Creating DVD menu in Photoshop?

Hi all,
I'm wondering if it's possible to create a menu using Photoshop and import it into DVD Studio Pro with all the layers intact along with all the buttons? I am used to using Adobe Encore which has this feature. All you need to do in Photoshop is name each layer a certain way and as soon as you import your .psd file into Encore it automatically converts each specified layer to a button, image, link, etc. Does DVD Studio Pro have this feature as well?
Thanks all!

Does not sound like it is the same (you cannot automatically create links etc.)
Some links on Photoshop in DVD SP
Mapping Menus
Layered Menus
Quick Menus Ovwerview

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Create DVD menu in Photoshop - font show pixels

I googled and search this forum and feel not help me at all.
I created DVD menu in photoshop (CS4) for DVD Studio Pro 4. I selected Film & Video NTSC DV widescreen(SD). Export file as .tif. Create DVD. Font look pixel on HDTV. Is there a way to improve menu looks for HDTV even DVD final output is SD 16:9? Is there guideline?

When you go into Photoshop, make sure that you select a high def alternative to create your menu, not SD.
Create a new file, select Film and Video and look in the list for HDV 1080p or HDTV 1080p as a start point. If you use anything else, you won't get the resolution that you need for HD.

How can I create DVD Label using Photoshop Elements 10?

How can I create DVD label using Photoshop Elements 10?
Richard

You can create the design for a DVD label in Create>More Options. Once you have the label set up, you would copy it to a template for the labels you plan to use. (The PSE template makes one label, while most printed labels are two-up.)

Workflow for Creating Encore Menu in Photoshop

This question deals with working between Encore and Photoshop CS5... I hope this is the proper Forum to post. I'll post in the Photoshop Forum as well...
I'm creating a DVD menu from scratch in Photoshop CS5 to be used in authoring a DVD in Encore. I originally created a new Photoshop Document using the "Film/Video Preset" for NTSC DV Widescreen... which is 720x480 at 72ppi. There is also the "Pixel Aspect Ratio Correction" setting which Photoshop warns is "used only for preview" .
My confusion comes from trying to design all the elements of my menu at this 720x480/ 72ppi Film/Video Preset. The image is too small to work with an looks pixelated as hell. SO... should I be working with a larger, higher-res image for design ... and THEN Free Transform the high-res image to a new Photoshop document created with the Film/Video Preset? And if so... should the "Pixel Aspect Ration Correction" be turned ON or OFF when I Free-Transform the image to the document?
I'm trying to get everything right in terms of settings so this menu will work properly in Encore... thanks in advance for all positive input....

I could swear I responded to your thread at Cow, but I see I only thought it and did not do it!
I suggest you put an Encore library template into a project and use "edit in photoshop" to see how that works.
PAR correction is on for me, and I think that is the default. That is logical, since standard monitor uses square pixels.
I think you are better off keeping the menu at the DVD resolution you are going to use. I don't find a problem working at that resolution.
Keep in mind that ppi is meaningless in video work. It is all about the pixels and par.

Creating a Menu without Photoshop

Hello ~
When I purchased CS5 PrPro I was told that Encore would allow me to create custom menus for DVDs.
I have completed my video project and editing and exported the work from Pro to Encore with success along with several chapter markers that I would like to link from two menu pages. I am using Encore now for the first time.
I have to explain that the package I purchased did not include Photoshop. But Photoshop is referenced all through the instructions as a critical element. (Another heavily referenced program I did not get is Afteraffects.)
Nonetheless, once I had my film complete and tried to create a menu in Encore, it seems that a custom menu cannot be made without Photoshop and all I've got to choose from is templates that have the quality and look to me like a kid's video of "What I Did on my Summer Vacation."
At any rate, what I tried to do is take a jpeg, import it into the Encore library, and place it as the menu. But upon that background, is it at all possible to create links on areas of the screen. For example, can you designate a character or a space on the screen as a "hotspot" to link. How can one import art of one's own choosing as the background for a menu in Encore?
Thanks for taking the time to read all this and any help you folks might have to offer.
~ Jeff

Jeff,
You can create custom Menus in Encore, though having PS makes things much easier, and offers far greater power.
In Encore, start with the Blank Menu of the proper Aspect Ratio for your Project. This brings in a Menu with the proper initial structure, and a black background. You can add images, or Motion Assets (AV files) to that Menu. You can also look through the many hundreds of Buttons, and drag those to the Menu, so while you cannot create custom Buttons, you have tons to choose from. You can also alter the Sort/View in the Library, so that you are only looking at Buttons, though they will be grouped by the various sub-folders in the Library folder hierarchy.
You will be working from pre-made Assets, but can Scale and alter some other attributes as needed. With so many to choose from, you should be able to find something that looks good to you.
Add PS to your suite and you can do almost anything within the DVD-specs. Not sure if Stanley's link covers the links in this ARTICLE, but if not, you will have more resources on the DVD-specs.
Good luck,
Hunt

Create dvd menu chapters

Hello,
I would like to create a DVD from a file exported with Final Cut Pro X that has information of chapters.
I want to have a Main Menu and then a link to a second menu with links to the chapters.
Is there any program you would recommend?

