Reviving an old topic. at DVinfo.net

Ryan Laytart · May 22nd, 2008, 11:22 AM

I posted this question in a rather obscure thread ( http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50033 ), so I just wanted to bring it to a more public place...

I know it's been 3 years for this topic... but I wanted to expand on it.

The first time I read this, I had the impression that Matt Brabender had succeeded in creating translucent non-active buttons (roses). I now see that he had only created custom shapes for his buttons...

So here we go again... is it possible to create the "slash" effect, as mentioned in the first post of this thread? I've been playing with layers and the layer naming format in photoshop, but the results are horrible. The closest I've gotten to a translucent non-active button is a pale white highlight over a shadow of the button.

Is this possible?

Perhaps the only way to do this would be to lay the buttons on a solid-color background... and then make the non-active buttons the same color as the background. Pretty limiting, though. I tried this once, and the shades of black that I used for this ended up being slightly different than one another. The result was that you could still see the non-active buttons.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Another thought...

If these translucent buttons are not possible, there is one other way that I could think of...

Think of a basic 2 button menu... The menu first appears, and the custom image overlay is hovering over the 1st button, with the 2nd button being clear of any image overlay. If you set the 2nd button to auto-activate, it could take you to a copy of the menu, and the default button on the copy menu would be the 2nd button. On the copy menu, the 2nd button now has the image overlay, and the 1st button is clear of an overlay. If you click over to the 1st button again, it would be set to auto-activate, taking you back to part 1 of the menu.

It would not be a smooth transition though... between the 2 copies of the menu would be a slight pause, thus making any menu audio next to impossible.

A good example of this technique is the scene selection menu on Lord of the Rings (extended version). Each button has it's own page, with a certain video playing in the background for each chapter, and you can hear the music stop and start again while navigating.

On the main menu of that disc, however, is a set of 4 or 5 buttons with translucent non-active buttons... They are all on the same page, but the music does not stop when switching between them.

I'm stumped.

Douglas Spotted Eagle · May 22nd, 2008, 11:37 PM

Email me a DAR of your menu, containing the graphic elements of your content. I'll see if we can script this for what you're asking.

May 22nd, 2008, 11:22 AM	#1
Ryan Laytart Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Temperance, MI Posts: 86	Reviving an old topic. I posted this question in a rather obscure thread ( http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50033 ), so I just wanted to bring it to a more public place... I know it's been 3 years for this topic... but I wanted to expand on it. The first time I read this, I had the impression that Matt Brabender had succeeded in creating translucent non-active buttons (roses). I now see that he had only created custom shapes for his buttons... So here we go again... is it possible to create the "slash" effect, as mentioned in the first post of this thread? I've been playing with layers and the layer naming format in photoshop, but the results are horrible. The closest I've gotten to a translucent non-active button is a pale white highlight over a shadow of the button. Is this possible? Perhaps the only way to do this would be to lay the buttons on a solid-color background... and then make the non-active buttons the same color as the background. Pretty limiting, though. I tried this once, and the shades of black that I used for this ended up being slightly different than one another. The result was that you could still see the non-active buttons. Maybe I'm missing something obvious. Another thought... If these translucent buttons are not possible, there is one other way that I could think of... Think of a basic 2 button menu... The menu first appears, and the custom image overlay is hovering over the 1st button, with the 2nd button being clear of any image overlay. If you set the 2nd button to auto-activate, it could take you to a copy of the menu, and the default button on the copy menu would be the 2nd button. On the copy menu, the 2nd button now has the image overlay, and the 1st button is clear of an overlay. If you click over to the 1st button again, it would be set to auto-activate, taking you back to part 1 of the menu. It would not be a smooth transition though... between the 2 copies of the menu would be a slight pause, thus making any menu audio next to impossible. A good example of this technique is the scene selection menu on Lord of the Rings (extended version). Each button has it's own page, with a certain video playing in the background for each chapter, and you can hear the music stop and start again while navigating. On the main menu of that disc, however, is a set of 4 or 5 buttons with translucent non-active buttons... They are all on the same page, but the music does not stop when switching between them. I'm stumped.

May 22nd, 2008, 11:37 PM	#2
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	Email me a DAR of your menu, containing the graphic elements of your content. I'll see if we can script this for what you're asking. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com