Can somebody tell me or point me to a guide for creating combination (animated) buttons to use with DVDLab Pro? Photoshop would be ideal but any program that supports type and and of image editing should do fine. Thnx Any information on BTN and TMB files would also be greatly appreciated, thnx.
Hey AdRock - I'm currently beating my head against this atm. I'll tell you what I do know: Combination buttons: The files stored in the combination button directory under objects are compised of three types: BTN containes the PNG masks for the images (as well as the complete image data - more a little later) the other two file types are just basically BMP files with different extensions. BTN: files appear to have the following format: Header (short, of some description) PNG data for the first file/mask - this is the static background Spacer between the two PNG files - always the same PNG data for the second file/mask - this is affected by the highlite color. Filler until file end. I've been scratching my head about making an editor - but don't think it'll be worth the effort. You can insert or remove the PNG data using any old HEX editor - however, it still doesn't really do the stort of flashy stuff that I want it to do. You can manually create combination buttons using the rough (and somewhat simple) tutorial, but you can also use your own images generated in your faviourate pain programme. I use paintshop pro (pretty similar to everything else out there - except simpler and cheaper). Button files are saved in PNG format, with an ahpha transparency - now you can get tutorials on that! DVD-Lab is pretty cunning in that you can also add directories under the object folder and it'll detect them in programme. As for creating proper animated buttons...I've usually just rendered them as part of the background (minus the highlite layer - that I've never seen animated in my life, bar in switched menus) - but I think DVD-Lab can conjon animations...still not that tuned up with how it works. What will rip your nightie is that combination buttons have the hilight layer shown as a mask - I've got a feeling that the only way to overcome this blank booring image would be to make a 3 colour mask (as DVD-Lab supports three different highlite groups) that sort of resembles a cool image, or make a switched menu (which is only faviourable in certian circumstances). And that's about all I can add - bar the comment that it really needs a better tutorial. -Vaylence
:grins: Still working on Your Ghost N the Shell DVD? those combo buttons work well, like he said above...you Render them using the DfX feature..you can also use Menu Studio too to make your embedded vector objects( the program works well as a middle prog(between Photoshop and DvdLabPro.
What I'd love to know is if it's possible to make button highliting that's more than just a single-colour layer. Actually, to do something like a image change when the button is selected etc. Still tweaking and not having much luck there.
Well, let me see if I understand what you are talking about: Example: Battlestar Galactica Season 2.0 DVD main menu. The main menu is a still pic...with a red strobe effect flashing from the cylons eyes w/ theme music background. When you activate a button...it switches to a video transition with a sound fx and lens flare effect orginating from their eyes..whole trans 3 seconds. Is this the kind of image change you're talking about...that was easy to reproduce...I just needed to edit the season 2 and change it to season 3 then after effect it with another lens flare. Then link the button to another video menu which starts with an exact copy of the first menu. But now, I would suspect if you wanted a special "highlighting" effect when you select a button...you'd need to create the whole button "package" with that special video LAYER sub-picture with Program ?X Photoshop I don't think would work cause you're rendering a video layer fx...hmmmm AfterEffects? Encore?
^^^^Headborg!, Where the hell have you been???? I thought you were dead. Anyway, it's been a long time since I first posted this, I soon figured out how to accomplish the effect I was going for. If I remember correctly I was trying ti to create a button that changed color when selected (scroll over) then changed yet again when activated (pressed). I accomplished this by creating a background with the non-selected button image incorporated in the background image and/or video (used photoshop and after effects), then I created the .png button file (modified from the buttons on the background) then scaled and positioned it on top of the background in DVDLab and made it a combo button. So when I was finished I had a three-stage button: unselected, selected, and activated.
Hmmm, So you wanted a kind of "custom Mapping" a custom image/texture instead of the standard flat colors?...I mean the button states already change color from normal, selected, activated. Sorry, I guess I would have needed pics of what you were designing.
Yeah, I gave the buttons a raised/beveled look, then when scrolled over the button lit up retaining the 3d appearance as if it was a back-lit console button, like on a TV remote or something, then when activated the button returned to it's original state (100% opacity combo button setting)