FCX now does chapter markers, but still for only the most basic menus. If you want sub menus, you'll have to use an authoring app – like DVD Studio Pro, iDVD (both of which are EOL) or Encore. (You may be able to get a boxed version of iLife, with iDVD, on Amazon or Ebay.) I assume Toast can do what you want, but I don't use it so I can speak from first hand experience.
Good luck.
Russ

Premiere 9: Create DVD menu with several movies

I want to put several movies which I created on one DVD. How do I do this? I found a way to put ONE movie in the menu with its scene selection (although I can't get that to work, which is a separate issue), but I haven't found a way of pullling in the FOUR movies.

You can look at the Duration of each Project's Timeline and jot down the total runtime for each. Add those together to get the full runtime/Duration of the multiple Projects. If you have already Exported/Shared to a DV-AVI, you can get that Duration for each with G-Spot, or another similar utility. If you have already Imported those DV-AVI's into the new, combined Project, just look at the Duration on the Timeline Ruler.
Good luck,
Hunt
PS - When working with TimeCode (00;00;00;00 - Hours; Minutes; Seconds; Frames), I really like the free WFT Timecode Calculator. It also allows one to choose the FPS of the base.
PPS - One can also play the resultant DV-AVI's in WMP, VLC, MediaPlayer Classic HC, or other players, and see what the Duration of each is.

Can I export Encore menu to photoshop to edit?

I understand that I can create DVD menu in photoshop & import to Encore.
But, is it possible to export the Encore menu (which is shipped with Encore) to Photoshop to edit (& then import to Encore again)?

Also, you can Rt-click on the Menu in the Menu Editing Panel, and choose Edit in Photoshop.
If you do not have that, then go to your Control Panel>Folder Options, and check that the File Type, .PSD, is allocated to Photoshop. If not, reset this. Many programs will "steal" file affinities.
Good luck,
Hunt

DVD Menu Issue

Ok excellent, and just as a further point, if you have the time;
I am a little confused as to which dimensions I should use when creating a DVD menu in photoshop to use in Encore, to begin with I made one in 1920x1080 as I didn't realise DVDs could not be made in full HD.

Ok, however even if I switch project settings to BluRay, and create a new menu the font is all pixelated when it looks really crisp in Photoshop. What do you think the issue is?
It depends. You might want to post a screenshot. If the font is part of highlights, it is only 2 bit color. Also, if there is a motion background, Encore will render to the default transcode settings (part of the project settings).
Encore limits the viewing size for preview, as it should, so you don't make the window so large it is blowing it up. You are looking at the preview and not the menu monitor window?

Dvd menu's

i created a menu in photoshop 720 x 534 72 dpi. square pixels when i burn the dvd the menu looks quite crappy on the tv monitor. what am i overlooking? there is a gradient on the menu is it possible that this could be part of the problem?

the graphics look jaged and the text that lays over the gradient gets blurry
On the text, larger sizes (20+ pts usually recommended) Sans serif work best in general.
On the graphics, were these logos or something similar dropped in?
Also if you are using drop zones or other things, you picture may be recompressed. Check out the manual DVD SP 4 (Pg 230 of the PDF) for certain instances (not all) where menus willl have to be compiled/rendered.

DVD Menu/motion background issue

Every time I try to add a motion background to my DVD menu, the photoshop menu gets stretched horizontally. It looks fine when you add the video but when you preview and render it or burn it to DVD it stretches the menu. see screen shot.

Your menu shows as 1080x720; you say this is for DVD, but size would be wrong for DVD or Bluray.
Yes, you can get away with a variety of sizes; Encore will eventually transcode the menu to the project defaults. But using odd menu sizes makes problems more likely.
Make the menu itself the correct size. (Start with a library template for the project type - HD vs SD, standard vs wide.) Bring in a motion menu asset that is also the correct size. Don't let Encore do any resizing of those assets.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 to create custom DVD Menu

Hi,
I know that starting from EL 11 it is possible through Photoshop EL 11 to create custom DVD Menu starting from scratch.
I fail finding on the Internet proper documentation for both creating it on Photoshop EL 11 and importing/using it on Premeiere EL 11.
I sometimes wish to create a Web DVD to put on the Internet and all I need is a nice background picture and a Play button.
how to do so? Where can I get detailed documentation and vidoes?
Thank you

