Animated button highlights

I am trying to make a dvd with my portfolio on it to send to prospective clients and I've run into a bit of a problem. normaly when I make a dvd I use a simple highlight ( arrow for example ) however with this being a portfolio I am playing around with things a little more complex. What I want to do is make an animated highlith on after effects that sets a blue liquid particle wave effect behind the button when its selected ( I'm that sorry I don't have somthing to show you as an example ). My question is very simple, Can somthing like this even be done? if so how?
I'm sorry that I don't know the answer, however as I said, I simply haven't ever tryed somthing like this beffor.

It would be possible by defining animated transition clips and using auto-action with invisible buttons, but you would need a transition clip for every button plus multiple menus to reflect the states, so managing it all becomes a lot more work. And what TimeRemapper said is true - it will lag awfully and slow down things. In fact if this is for a portfolio DVD, it may annoy the people watching it and have the adverse effect - anything that can't be said in a single clip with auto-play is probably not worth watching.
Mylenium

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Button highlight/mouseover

I'm trying to do something with buttons on my menus but I'm not sure I understand this. I looked through the DVDSP manual for information on the topic and didn't have any luck.
Basically, I created a simple animated effect in Motion and have imported it as an asset into my DVDSP project. I want this effect to appear next to whatever button is highlighted/selected on my chapter selection screen, but I can't figure out how to do it. I figured out how to set the animation to appear next to a button all the time, but that doesn't help any.
I've seen this in countless DVDs and I imagine it's a simple process in DVDSP, but I haven't been able to locate any information on it. Maybe I'm looking for the wrong thing. Any ideas?

The background will contain all of the animated elements, and the overlay will hide them in the normal state. I have used this effect in the past.
the challenge is getting the overlay color to match your background exactly. I found that even if I used black, the overlays appeared lighter than the background when I looked at the result in Apple DVD Player. They looked ok on most set-top players, and the few windows software players I tried, but there are lots of possible combinations out there... Use this method at your own risk.
I first saw this effect on the DVD for Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses - the button highlights are Captian Spaulding's animated, full-color head looking around, and are covered up in the normal state by a black overlay.
I have seen other effects where the overlays themselves actually appeard to blink and change color, such as on the "Chronicles of Riddick" DVD, with a spaceship-themed design in which the button highlights appeard to be multicolored blinking LED-type lights. I suppose this could be done with buttons over video and timed subtitle streams, but it's difficult with DVDSP to manage keeping the buttons selected as the track crosses the button highlight markers. Anyone got any ideas on this one?

Animating buttons - How to go to another chapter when selected

I am putting together a DVD of soccer highlights. I thought it would be great to have an Animating button for each player with one of the best clips in the button. The problem I can't figure out is when the button is selected for that player it goes to the chapter# from the animation and not the chapter # where the player's highlights start. I thought I could do it with Button Override but there must be something I am missing. Thank you.

Bill,
One Timeline and one chapter for each player.
In previous DVD's I started each chapter with a jersey number that is in a static button.
Rather than start the animation with the jersey number and then the title to a clip (for each game I have a 4 second title with date, team score etc) I would like to have a highlight of their best play in their button.
I have gotten this to work with the first player(by adding two more chapters before the next player's chapter and using this chapter for animation and setting the end action to go to the player's chapter) but when the button is selected things go wrong. The animation that is in the button plays full screen and then jumps to the start of the player's chapter. I could live with this but when I add a second player using this same technique things seem to go wrong. I may of had some overrides that are the culprit.
From what you said what I am trying to do may not be possible but I wanted to give it a try. Thank you.
Bob

What happens to the rendered animated buttons on sub-menus

I am on a 3GB of memory MacBook Pro using Encore (CS3). Here is a description of how I have produced a working DVD...so far 3 out of 5 DVDs I have tried to render have worked.
ANYWAY...seems that Encore implodes when I try to render the same project more than one at a time. Encore chokes and I am back in the MAC OS.
HERE is my main question...every time it blows it seems to blow away the RENDERED ANIMATED BUTTONS on the secondary menu. SO each time I try this again I have to re-render the buttons taking about 1.5 hours. Why do I have to re-render...why aren't the rendered 2nd level menus SAVED.
To make it clear...after I rendered the menus...previewed...saw the buttons are animated...SAVED...try to write a DVD Disc from the Current Project...succeed...try to burn another DVD...it aborts (why...I have no idea)...I empty trash...bring up Encore again...try to preview the secondary menu...NO ANIMATION there so have to rerender and start all over.
I have been reading about compatibility of DVD disc, computer players and DVD players...what a PILE...without all the techies our there we can't make a dependable environment to create, burn and play DVDs...these companies should be ashamed...all they are doing is producing a whole bunch of frustrated producers (or lack of producing producers).
Can anyone shed a light on my problem!?!?
Thanks, --bill
p.s. Are there better forums than here at Adobe? Seems I don't get many if any replies to queries.

