DVD Studio Pro questions

[Niels Neeskens]

Hey Everybody,

I got some urgent DVD STP questions. First one is; I exported a project with chapter markers and imported it in DVD Studio Pro. I made buttons in the menu to link with the each chapter mark in the project. Is there a way to only play this part of the chapter mark and that (at the end) it returns to the menu highlighting the next button. Because now it plays the intended chapter mark but in the end it will play the next chapter, but I want it to return to the menu and highlight the next button. Just like when you make separate tracks and say that in the end it should return to the menu and a button of your choice.

Next to that another question regarding the imported project with chapter markers. Is there a way that you can make a selecting. For example if the project is made out of 10 chapters, that you make a selection where you want to play the second chapter + the eight chapter.

Hope someone can help, because making separate tracks with different selections is not an option because it will succeed the 4,7 GB on a DVD.

Happy New Year for everybody on the forum!

Niels

[Robert Lane]

You can absolutely do what you want however it's not an easy task; it requires "scripting" the actions you want to create which DVD SP 4 supports.

Teaching scripting isn't something that can be done via a web-forum and I'd highly suggest getting with either an Apple certified trainer ( http://www.getprotraining.com ) or look into scripting tutorials on Lynda.com or other DIY sites.

[Niels Neeskens]

Thanks a lot Robert, good thing that it can be done. I'll look into the tutorials, thanks a lot!

[William Hohauser]

The DVD Studio Pro manual has an example that you can easily re-write for your purposes, I have done it in the past.... but can't remember it ever.

[Niels Neeskens]

I've solved the first problem with the end jump of a chapter mark. In the connection tab you can see the chapter marker and you can set the target to a place you like. I simply select the next button as the target in the end jump, and there you go.

The second problem I solved with making stories. You can make separate clips from 1 project by selecting the different chapter marks in a order you like. Very easy to do, but you just have to know that it's there :)

Thanks for the help guys and Happy New Year!

[Jonathan Jones]

It's been a long time since I've done something like this, but I seem to remember finding it quite easy to do once I figured out the way that tracks can be set up for different presentation styles.

If I remember correctly, you can port your completed chapter-marked contents into your DVDSP project, and create as many tracks for playback options as you wish depending upon how you want them to be played.

The default option is to play the entire contents through sequentially.

You can set up new tracks to just play one chapter and return to your main menu after playback, or jump to another menu button, or whatever you wish.

You can also set up a new track to just play certain chapters, jumping one to another in whatever order you designate with end jump targets.

(This allows you a wide variety of playback options without taking up additional data space on your disc, since it is just referencing the same source content.)

Then, just set up your menu with buttons that activate your selected tracks (and label the buttons accordingly.)

A project I had worked on involved a disc full of 14 mini promos highlighting both teen and adult oriented educational programming.

The default "Play All" mode played everything sequentially based on content themes as the original source timeline had been created.

Another option allowed them to play a promo for any one program and return to the menu.

A third option allowed them to view all the promos in chronological order according to when the programs would run in the calendar year.

A 4th option allowed them to view just the promos non-stop sequentially, but only for the teen oriented program, and a 5th option allowed them to view just the promos geared towards adult education.

The end result seemed very advanced, but was actually quite easy to set up once I understood the interface, and made all of the contents much more accessible for the clients.

-Jon

[Niels Neeskens]

Thanks for the answer Jon. Is it the 'Add Story' option you are talking about?

Cheers

[Jonathan Jones]

Originally Posted by Niels Neeskens

Thanks for the answer Jon. Is it the 'Add Story' option you are talking about?

Cheers

Yes, I believe so. i had forgotten about the "story" lingo.

-Jon