The only problem that you might have, other than getting all of the naming and structural aspects correct (very specific), would be with the creation of Layer Sets in PSE. I am not sure if they have been added to PSE, and they are necessary for creating the Buttons. As I use Photoshop, and do not own PSE, I cannot tell you whether Layer Sets have been added.
This discussion, in the Photoshop Forum, goes into more detail on creating Menu Sets for PrE, in Photoshop: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2490846#2490846
I strongly recommend that one spend some time with one of the PrE Template Menu Sets, studying every aspect of what is reqired. Even though I create Menus (for Encore), and Menu Sets for PrE, I still will use one of those Templates as a "guide."
Now, if PSE does not yet have Layer Sets, one can still find an existing Template Menu Set, that comes close to what they wish to do, and heavily modify that in PSE.
One thing that trips up many DVD Menu designers, when they start out, is that NO Button may overlap any other Button, even by 1 pixel.
Good luck,
Hunt
PS - if PSE has added Layer Set creation (it has been able to edit, just not create them, for many versions now), please post that information, as it will help me, in helping others.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 DVD Menu

I read somewhere that I could make a DVD menu, in Adobe Elements for Adobe Premire Elements 10, but I am having troubling figuring out how to do so. Dose anyone know if there is a written or video tutorial for making a dvd template in Adobe Photoshop Elements 10? As that would really help me out, and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

The Menu Sets in PrE are very involved, as PrE does a lot of semi-automatic authoring, so things have to be done a very specific way. This ARTICLE links to a thread in the Photoshop Forum, where I discuss the naming conventions, etc..
When on is working with PrE Menu Sets, I have several recommendations:
Only start with, and Save Copies of the Menu Sets.
Keep one of the Menu Set Templates handy, as a reference.
Remember that Photoshop can both create and edit Layer Sets (the structure of Buttons), while PSElements can only edit them, and not create them, unless something was changed with PSE 10.
Sub-picture Highlights (the Button "activation" part), can only be 2-bit, and cannot have any FX.
The Layer, and the PSD naming conventions are extremely important. Those special characters are what make the Menu Set work.
When done, Save into a new folder, withing the DVD Template folder hierarchy, and also do the PNG files, just like the DVD Templates have, so you can see them in PrE.
Good luck,
Hunt
PS - I think that Steve Grisetti covers a lot of this in his PrE and PSE book.

Can you create a custom dvd menu with Premiere Elements 12?

I am giving this software a trial before deciding whether to buy. Is it possible to create your own custom DVD menu? I understand that you can "download" a template and customize it to some extent. But the customizing does not seem to allow you to delete or add elements, like graphics or menu buttons. I want to be able to delete graphics/menu buttons I don't want, as well as add or subtract buttons as I need for each project. Or, I would like to create a menu from scratch.
Is either method possible in Premiere Elements? Thank you for any assistance.

Kanten
Thanks for the reply.
You can go with a one main menu set up and use main menu buttons. But, note that there are typically far less buttons on the main menu than on the scene menu. One maneuver is to switch the main menu with the scene menu to gain a buttons per page advantage. That is done by reversing the file names of the main menu .psd and scene menu .psd.
At the editing of the .psd level, there is also the choice to add more buttons per page to a scene menu and create text or thumbnail scene buttons.
One of the principles to keep in mind...no one movie in a multi movie Timeline can have its own Scene Menu page.
Of concern....you should have more flexibility than
In any case, I have discovered that I can edit the templates and then bring them into my project. So long as I save them as the same name, Adobe Premiere Elements doesn't realize that anything has changed.
Are you following any one of my blog posts. If so, please let me know which one so I can focus in where you may be overlooking some detail. It is best to work with copies of the original and place them in appropriate folders in the directory structure. In doing that I give the user created menu a new name to distinguish it from the original.
And, in versions 11 and 12, I do not like to save user modified menus in the Online Folder. I prefer the location where the disc menu installed with the program is located. See blog posts.
If your customization does not require the opening of Layer Sets in the Layers Palette of the .psd file (happens under certain plans), Photoshop Elements can do the .psd edit job for you, and you do not have to go to Photoshop CS or higher. There are Photoshop actions that might be used in Photoshop Elements to open Photoshop Layer Sets (as found in the disc menu .psd files), but I will not get into that right now.
Please review and consider. And, then we can go into more details.
Thanks.
ATR

Creating a simple DVD menu with text as buttons...

Hi, I am rather new to DVDSP but fairly accomplished at the software designers earlier product, DVD Virtuoso (still use it). Can anyone tell me where there is a tutorial to create a simple text DVD menu? I would like to place a colored rectangle (opacity) behind the text to help it stand off the background and have access to some fairly basic text tools like Bevel & Emboss, Stroke and Drop Shadow. Thank you.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2082015&#2082015
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2601618&#2601618
Has some discussion and examples I posted elsewhere which should help get you going. Best to do graphics in Photoshop, then make sure all text/layers rasterized, then make them flattened picts. One will be background layer, the other grayscale overlays to map colors (these examples should start you off I think)
PS I know Hal has a great example with better step by steps, and if I get a chance later I can also fill in details on what I did

Creating DVD menu in Photoshop?

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