Sony has entered the DVD authoring market with their newest product, DVD Architect.® (DVDA) This 1.0 version is packed with basic features, all of which are required for authoring fairly deep DVD menu structures and flows. However, missing from this package is the ability to create transitions from one menu to another. Actually, very few authoring applications have this ability, but many do allow for unique mpg files to be played following a button selection and prior to the actual selected media.  Even though this feature is missing at all levels in the 1.0 version of DVDA, there are indeed methods and techniques that allow users to get more depth out of the application than expected, albeit with a workaround or two.

Fig 1 Create the DVD menu before rendering an MPEG for best results

     As an example, a menu is created in the DVDA workspace, and ready to burn to DVD. However, on selection of the menu on the DVD, the end viewer is 'jumped' to the new video file, usually fairly abruptly.  However, due to the preview section of DVDA having a file output capability, smooth menu transitions may be created so that end viewers/users have some transitional element following the button selection on the DVD.

---

Here's how it's accomplished;

First, create and finish a menu in DVD Architect complete with buttons, text, and anything else to be viewed in the DVD menu BEFORE rendering the final MPEG in Vegas. This works best with avi files, so that the mpeg doesn't get recompressed. Preview this menu in the DVDA Preview section by selecting the Preview button at the top of the screen.

Using the Copy to Clipboard (CTRL+C) command in the Preview Window of DVDA, copy the screen image to the clipboard. Open this image up in your favorite photo editing tool such as Ulead Photo Impact, Photoshop, Draw, etc. Save the file as a .png file, at a resolution of 655x480/72 dpi (NTSC) or 704x576/72 dpi (PAL)

Fig 2

On the timeline of your final project in Vegas, or on a new timeline, place the newly saved png file on a track. Now place the video that the DVDA button is linked to, on the timeline so that it has a crossfade on it, fading from the png to the avi file. In this crossfade/transition, place a transition of choice. In fig 3 a Pixelan Spice has been inserted for the transition. Now render the avi file as a new avi, or render as the final mpeg. (If the file placed on the timeline is an avi file, the render will only take seconds, as it's merely adding the still to the existing avi. No quality is lost whatsoever. If an MPEG file is used to create the final file, it will be recompressed, and quality will be lost) The still image of the menu will now open the video, yet since it exactly matches the final menu appearance of the project created in DVDA, it will appear to be a part of the menu itself, rather than as a part of the video file. The key to making this work correctly is to never change the menu in DVDA after the new video file has been rendered.

---

Next, in DVDA, double click the button that the new video will be associated with. in the Media Properties window, associate the link with the new video title. In this illustration, the original video used to create the menu was called "children.avi" and in the Media Properties, the file is now associated with the video "title2.avi." The 2 files are exactly the same, with the exception that the title2.avi file has a still image of the menu associated with it.

Fig 3 Render the file as an avi, containing the transition between still and video file referenced by a button in DVDA. For best results, keep length of the still image to less than 3 seconds.

In this window, set a file start point that comes just AFTER the still image of the menu ends. A step saver is to insert a marker on the timeline in Vegas just following the end of the transition out of the still image. This marker will show up as a chapter point in DVDA.  This marker creates a chapter starting point so that when a viewer clicks back to the initial video, they are transported to a chapter point following the still image/menu copy, and they will not see the menu page nor the transition following the still image of the menu, further maintaining the illusion of having a transition between button selection and video start.

---

Fig 4  Set the first chapter or start point to follow the transition from the still image.

Fig 4 Use an introductory media file to enhance the DVD andprovide a 'first play' video for viewers.

  

    Using these transitions, using DVDA as the final encode tool, and using all of the tools found within the DVDA application, any author of DVD projects will find themselves suitably impressed with the immediacy of the application, the flexibility of the application, and quality of final output.

For more information, visit the Sony website.