ULead: Chapter Submenu Isn't in Final Project

[jdanniel]

Hello.

I'm dabbling with ULead DVD Movie Factory, which so far seems to be the easiest DVD authoring tool I've encountered.

However, I'm encountering a problem. Let me explain what I'm doing, then I'll get to the problem.

I have one 90-minute AVI clip that I want to convert to DVD format, complete with a menu and a chapter submenu. I've set a chapter point at ten-minute intervals.

Creating the main menu was easy. It just has the title and director's name on it. Somehow--and I admit I don't recall how--I also created a submenu, where I can include the chapters.

So, there are two menu pages, altogether.

Here's the problem: When I preview the menus, the submenu with chapters does not appear.

I went ahead and created a DVD anyway, to see if the submenu would appear in the final production. It did not.

So...where did that submenu go, and how do I ensure it will be visible in both the preview and the final product?

The transcoding and DVD authoring procedure took about 50 minutes.
(I have an HP Pavilion with a dual-core processor, 2 mb of RAM, 300 GB hard drive, two 500 GB external hard drives, and am running Windows 7 RC.)

Thank you!
J. Danniel

(Please call me Jd.)

[Paul LS]

When you add your video to the project, in the same window there is "Add/Edit Chapters" and below this a "DVD Menu" checkbox that I assume is selected. Did you add chapters using the "Add/Edit Chapters" button? And when you did you should see chapter tumbnails generated for each chapter you generate in the Sceneview at the bottom of the page.
When you move onto the selection of the menu page there is a "Currently displayed menu" box below the selected menu in the preview window which says "Main Menu" and using the drop down box you should be able to see the Scene menu.

[jdanniel]

I'll go step-by-step.

1. In the Add Media section at the top, I select Add Video Files. I select my AVI file, and it is added to the bottom of the screen.

2. I do NOT see a DVD MENU option below the Add/Edit Chapter option. However, there is a box named CREATE MENU. That is checked. Am I correct in assuming that's what you meant? Create Menu and DVD MENU?

3. I select Add/Edit Chapter. A new screen comes up.

4. In this new screen, I create several chapters, each at ten-minute intervals. There is, yes, a thumbnail for each chapter. When done, I click OK.

5. When I click OK, that screen goes away, leaving me back at the original screen. At this point, I click NEXT.

6. I am now at the Menu creation screen, where I see a Gallery. I select a theme.

7. The Currently Displayed Menu says MAIN MENU. I edit this one, adding and changing some text. By the way...I want some of this text center-justified and can't figure out how to do that. Can you help?

8. I switch the Currently Displayed Menu option from Main Menu to the Scene menu. There are three text boxes, each with the following text:
Chapter001
Chapter002
Chapter003

I've edited these three text boxes. However, I need to add more text boxes, because there are more chapters. I haven't figured out how to add more text boxes. Also, I don't know how to incorporate them into the menu as chapters, once they are added. In other words, if I do add more text boxes, how do I get ULead to know they are meant to be clicked and used as links to forward to specific points?

9. At this point, I didn't bother trying to mess with additional chapters. I will use just the three that are already in the menu.

Here's where I get confused. There now should be two menus, correct? The main menu, and a second menu with the chapters. Do I click NEXT, or do I preview the menus now?
I'm assuming I preview the menus before clicking NEXT, so here's what I do:

10. I click Preview. This takes me to the Preview screen, which looks like a remote control. I click what I assume is the PLAY button on the remote.

And here's where the problems start.

11.When I click Play, I see the main menu. It has the edited text. At the bottom left of the screen, it shows 1/1. I'm assuming this means the first of one menu. If my assumption is correct, then this is wrong. There should be two menus, right? The main menu, and a chapter menu.

12. There is an arrow toward the bottom right of the screen. I click it, and the movie starts.

Okay...so where did the chapter menu go?

I've explained everything I did as elaborately as possible. There is NO chapter menu. What did I miss?

Thank you!
Jd

[Paul LS]

Hi JD, really sorry dont know how I missed this one... must have been the 4th July holiday. Did you figure out your problem?

Anyway... you do everything correct up until your point 8 where you say you need to add extra text boxes for the extra chapters. The Scene Menus have limited links on them.. so for example if you have 6 chapters and you select a scene menu with 2 links you will have 3 scene menus... the first being 1/3, 2/3 and 3/3. When you select the Scene Menu to edit it you will go to the first scene menu. Below the menu you will see forward and backward buttons to move through your scene menus so that you can edit each one.

When you preview your menu, the 1/1 refers to the main menu... so 1 main menu. If you hit play it will play the movie. However you need to click the title and it will go the scene menu which will say 1/3. You can then click to go forward and see the 2nd scene menu and click forward again to see the 3rd scene menu.

You can edit or delete the 1/1 for the main menu as there is one anyway. You can also select menus with more links so that you have fewer scene menus.

Hope this is clear... and once again sorry for the delay.

[jdanniel]

Hi Paul.

I have been using Sony DVD Architect to make my menus, and I got fantastic help from people here.

However, now that you have replied to this question--which I must confess I forgot about--you've aroused my curiosity about ULead again. I may take another look at it. But if I don't, please don't be upset or disappointed. Sony DVD-Arch has fulfilled my needs, and that's really the main issue here.

Thanks for the reply. Jd

[Paul LS]

That's no problem... just sorry for the delay. Must have been one too many beers over the holiday...

[jdanniel]

Paul,

I think I might have figured this out. There was some miscommunication with you on my part. We'll get into that later.

But there are a couple of tweaks I want to make. As soon as ULead is done rendering my movie (It takes an hour or so on my computer), I'm going to try and work on these tweaks myself.

If I run into a snag, can I ask you for help?

Jd

[jdanniel]

Okay.

Here's a tweak I want to make, and I'd like to ask for help making it...if it's at all possible.

Here's what the main menu looks like right now:



What I want to do now is this....add the Play Movie text, as shown below, and change the Click Here for Chapter Selection text.



I know how to edit the Click Here text. But is it possible to add the Play Movie text?

I have Adobe Photoshop Elements. Is adding text such as this possible within ULead, or do I have to export the image and edit it with PE?

Thank you! Jd

[Paul LS]

You can not modify the DVD menu as you wish from within DVDMF... you probably can do it in Photoshop Elements. Infact some time ago I modified a number of menus using Ulead PhotoImpact... there is a tutorial here on making menus from scratch... you can probably do the same in Photoshop Elements:
http://www.steve-jones.pwp.blueyonder.c ... torial.pdf