Bill,
A couple of questions, mainly to make sure that I understand what is happening.
1.) There are two files (an audio and a MOV), that show in the Orphanage, when you Check Project. Do they appear there BEFORE you Check Project, or only AFTER?
2.) Do they appear BEFORE in your Project Panel, or only AFTER you Check Project?
3.) Since they are Orphans, I assume that you do not intend to use them in this Project - right? Were they ever in the Project (Imported as Assets, or Timelines)?
4.) Was this Project started fresh, or did you modify an existing Project, to create it, say using a Save_As, etc.?
5.) If they were not Imported into this Project, were they Imported into another Project, that is/was being worked on coincidental to this one?
6.) Can you find these files on your system? Where are they located?
If 1.) is After and 2.) is After, then your Project might be corrupt. The Assets/Timelines/etc. are linked to the Project by XML. This can become corrupt for many reasons, most are often unknown - power dip, or hardware issue on Save, etc..
Two ways to check this theory, is to start the Project from scratch, and see what happens. Another is to use a freeware program, XML Wrench, and run the Project file through it. Aside from pointing out broken links, and other problems, it should also allow you to search for these files names in the body. Save a copy of the Project file, so you will have it untouched, and then remove any lines, that reference these files. Save_As (new Project name) and open that in Encore. Being on MAC, doesnt every data file have a finder file, associated with it? Could this finder file be cross-linked, in some way, to your real Assets?
It could be that there is a hardware issue, and this causes the links to the Rendered files to become broken, and also to link to files, that should not be included. Any other strange things with your system lately? I do not know the MAC folder/file structure, but can you do the equivalent of Windows Check Disk? If so, set it to find lost clusters, or whatever MAC calls them.
Also, being on PC, I do not know what utilities might be available for your OS, or what other programs might be causing a problem. On PCs, other DVD burning software, especially if their packet-writing applet is installed, can cause havoc with Encore and are discouraged. Anything else installed, and/or running, that you can think of?
Sorry to play twenty questions, but Id like to be as clear, as I can, on exactly what is happening, before I make too many more guesses.
Hunt

Animated Button unexpected issues

Very weird. I've been working on an animated button - and suddenly when I preview in the browser (Chrome) the size has doubled unexpectedly.
I am not aware of having done anything to affect this, and the file looks exctly the same inside Animate.
I've checked and the elements within the symbol are the same size....

Stage at 100% Size given as 100px - but...

Add a hyperlink to animated button created in Edge.

Hello,
Is there any way to insert an animated button I created in Edge into Muse and add a hyperlink to it. The roll over and roll out work perfectly when inserted into my web page, I just can't attach any actions to it. Thanks.

I'm attempting to do exactly this, and when I preview the Muse site in the browser, I get a page not found reply.
As a test I've rigged up buttons in Muse that go to the exact same page, and they work perfectly.
When I click the link, this is added to the end of the url.
assets/design-page-animated-menu/logo-design.html, when the folders for assets, and design-page-animated-menu don't exist.
This url seems to be generated somewhere in the export/preview process, but is not the url I directed the Edge Animate link to. It is simply directed to logo-design.html which as far as I can tell should work, as both pages are in the same folder—when exported—with no subfolders involved.
Where is this longer url being generated, and is there anyway around it?
Edit.
Upon researching this further, I see that even though the muse pages are all in the same folder, the page that Edge is creating—that is being displayed on the Muse page via an iframe—is in it's own folder, and is therefore unable to see the pages I was linking to.
I see that as mentioned above, it's just better to use absolute urls, and that they just won't work in testing.

Button Highlight turns Black in Encore

Hi all. Am confused about what is happening here. I am trying to make my own customized Button Highlights. First thing I do is get my object in photoshop by doing the following. Change "background" layer to a "layer". Then using color range, delete the background so only the item I want is left on a transparent canvas. Save it. Then import it into the psd file for my Menu. I add this as a new layer under one of the Chapter groups. Add the appropriate label "(=1) highlight". It looks like it should work on photoshop. I see the design with full color where the button highlight should be.
However, once this psd file is imported into the Encore, and the "show highlights" button is clicked, the menu shows only a black version of the highlight. in other words, it looks like a black shadow of what the file should be. For example if the button highlight is supposed to be a picture of a red apple, all you see in Encore is a solid black apple. Although in photoshop, when you make that layer visible you see a red apple.
Anybody have any idea what is going on here? Why does it look normal in photoshop, but when imported into Encore as a menu file, the button highlights become only Black shadows?
Thanks much.
Komakamkon

