DVD Architect Studio feature question

[AVITRY]

I'd like to say a HELLO to all, and to those who have helped me in the past, a thank you. I hope I can be of help to some in the future as well. I'm getting back into video conversions and re-familiarizing myself with all the great resources online. When I left, Muvipix was in it's infancy.

Steve, as I restart my video editing related web surfing, I find that you have written a book on DVDAS. Thats great, I'll be ordering that book. If this is an ok place to ask a quick question, I'd like to.

One of the features I use very often in DVD Workshop is the ability to place graphics on the menu page and adjust their opacity, size and position so that the background menu graphic can been seen through the smaller overlay.

My background graphic is more often than not, one of the beginning scenes of the video, and the graphic overlay I speak of is usually a billboard type graphic that I place text on explaining who is playing in the video billiards match, which again I can size and place as needed.

If theses features, importing graphics, controlling opacity, sizing and locating of graphics (and even making some of them buttons) are something DVDAS can do, I'm in!

thanks,
joe

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Joe! Glad you found us here on Muvipix. It's a great community of videomakers. (Joe, in case anyone doesn't recognize his name, used to be a regular on the Adobe forums.)

DVD Architect Studio should do most of what you're trying to do. About the only thing it can't do is opacity, I believe.

You can:

Overlay and size graphics and text to menu page backgrounds (These graphics can even be video clips!)

And yes, of course, you can use any graphic you want as a button on a menu page

Glad to hear you've ordered the book! It should show you how to do most anything the program can do.

And please feel free to ask away here if you've got any specific questions! There are a couple of folks here who are big fans of the program, and we can probably answer about any question you might have.

[AVITRY]

Thanks for the speedy reply Steve. Shoot, I was really hoping there was a way to set overlay opacity. My needs in an authoring program are limited and redundant in each video DVD I produce, but to maintain what standard layout I've been using in DVD Workshop, opacity is a biggie for me. I'm still interested in reading your book.

Is this program still a work in progress with Sony and can future versions be expected? Maybe there is a place to enter wish list requests.

[Steve Grisetti]

I don't know that there's been a new version introduced by Sony in some time, Joe. I think they consider it pretty much done.

Their professional version of the program -- which is only available bundled with Sony Vegas -- supports more professional features (like multiple language soundtracks, subtitles, etc.). But the basic functions are about the same.

Sorry opacity is the deal killer for you. Aside from adding semi-opaque layers to Premiere Elements DVD templates using Photoshop Elements, I'm not sure what else will do it.

[AVITRY]

Thanks Steve, I guess I just have to accept that I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves and pickup where I left off trying to figure out why DVD Workshop doesn't like dv-avi files from PE2.

Interesting, as I recall I could capture the dv from the canopus directly into PE2 and export that dv-avi into DVD Workshop with no issue at all, BUT ... if I should put that dv-avi capture on the timeline of PE2 and do the simplest of edits like trim a few seconds off the ends, when I re-render the dv-avi and then try to import to DVD Workshop the resulting DVD displays as though there were a field order issue with all the jitters.

If I use the same process with any other NLE ( Including Premiere Pro) there is no issue with DVD Workshop.

The killer is, if I use the above process with PE2 and then trim and export the dv-avi to DVD Architect Studio, there is no issue with jitters.

My short term solution has been to render the PE2 edits to mpeg in PE2 and then import the mpeg to Workshop with no issues. The problem with that method is merely trying to accurately determine the compression ratio closely to get the best quality result.

That and I haven't even powered on my video editing computer in over a year ...

[bStro]

True, DVD Architect Studio doesn't give you the option of changing the opacity of an inserted graphic.

But it does support PNG files and respect their alpha channel transparency. Simple solution would be to use Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, The GIMP, or some other graphics editor to lower the opacity of your image, save it to a PNG, and use that in DVD Architect Studio. In fact, that gives a lot more options than just a straight "lower opacity" option in DVD Architect.

As for DVD Architect Studio being a "work in progress," well, Sony has come out with new versions fairly regularly over the years, so I see no reason to expect 4.5 to be the last version ever, if that's what you're asking. That said, I wouldn't expect them to change much as far as options for inserted graphics. The main focus for DVD Architect has always been on the "nitty gritty" of DVD authoring -- the design features have always been secondary. Personally, I tend to do most of my design work outside of DVD Architect and let it do what it was built for -- turning raw materials into DVDs.

Rob

[Chuck Engels]

Just wanted to say hi to Joe, where have you been?
Sure has been a long time since I saw that name (AVITRY) around.

Glad to see you are still around, I hope all is going well for you.
Thanks for dropping in, it's great to hear from you again


And bStro, Welcome to Muvipix to you and Joe both

[AVITRY]

Hey Chuck!! How are ya? Good to be back at it ( I think ) frustration with that issue had me reverting to my old vise which was shooting pool, LOL. Anyway, sure is good to be back chatting with everyone.

bStro, that sounds like a good option, would the saved file be scalable once it was inserted back into DVDAS?

joe

[Bob]

It's not just PNG format that supports transparency. I use PSD all the time. Probably any format that DVDAS can read that contains transparency will be honored. Just be sure to insert as a graphic. Insert media will create a button. And, yes, it is scalable once inserted.