Layers menu inactive

I have been using Elements 6 for Mac for several months with no problems (other than I need to learn how to REALLY use it!) Today I tried to open a Raw photo and my layers pallet/menu is inactive. What happened? Also, the option to save as a .jpeg has disappeared....now I have jpeg2000. Can someone please help!!

You have a 16 bit file and layers and jpg are for 8 bit images. Image>Mode>8 bits/channel, and check your setting in the raw converter under the image preview area.

Similar Messages

Layered menu buttons not working when built.

I have a project that has one menu and one track. The menu has 7 buttons linked to 7 different markers in the track. When I run the simulation in DVD SP, the buttons link fine, and play as they should...but when I build the project and run it in DVD player or burn it to a disk, the buttons do not work.
If I create a non-layered menu, the buttons will work when built...
I feel like i'm just missing one little setting on the layered menu
Thanks
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Don't forget that a layered menu will normally need two presses to get anything to happen, one to select the button and the second to activate it.
That said, are you sure that you have got the psd file set up correctly? I would recommend using a background layer with everything on it that you want to appear when not selected, then only adding layers with the changes necessary to show the button selection/activation.

Layered Menu Not Working

I'm working through the Apple Pro Series DVDSP 3 and the lesson requires me to create a layered menu. The picture in the book shows how the rollover is supposed to work--a new image appears when the user rolls over the button. But that doesn't happen. It doesn't even work in the file created by the author. Very frustrating. I've tried restarting DVDSP and that doesn't work. Can anyone help? I'm wondering if my using files from DVDSP 3 is the problem. Shouldn't be since they're just updated automatically I think.

Take a look here
http://dvdstepbystep.com/layersover.php
Another example on how to do it and also a movie and downloads (DVD SP and Photoshop file) on how to do it
Not sure what may be going on with what you are using - when you say it is not working, in siumlator, in a build file in Apple DVD Player or a burned DVD? (See if the above link and items works)

Layered menu buttons

So I've been using DVD Studio Pro for a while and I'm just now dealing with a problem I don't know how to solve.
I'm using a layered menu with 10 buttons. I create a button by dragging on the menu. I set the target to the correct track and the remote control options to go to the correct button. I select the layers that I want to have for the off, over and active states. Then I check the invisible option.
When I use it in a DVD player everything works perfectly fine. All the buttons respond as they should. When I use it on a CPU I can use the application's "remote control" and everything works fine.
But if I just use my mouse cursor to rollover the buttons, they don't change states. The mouse cursor will change from the arrow to the hand, signifiying that there is an active button, but the "over state" layer doesn't appear.
Can anyone help me solve this? I'd really appreciate it.

As Silal said - the 'roll over' effect is not guaranteed on a layer based menu. The reason is that DVDSP actually creates a separate sub menu for each layer in your menu file, and to select and activate a button you are actually moving from menu to menu each time. The buttons are not set to 'auto-activate' and thus you may need to 'click' to get to the different states each time.
Wherever possible, you should use a standard overlay style menu, or at least a series of linked overlays with auto-activating buttons. Layer based menus have their place, but they have a lot of imitations and really don't help give you as slick a playback experience as you want them to.

Button highlight colors in layered menu

Hello all,
I am wraspping up a dvd project and just have one small issue. I have a layered menu here with an overlay layer that contains noting but a white background and a few little black boxes for showing up when a button is selected. When a button is selected, I want those boxes to black, and when activated i want it to turn gray, but as it is now when a button is selected those boxes are white, and when activated they turn yellow. Ive messed around some in the colors tab of the buttons, but as of yet have been unable to figure it out. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

You're welcome, k chen, but be careful. Some clients are very picky about fonts.
The layered menu method lets you basically use any graphic element you want, which can then be replaced with any other graphical element, of the same relative size, for the selected and activated states. So, for example a blue frowny face can be replaced with a multicolored happy face. Or, more specifically to your project, a nonstandard font can change colors. But, you lose reliability, player compatibility, and responsiveness, not to mention audio and video motion background capability.
An overlay menu, which is the standard for commercially produced dvds, is best used to add a graphic element to your menu, rather than replace or alter one that's already there, e.g. an arrow that appears next to a menu item to show that it's selected. What you lose in graphical flexibility, you gain in performance speed, reliability, compatibility. And you can have a video background and audio.
That's why overlay menus are the industry standard.

Photoshop CS2 layered menu compressed by DVDSP4 problems....

Oh wise ones,
I've made a layered menus in PS CS2.. i have also imported them into After Effects 7 to make transitional clips (through the colour white) between the different menus. The problem i have is that DVDSP4 compresses the video and the PS file differently. So that they don't match exactly when the videos run into the layerd menus. The compression has lost it's sharpness in the layered menu but it's perfect in the video clip. :-$
I have changed the encoding settings to max in DVDSP4 with no joy. Any ideas on how to matchup the same file in the video and layered menus?
thanks in advance...

unfortunately the design doesn't allow for standard menus at present.. although i like the concept of a still frame as a video in the background. The problem seems to be that the text (flattened) in the layered files (I'm using 18 pt Eurostile) ends up being compressed and missing some of the font.
I have tried different fonts and sizes up to 20pt. But still the problem exists.
The PSD has to be 8 bit.... text objects aren't allowed in layered menus nor are text with the buttons... i've run out of ideas :-$

How do you apply a Motion Video Asset as a button on a layered Menu?