As Jon points out, there is a limitation on Sub-picture Highlights. This is not a limitation of Encore, but with the DVD-specs.
The way to get what you want is to create a duplicate Menu, with the continuous tone image that you want, where the real Sub-picture Highlight would be. On the real Menu, you would set your Button to Auto Activate, and on your duplicate Menu, set the real Sub-picture Highlight to 100% Transparent. You will need a duplicate Menu for each Button. Note also, that if the user is on a computer, they will need to dbl-click to get the real Button on the duplicate Menu to work.
This will give the user the illusion that there is a continuous tone Sub-picture Highlight, but in reality it will be a graphic on that duplicate Menu.
Good luck, and if you go this route, make a flowchart and name your Menus, and duplicate Menus, so you can follow that flowchart.
Good luck,
Hunt

IDVD 6: Menu Buttons Highlight Incorrectly

I've been trying to take two podcasts and burn them to a DVD. Initially I tried starting directly with iDVD 6, but it wouldn't encode the second podcast. I then started with iMovie to encode the clips before I added them to iDVD. The podcasts are widescreen, so I selected a theme that would also be widescreen.
For the first DVD I burned, my widescreen portable DVD player interpreted the main menu as 4:3, cutting off some of the text of the menu options. I tried playing the DVD on a computer (not sure if it was in Windows or on the Mac), and although the menus were displayed as 16:9, the highlighting of the buttons is way off the actual buttons. Another computer's DVD player application highlighted the buttons correctly.
After reading some of the tips involving myDVDEdit, I copied the burned image files to a folder, changed the files to read and write, and changed the settings on the menus to the most flexible 16:9 option (auto Pan & Scan and Letterbox). When I burned a DVD with these changes, the widescreen portable DVD player would display the DVD with black bars all around (but without cutting anything off). On a computer, the button highlighting still does not match the actual location of the buttons.
Are there any other settings that I can adjust to (1) fill the entire screen on my portable DVD player and (2) align the button highlighting to the actual buttons? Thanks in advance.

The -34506 error. Welcome to a world of frustration and wasted evenings. There are plenty of threads here with suggestions on 'rules' for setting up your slideshows in iMovie, clearing caches, creating new users etc. These have fixed this particular error for some people.
Good luck!
Simon
## Oops! - I should have read your post more carefully the first time. Hey, at least you have a new number, even if it does provide as little real information as to what the source of the error is as the one I mention!
Message was edited by: Simon Dean

Animated Buttons: How to Change Clip?

My animated buttons always play the first 15 seconds of the chapter. I usually want to start the clip a few seconds later. How?

Select the chapter marker of the chapter you are working with. Move the CTI to the point you want the button animation to start. Right click, "Set Poster Frame." If there is already a poster frame separate from the chapter marker, you can drag that.
Duration etc is interesting. I think the duration of the menu is what is set for the buttons also. And a loop point will also be applied to the button, it appears from the poster frame.

A few questions on making animated buttons for a website Nav

Hello, I have a few questions on creating some animated buttons for a nav.
There are 2 actions I want to trigger on moue over.
If I want to use a static (PNG) image that I created in Photoshop for the actual button, can I use that? I want to smoothly slide button down on mouse-over and slide back up on mouse off. If I push part of the button off the "canvas" (sorry, this is coming from a Photoshop guy) will it disappear in the final animation? Another way to put that is, if I put an animated element off the white area, will it no longer show up in the movie (.swf) when it's published?
For the second part; you can see a bit of what I want to do if you look at this website's top Nav: http://www.photoshopsupport.com/index.html
I need the "light" above the button and it's going to be on another colored <div> so I can't set one solid BG color for my flash document. But I want to achieve the effect of the "bar" lighting up above the button and the actual button sliding down upon moue over.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,
Regarding this button problem mentionned by kglad, it is easily overcome with a little trick.
I call this the undesired "jumpy button". Your button starts to hesitate down-back-down-back quickly, like it's a bug, and then it settles.
What you could do is create a simple sprite or movieclip containing only a simple shape, whatever the color, put it on top of your button's graphic, change this sprite/movieclip's alpha to 0, then add your mouse events on this invisible "target" instead of your graphic. So, when you mouse over, you have the graphic move, not the invisible "target".
Sometimes, for this invisible target, you will be using a movieclip, not a sprite, so you can easily add your own properties on it.
Example:
var graphicBtn:Sprite; // your png
var targetBtn:MovieClip; // your invisible target, created with code or not
targetBtn.graphics.beginFill(0x000000);
targetBtn.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, graphicBtn.width, graphicBtn.height);
targetBtn.alpha = 0;
targetBtn.mygraphic = graphicBtn;
targetBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, onOver);
targetBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, onOut);
addChild(graphicBtn);
addChild(targetBtn);
function onOver(event:MouseEvent):void
TweenLite.to(event.target.mygraphic, 0.25, {y:40, ease:Back.easeOut});
function onOut(event:MouseEvent):void
TweenLite.to(event.target.mygraphic, 0.25, {y:0, ease:Cubic.easeOut});
So you see, you can have only one function (well, 1 for over, 1 for out) used for all your buttons. You can add as many properties you need on your movieclip to make that one-function flexible.
Here I used GreenSock's tweening engine, but use the one you prefer (Here, I am moving the graphicBtn in y for 0.25 second).
Design Cyboïde
Création de sites web

