DVD Menu for Elements 2.0

[cms]

I have Elements 2.0 on my machine - no photoshop. Is it possible to import different images to use for the "buttons" on a DVD menu rather than what's in the template? (Because of the number of items I want to show up on Page 1 of the DVD menu, I'm limited to which templates I can use.) Thanks for any suggestions!! -cms

[Chuck Engels]

No, the buttons are very specifically created images in After Effects or Photoshop Professional. Creating the buttons is very difficult.

With Photoshop or Photoshop Elements you can copy buttons from one template to another, duplicate buttons and remove buttons, but that is about all.

[ATR]

cms

I thought that you might find the following Adobe Encore DVD/Photoshop tutorial titled Create a menu in Adobe Photoshop:

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/encore/articles/enc15menu/enc15menu.pdf

Also, check out:
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bc24d89

I will be back later about altering existing DVD menus.

ATR

[Chuck Engels]

The answer to the question is still no, you cannot create buttons without Photoshop Professional. Even then you cannot be a beginner as it takes experience with layer sets to do it right. Anything out of place or named wrong and the button won't work.

The top tutorial has to do with Encore DVD menu templates which are not exactly the same as Premiere Elements DVD Menu Templates. The section that talks about creating buttons is one paragraph out of the whole article.

The bottom tutorial does not have instructions on how to make buttons, it is primarily for modifying existing Premiere Elements templates. For this you at least need to have Photoshop Elements 5 or above.

[ATR]

cms and CE

The links that I posted were just added as FYI for cms. In the final analysis you are not asking how to create DVD buttons, but can you import additional ones in to give you more DVD Main Menu Buttons. I think that was your question. Correct me if I am wrong.

I think that we are all agree that you are not going to create DVD menu/Scene Selection menu with buttons et al just with Premiere Elements. If you look at the structure of a specific DVD Menu .psd in Photoshop Elements, the Photoshop layer groups hit you right away. But, there are layers in there that look like you could remove and replace existing content, maybe import some. I am not advising you to do that unless you have a safety net...like file copies, etc. But, I do take exception to the notion "do not try this unless you are a professional". Experimentation is the corner stone of all great invention as long as you do not blow up the corner stone.

These are some thoughts that may or may not help, but here goes. cms, maybe if you described in more detail why so many items are needed for your DVD Main Menu. Why not just a Main Menu with Play Movie and Scene Selection and use your Scene Selection Menu for multi entries related to the placement of scene markers (green in color)?

Also are you aware of Main Menu Markers (sort of blue/purple in color)? When named and placed along the Timeline, the name will appear as an entry in the Main Menu. The catch is that, if you have a 4 items Main Menu, you can have more then 4 entries in the Main Menu BUT the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th will spill over to give you an additional page of the Main Menu.

I have not had the time to experiment to determine the limits of what can and cannot be done by opening the DVD menu files in Photoshop Elements. Those Photoshop layer groups and recognition coding are major players in this task.

I will try to find time to follow up of this. Let us know what is happening.

ATR