Hi Guys,
I am trying to create a layered menu with 2 x Motion Video Asset's as buttons (toggling between the two buttons for selection & activation).
When I add a menu - The motion video asset is perfectly displayed as a button in the menu screen. But when I add a Layered Menu and drag my motion video asset across, it does not show the video...it shows an empty square/button in the menu screen. When the drop-down menu pops up when dragging the video asset across, I choose 'create button & track' as when I choose the other option, the 'templates' window pops up and I have my own layered menu created by Photoshop, so I don't want to use the templates. Please help?? Thank you. Anthony

Welcome to the boards
You cannot use video in Layered Menus

Using Photoshop in layered menu

Fellow DVDSP menu builder: please advise.
In Photoshop, I built my menu with background with several layers with text, and a light blue START (text) to act as a button. Another layer, when selected START (activated) the word START should turn white. When looking at the menu in photoshop, I see all my colors as I built them. When importing into DVDSP as assets (using a layered menu), the photoshop file I built does not show the light blue START but it shows only white START, why is this? Is there a lost in translation while importing? Please assist.
Many thanks in advance.

You're welcome, k chen, but be careful. Some clients are very picky about fonts.
The layered menu method lets you basically use any graphic element you want, which can then be replaced with any other graphical element, of the same relative size, for the selected and activated states. So, for example a blue frowny face can be replaced with a multicolored happy face. Or, more specifically to your project, a nonstandard font can change colors. But, you lose reliability, player compatibility, and responsiveness, not to mention audio and video motion background capability.
An overlay menu, which is the standard for commercially produced dvds, is best used to add a graphic element to your menu, rather than replace or alter one that's already there, e.g. an arrow that appears next to a menu item to show that it's selected. What you lose in graphical flexibility, you gain in performance speed, reliability, compatibility. And you can have a video background and audio.
That's why overlay menus are the industry standard.

My layered menu shows up as white screen!

I'm working on a 5,9 GB DVD-9 project in DVDSP 4.0.2.
The DVD consists of 3 movies and 3 layered menus. The layered menus use a .psd file with up to 7 layers. Nothing fancy, a background and a couple of buttons. The tracks have a couple of stories and there are subtitles.
Here's the problem: In the simulator everything works flawlessly but as soon as i build a VIDEO_TS or burn a DVD, my layered menus show up as white screens.
This error happens when I preview the VIDEO_TS in DVD Player but also on a physical DVD+DL. Again, in DVDSP's simulator all looks very good.
I've tried all kinds of things: I created a new and very simple DVD-9 project with only one layered menu and a very short video track: no problems! I've played around with the break point on my 5,9 GB projekt but this doesn't make any difference.
So, does anyone have the same experience with layered menus showing up as white screens? Is this a bug in 4.0.2? I'm considering a complete rebuild of my project in DVDSP 3, unless there's something i've overlooked...

THANK YOU CHRIS!
You solved my problem. I did have one unused language defined, i thought i needed 2 languages but apparantly i don't, because my DVD now works fine.
It was very hard to trace the problem because the whole concept of languages and menus is still sort of unclear to me. I guess i need to do some studying on that. The DVDP manual sadly lacks a good tutorial on how to set up a multi-lingual DVD with multiple subtitle streams.
Now i've set up 2 menus for each version (the movie with and without subtitles), only one language and all is well.
One thing still puzzles me: The first version (the one with the unusued language) did play fine on a G4 with Panther. The white menus showed up on a G5 with Tiger and on my standalone DVD-players. So somehow Quicktime also plays a role in this. The fact that this is a DVD9 has nothing to do with it. Thanks again.

Layered Menu Button Question...

Using layered menus throughout my project as it is fitting with our concept, but have never used them before. I have a question:
I have several images on a flattened layer of a PSD file that I want to use for buttons on any given screen. Can I use an overlay to give an outer glow effect to a given button image? (Don't really want to go back and add extra layers in the psd for each button state if I can show selections some other way.)
My limited experience has shown me that each time you add layers to the PSD file, it changes the layer selections settings on the menus where that PSD is used, as if DVDSP simply counted the depths of the layers and wasn't using the layer name as its reference.
In short, what is the best way to show the user he has selected a button on a layered menu without adding more layers to the original PSD, if possible?