Animated Button Oddity...

Hi, Using Encore 2. On my chapter selection page, I have animated buttons, they look great as a still...when rendered there is a one pixel line that shows up right above the bottom where the stroke meets the animated image. Since it's one pixel...it shimmers and ruins the menu. Is this an Encore issue, or something that I could do to fix it? Thanks

Joe, since the stroke is part of the %, they move together, I tried moving the entire button up, but it has no effect. It really looks awful and ruins the otherwise beautiful DVD. Is there a way to upload a jpeg screen capture? Thanks.
PS: I also have those same buttons that I use on still pictures and these don't display the same issue, so the issue is the rendering of the motion menu. I captured before and after renders...just let me know where to send them.

Button Highlights/Overlays in Photoshop

How do I create a simple rectangle highlight around text in Photoshop? I tried creating a rectangle with the rectangle tool. Shape Layers creates an outline (which I can create a thicker stroke), and Fill Pixels creates a rectangle with the option to turn off Anti-Aliasing (as recommended by Larry Jordan, due to DVDSP's inability to read the anti-aliasing on a highlight).
Current PS layers layout:
[layer 1] Background layer (DVD Menu picture), [layer 2] Text layer (button names), [layer 3] Overlay/Button Highlights
Overlay/Button Highlights is the part I'm stuck on. It seems silly to imagine that a simple rectangle would be so hard to make.
When imported into DVD Studio Pro 4:
The Shape Layers version of the rectangle is not readable.
The Fill Pixels version of the rectangle shows as a solid, black rectangle that covers the words
However, both look like the the highlight is AROUND the words within Photoshop. In the Layers Panel in Photoshop, the "Overlay/Button Highlights" Opacity is set to 100% & the Fill is set to 0% (so I can see the words within the rectangle.

Larry Jordan's e-mail response:
"Brian:
You can't get there from here.
The highlight layer in the DVD totally obscures whatever is below it. So, if you create a rectangle, it will block the text underneath, even if they aren't underneath in Photoshop, the DVD treats the overlay layer as the highest layer in the menu.
So, you need to create rectangles in Photoshop, then cut out the letters in the overlay using masks. Next, you need to be sure that the overlay is solid black with no soft edges - DVDs don't support the edges.
Finally, you will need to rasterize all shapes and text - Layer > Rasterize layer.
Larry"

Convert To Timeline Animation Button doesnt appear.

Convert To Timeline Animation Button doesnt appear and its driving me crazy.
in the animation window its in frame animation mode and this button im talking about doesnt appear!.
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Timeline animation is only available for Photoshop Extended. You don't have Extended so you don't get to make timeline animations

Can i use animated buttons

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Another examples of a rollover being a link are #1 and #2 on this demo page: Mouse Rollover. It just takes any two images or graphic objects of any size.
OT

Menu button highlight order with dvd remote

Hi I am using DVD studio pro 4 on a mac book pro.
When I simulate my project and use the dvd remote to naviagate from menu to menu I have noticed that some menus start with the first button highlighted and some with different buttons highlighted.
I have used target menu to link them together rather than link the menu to the exact menu/button1. Ideally I want each menu to start with the first button highlighted and ready to go, but I don't know how dvd sp sets the order and how I can fix this without relinking.
Many thanks for your help

Hi
Check in Inspector Menu Properties the Default Button setting. That must be the button highlighted by default when you open a menu. Try simulating just the menu and check what button you get highlighted by default.
Be aware that when creating connections you can jump to a apecific menu button. You could by mistake be connecting that way.
Hope that helps !
Alberto

Animated button highlights

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