Creating a simple text DVD template for PE7 w/Photoshop

[adavidow]

I have Premiere Elements 7, as well as Photoshop CS3. What I want is a very simple DVD to be used by our Executive Director as she does a presentation. She wants to be able to click on each clip as it is needed without the less elegant minimizing of a player window, clicking in a Windows directory window, locating the correct clip, double-clicking, and starting up again. I have carefully marked each clip with a "main menu marker" since there is no reason to select "scenes"--this is not something that would ever be played like a movie; rather the clips would be used, usually in order, to accompany a talk. For that matter, a text menu would be ideal.

I tried to modify the "Generic Text" template from this site, using Photoshop CS3, but have no idea how to link the names of the clips to the actual desired action. Is there documentation online somewhere? Here? Is this something that can be put together quickly or would I be better off abandoning PE7 and purchasing DVD Architect, instead. (It's not so much that adding another program is expensive, but it's one more bit of software to maintain from one more source, that will be used infrequently--potentially years between uses--and one more risk element as a small staff tries to respond to the needs of our presenters. Etc., etc., etc..... I'd much rather be pointing people, starting with myself, to tools that are used more frequently--in our case, PE and PS.

Ideas? Advice? Pointers?

[VernonRobinson]

Welcome to the Forum. You will find people very willing to help you with your questions. So post away.

Your original question, concerning how to make a DVD Template is one that Steve Grissetti has covered. He has a tutorial that you can look at on the Muvipix site. Try this search: http://muvipix.com/products.php?searchp ... d+template

I think it will help you. If you have further questions, please post. Steve and all of the Moderators check in quite frequently.

Once again, welcome to Muvipix.

Regards,
-Vernon

[adavidow]

You know, I looked through what I think was the tutorial you mentioned, and it didn't address the questions I just raised. Since there are three similarly-named tutorials, some for pay, this is not a promising start.

I was hoping that (a) there is Adobe documentation accessible somewhere online, or (b) if there is a tutorial that directly addresses my question, at least I would get a link with enough info so that I could evaluate the suitability of the instruction?

I don't mean to sound testy, but "you can root around on our site and find something that may answer your question" presumes that I didn't already do that , didn't find what I was looking for, and might have further questions.

Sorry. It's been a long day. I did not expect learning how to lay out menus physically in Photoshop to be a requirement for creating a DVD, and having realized that, didn't realize that there would be no Adobe or other documentation accessible in usable form.

[VernonRobinson]

ADaviDow,
The information contained in Customizing a DVD Template, Step by Step, is what I thought you were looking for. The table of contents for the Tutorial is here:

20100707_CreateDVDMenu.jpg

It takes you through step by step how to modify an existing menu including how to link a menu, how to work with sets, etc.

The ability to manipulate the sets is explained in the Tutorial. The search link that I provided put this tutorial up for you to review. Unfortunately, I do not know how to give you a direct URL for this piece. Please see some of the text in the tutorial here:

20100707_CreateDVDMenu2.jpg

I realize that we all have bad days from time to time. So no worries. It is not a requirement to be able to do this in order to use menus in Premiere Elements. What this does is allow you more control than most people want when creating a menu.

So take a closer look at the Tutorial that I mentioned. If it really does not meet what you are looking for, then hold tight, we have many people with expertise in this area.

Regards,
-Vernon

[Steve Grisetti]

Glad to see you found your way over to the best videomaker support site on the web, adavidow!

Please do look around at the wealth of materials -- both free and for our subscribers here.

Meantime, I'll work up the text-only DVD menu with 18 main menu scene markers for you. I should be able to get it posted within the next day or so.

But please tell me before I get too deeply into it if there is anything special you require! Otherwise, I'm assuming you need just a generic, text-only, 4:3 template with 18 scenes on its main menu page. (You can modify it any way you'd like, once you've loaded it into the program.)

Once I've posted it, I'll also explain more about how to use stop markers to make several clips on your timeline appear to be separate movies.

But please, in the meantime, spread the good word about Muvipix! You won't find this kind of service -- or such a caring, knowledgeable community -- any place else on the web!

[Steve Grisetti]

Okay, adavidow--

I've created a standard 4:3, a widescreen and even a hi-def version of the menu template, so we should be covered no matter what you need. You can download it from our free DVD templates page:
http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=37

As you know, you can modify the background, change the colors and styles of the text and even re-arrange the placement of the buttons on your menu (as long as they don't overlap), so this should give you everything you need to do what you need to do.

Also note that, although the template has room for 18 scenes, the program will only create as many menu buttons as you have scenes -- so, if you've only got 17, the page will only show 17. Likewise, if all of your markers are for the main menu and you have none for the scene menu page, a scene menu page won't even be generated.

As you saw in the DVD Markers article, there are three types of menu markers, and you can set any marker to be a main menu marker (which makes a button on the main menu page), a scene menu marker (which makes a button on the scene menu page) or a stop marker, which returns the viewer to the main menu.

To put several videos on the same DVD, line them all up, end to end, on your timeline. Put a main menu marker at the start of each video and a stop marker at the end. With this set-up, clicking on any one scene button will play that scene only and then will return the viewer to a menu immediately after -- giving the impression that each is a separate video on the DVD.

Finally, here's how to install the menu template:

1) Download the template you need (which is a Zip file)
2) Go to C:/PROGRAM FILES/ADOBE/PREMIERE ELEMENTS 7/DVD TEMPLATES/GENERAL. Create a new folder inside this directory and name it "18 SCENES" (or whatever you want to call this template)
3) Right-click on the template Zip file you downloaded and select the option to Extract the file. Either set the extractor to extract the file to "18 SCENES" or just extract it where it is and move the two files that are inside it to the "18 SCENES" folder
4) Restart Premiere Elements 7 and the template will appear in the General set

Boy! You sure can't say Muvipix people don't bend over backwards to help people out, can you!?

Happy moviemaking!

[Steve Grisetti]

Maybe I didn't need to work so hard. I'm not sure he's coming back!

[momoffduty]

Steve, the template is a great addition. I may use it in the future.

[Steve Grisetti]

Glad to hear you'll get some use out of it, Cheryl!

[stanatou]

I'm sure I'll use it...you can be sure there's very little that goes to waste around here.

[rusty]

Thanks very much for this Steve. I can't believe that you went ahead and did this!! I am sure it will be very useful as it does fill a gap for those of us who haven't wanted to do it ourselves - I have often needed just a few more menu buttons and didn't want to have to go to two scene selection menus so, rather than figuring out how to do this, I would end up using DVDAS. That's fine - the program is great - but it means saving the project as MPEG, and then importing it, etc. This will allow me to go directly from PE. Fantastic!!

[Steve Grisetti]

Wow! I guess you never know how many people will by blessed by such a small act of kindness!

Glad you're all finding a use for it!

[Jayell]

Count me in on that also. I like working with a simple generic starting point .. and all the links on ONE page! Ya done good, Steve!

[Maxhouse]

I'm new at this, but I assume that the PAL versions of the Generic Text templates will not work for NTSC. Is that right?

Thanks.

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Max! Welcome to Muvipix.

Although the DVD and BluRay templates are labeled "PAL", they work universally in both PAL and NTSC projects.