James Roller1 wrote:
So let me get this straight about layered menus... especially in my case: the final background document needs to be complete before I begin adding buttons or building the project, and any additional layers added will throw off any work done. Correct?
Unsure of that, been awhile since I played with layered menus, due to their limitations on some players, slower speed etc. so I stay away from them (and so many others) for the most part when creating a "real" DVD (as oppossed to just some one off type fun things for my friends, family and myself.)
I do not recall having the issue that you seem to have when renaming - having things switched up - but it has been awhile and I think I probably had everything laid out ahead when I did it. But if you are seeing that happen then have the menu set as close as possible before using it.

PSD layers not appearing in the layered menu inspector?

I am working in DVDSP trying to build a layered menu but when I import the PSD file the layers don't appear in the inspector?
when I click on the Photoshop files in DVDSP's assets tab, the inspector tells me they are QuickTime Pictures with no layers! I have opened the files in Photoshop though and they are PSDs, with layers.
Thanks in advance for any help!
PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

This question has been asked a few times before. I haven't seen a definative answer but here's one of the larger threads on it: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3143062&#3143062

How to add music to layered menu?

When I want to add music to menu, i just drop music clip to this menu. But I can't add music to layered menu in this way.... Please help...

Correct, you cannot add music to a layered menu, nor can you add video. There is no "solution" for this other than do not use layered menus.

PSD in layered menu appears darker then orginal PSD file

Hi,
I have a first play animation that times out and goes to a layered menu that contains a PSD file. For some reason the PSD file looks darker/richer then it does in the orginal Photoshop file. I've tried saving it out with Photoshop CS3 and CS2 but I'm getting the same problem, is there some color setting I have to change out before I import it into DVDSP?
Thanks in advance

This is a problem of color management...
1. In PS you must be sure your color management matches your final device (NTSC / PAL /HDTV)...
2. In PS you must be sure proof color is off or (if on) your custom setup for RGB must match your color management settings (so NTSC if NTSC / HDTV is HDTV etc)
3. Your document must not have any embedded profile... If it has an embedded profile, convert ("convert", not "assign") the document profile to your device profile...
At least... Be sure to proof the color to your final device (broadcast monitor, tv etc)... PS has the possibility to output your image via firewire if you need to proof the image before importing in FCP or DVSP...
Message was edited by: Pierpaolo Ferlaino

Problems with quality of Widescreen layered menu

I'm trying to create a layered menu in dvd studio pro at 16:9 ratio. Every time I import my photoshop document it looks really pixelated. I've tried saving my photoshop document with the following settings:
NTSC DV Widescreen Preset (720x480) - when I import into dvd studio pro and place into a layered menu it reads it as 720x480 and I get pillars on each side. Is there a way to make dvd studio pro interpret the photoshop document as anamorphic?
I've also tried recreating my photoshop document in the ratios below. Each time it fills the entire widescreen but it looks pixelated and crappy.
1280x720
864x480 (both square and reg pixels)
720x576
It looks awesome in Photoshop then looks terrible in DVD Studio Pro. I've recreated in 4:3 and my graphics look great. It's just when I do it in 16:9 where I run into the problems. Where am I going wrong? Please help if you can.
Thanks!!

I figured out the issue. This is for anyone who is having the same annoying issue.
If you want a standard definition 16:9 layered menu what you have to do is create your photoshop document at 720x480 widescreen. After you have it all created how you like in wide screen you have to then change your image to 720x480 (NOT WIDESCREEN!) It will looked stretched and distorted in photoshop. Import it into dvd studio pro and change the menu to widescreen. When you change to widescreen it will stretch your image to fit and by doing that it will no longer be distorted - nor will it look pixelated or have pillars.
This is a totally stupid issue that DVD Studio Pro should fix. Wow, what a headache.

Converting layered menu to standard format

Hello all --
I created a Layered-format DVD for my feature film last year. I really dug the simplicity of exporting full Photoshop files/layers straight into DVDSP, but the delayed response in navigation is absolutely agonizing.
I am retooling my DVD design for a second edition and, while I'm at it, am considering converting the menu from a Layered to Standard format. Approximately how impossible is this to accomplish?
Any advice/tricks/warnings are greatly appreciated!
best,
Sean

As well as Shawn's link (good article, btw), you can also use a layered photoshop file and create a standard overlay menu from it. You may only need to add a menu and use the photoshop asset that you've got, if it is set up correctly.
DVDSP has three ways of making a menu - the standard overlay, the photoshop layer and this hybrid kind of method which lets you use a layer based psd file to create a standard overlay.
Check out the manual, pp87... clear as mud
Essentially, you'll be using a series of layers designated to become the menu background, and a single layer to be the overlay. This is very different to using a layer based menu, which allows you to set different layers as the various button states, adding different information on each layer as you see fit.
Using a layered menu (as opposed to a layer based menu... sigh... see how hard it is to find the right words sometimes?) will give you a standard overlay menu when the disc is built - the navigation is fast, you can have audio. As you have already found, using a layer based menu is slow, and can;t have audio or video in it.
Now, whether or not you'll need to do much work in Photoshop will depend on how you've created the original asset.

Layers menu inactive

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