ... well enough.

But the desire to just load in a bunch of clips and have PD spit out chapter creation and chapter titles in a menu... well, like I said - I am not familiar with how PD can do such a feat. If it can, I'd like to know about it too! (I think you have to put in a bit of work to do this - I'm not complaining... just don't think it's an 'automatic' event)

CS PD13 Ultimate - Build 3516, WIN 8.1, 64 Bit, 16G RAM, Intel Core i5 4460, CPU @ 3.2GHz, NVIDIA GeForce GT720, Graphics Memory(total avail.)-4093MB
LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray Drive

Thanks for the replies. Like I said I was just hoping it could do it. The reason I figured it might be able to is because there are all the custom Magic Movie Wizard templates that do all kind of "automated" functions. So I figured that if I design one properly maybe I could make it do what I was hoping. The wizard makes nice stuff, but it doesn't show me anything where if I put 5 clips in, it will show all 5 clips in their entirety. It just takes segments from them each. Or maybe I just didn't try the correct one??

Well if someone comes up with something maybe they will post it somewhere on the forum or the DirectorZone.

Thanks again everyone.

Gary

You can get close to what you want and save a lot of time. It can be very simple in PD14. Choose a menu or download something like Pete’s simple menu from the DZ and modify it to your liking.

1. On each video file that you want to create chapters, import it on the timeline and do the 3 step auto chapter selection shown in CS screenshot above. Name the pds file the same as the video file.


2. Short video files that don’t require chapters can be left as is.

Make note of the total times of your video or project files.

1. Go to Create Disc/Menu Preferences and choose your menu. Note the 4 checkboxes in your lower left.


2. Go to the Content tab. Here you either import the short videos without chapters or the long videos with chapters by importing the projects (pds files).


3. Go to the 2D Disc tab and choose the disc type, video and audio settings. You can Preview and then click Burn in 2D.

That is it. It can be that simple.

Quote: Neil,

Well, we are talking about a 'Consumer Video Editing' product aren't we (PD)?

I know many come in here expecting PD to perform miracles, and - actually it does pretty well as far as I can tell - but I am certainly no expert when it comes to comparing editors.

And I have not been real fond of the Menu Designer - it has taken me a while to understand that 'beast'. But once I 'got it' - I can make it do what I want ... well enough.

But the desire to just load in a bunch of clips and have PD spit out chapter creation and chapter titles in a menu... well, like I said - I am not familiar with how PD can do such a feat. If it can, I'd like to know about it too! (I think you have to put in a bit of work to do this - I'm not complaining... just don't think it's an 'automatic' event)

CS

Hello, CS!

Actually I don't try to "monkey around" with Menu Design these days, at least not in PD14 or even PD8, though I did try a bit of creating my own in PD7 while I had it installed. I'm happy to just use what's already provided, choosing the most "generic" looking menus in PD8 as I still use PD8 for disc authoring(PD14 has some shortcomings in that area). If on occasions I've used other software for editing(outside Power Director), I've always brought the finished edit back to PD8 for the final stage, being burning to disc as PD8 has the easiest-to-use disc authoring process.

Why PD8? I know it's an OLD programme and long since superceded but it has features that I still value highly(the oft-mentioned ability to burn at DVD-SP quality to get more than 2 hours of content onto a single-layer disc being the most important, for me, anyway). What gpklos5 was asking about, automatically making a chapter for each video, I think that might be beyond the capabilities of any video editing/authoring software(honest opinion). When creating a disc, you go straight to the Create Disc section, then import the clip, there's a provision for adding chapters within that clip and I've subdivided two or three clips in a video using that feature(then set play clip and return to menu option) but the closest option I can think of for gpklos5 is to play all content. Thats the best I can sum up this situation.

Cheers!

Neil.