- May 23, 2006
- 7
- 0
While egonspengleruk is working on adding DVD video burning to MP I'm working with him to create in sweet looking MP themed menus for the DVDs.
I'm pretty far along right now and here is what I have working...
In addition to static menus, I also have a very loose method of adding animations to menus, as shown by this mpg (~200kb)
https://home.comcast.net/~zadigian/animatedMenu.rar
Basically, how my program works is by default it selects the following images and uses them for the menu
* background.png – The background
* hp_start.png – The top right logo
* hover_my videos.png – The bottom right logo
* button_green_focus_165×32.png – The buttons
* osd_dialog_big.png – The dialog box in the submenu.
However, there is always the possibility that these images don't exist or that they don't look right so i've also added the ability to override pretty much everything. To override things all you need to do is add a menuGen.override file into the media folder for the theme and specify the images, positions, and sizes you want. Here's what a .override file consists of...
-The images are overrided by specifying the full path to a new image
-The location is overrided by putting in the new coordinates in the format "+535+27" where 535 and 27 are the pixel coordinates of the upppr right hand corner of the image
-The size is overrided by specifying the new size in the format "150x150" where 150x150 are the desired dimensions of the image
Every override file must contain all of the above lines, however, they do not all need to be filled out.
As far as the animations go... those are a little more complicated. For example this is how I configured the animation in the video linked above...
- The animation path is the full path and generic name of the sequence of animated images. If you look in the BlueTwo Metal Dark theme you'll find the animation I use is named 1.png, 2.png, 3.png,...,89.png so I use the image name "%d.png". If the images were named in the format logoAnimated1.png, logoAnimated2.png, you would have used "logAnimated%d.png". Also the first picture in the sequence needs to be labeled with a 1, not 0.
- The animation frames is the total number of images in the sequence, in other words that last image number.
- The animation slow down is the rate to slow down the image playback. For example a '2' would mean play the sequence 2x slower and a '3' would mean play the sequence 3x slower.
- The size and location are the same as for the regular images.
The Logo animation (top) and the video animation (bottom) will start playing back immediatly when the video starts. The button animation, however, is bit more complicated.
For the button animation, you specify the path and the total frames as above, however, instead of playing back immedialy the button animations will kick off randomly in the total second window you specify. So if you specify 30 seconds, you'll end up with a 30 second video where each of the buttons will randomly play the animation with a frequency(0-100) you specify. The general effect i'm going for is to create some type of pulsing effect (like the buttons in MCE) that just keeps the picture from looking static. This rough mock up video will help demonstrate what the heck i'm talking about
https://home.comcast.net/~zadigian/animatedButtons.rar
The animations I used is only 25 frames and only includes the counting up, the counting down is added by the program when by playing the animations back in reverse once it hits the top.
Obviously, these animations are optional, but I think if implemented by some one with some artistic ability (read: not me) they could look extra slick
So why am I telling you all this? Well, I hope eventually that in addition to the regular screens you modify for your themes that you'll also want to take advantage of the .override files and the optional button animations to customize the look and feel of the DVD menus generated by your theme.
I've got a pretty stable version working you can download and play with and i'd be very interested in any ideas you have for improving the look/feel/layout of the menus or making program more customizable.
https://home.comcast.net/~zadigian/menuGen_v1_0.rar
Usage: Included in the .rar file above there is an example of the .gen file that the program uses as input. Basically all you need to do to start cranking out menus is modify the included menuGen.gen file to match your setup and run the executable.
Some notes:
* Make sure that the work folder already exists and is empty
* To keep the program from deleting it's working images, set debug delete to '1'
* Make sure you modify all of the paths to the executables to be correct for where you extract the folder
* The video thumbnails currently do nothing
* Currently I use my own DVD menu navigation buttons (buttons4.png) however if there is any desire I can add the ability to specify your own.
* To create an .override file, just copy the full list of options from above into a notepad and save it into your theme's "Media" folder as 'menuGen.override'.
* You don't need to mess with the Video Information section, however if you want to add more buttons, just add more videos upto a max of 7
I'm pretty far along right now and here is what I have working...
In addition to static menus, I also have a very loose method of adding animations to menus, as shown by this mpg (~200kb)
https://home.comcast.net/~zadigian/animatedMenu.rar
Basically, how my program works is by default it selects the following images and uses them for the menu
* background.png – The background
* hp_start.png – The top right logo
* hover_my videos.png – The bottom right logo
* button_green_focus_165×32.png – The buttons
* osd_dialog_big.png – The dialog box in the submenu.
However, there is always the possibility that these images don't exist or that they don't look right so i've also added the ability to override pretty much everything. To override things all you need to do is add a menuGen.override file into the media folder for the theme and specify the images, positions, and sizes you want. Here's what a .override file consists of...
Code:
Background =
Top Logo =
Top Logo Size =
Top Logo Location =
Bottom Video Logo =
Bottom Video Logo Size =
Bottom Video Logo Location =
Button =
Dialog Box =
font color =
Font =
Max Chars Per Line =
Logo Animation Path =
Logo Animation Frames =
Logo Animation Slow Down =
Logo Animation Size =
Logo Animation Location =
Video Logo Animation Path =
Video Logo Animation Frames =
Video Logo Animation Slow Down =
Video Logo Animation Size =
Video Logo Animation Location =
Button Animation Path =
Button Animation Frames =
Button Animation Slow Down =
Button Animation Frequency =
Button Animation Length in Seconds =-The location is overrided by putting in the new coordinates in the format "+535+27" where 535 and 27 are the pixel coordinates of the upppr right hand corner of the image
-The size is overrided by specifying the new size in the format "150x150" where 150x150 are the desired dimensions of the image
Every override file must contain all of the above lines, however, they do not all need to be filled out.
As far as the animations go... those are a little more complicated. For example this is how I configured the animation in the video linked above...
Code:
Logo Animation Path =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\bluetwo_metal_dark\BlueTwo Metal Dark\Media\animations\%d.png
Logo Animation Frames =89
Logo Animation Slow Down =2
Logo Animation Size =
Logo Animation Location =+535+50- The animation path is the full path and generic name of the sequence of animated images. If you look in the BlueTwo Metal Dark theme you'll find the animation I use is named 1.png, 2.png, 3.png,...,89.png so I use the image name "%d.png". If the images were named in the format logoAnimated1.png, logoAnimated2.png, you would have used "logAnimated%d.png". Also the first picture in the sequence needs to be labeled with a 1, not 0.
- The animation frames is the total number of images in the sequence, in other words that last image number.
- The animation slow down is the rate to slow down the image playback. For example a '2' would mean play the sequence 2x slower and a '3' would mean play the sequence 3x slower.
- The size and location are the same as for the regular images.
The Logo animation (top) and the video animation (bottom) will start playing back immediatly when the video starts. The button animation, however, is bit more complicated.
For the button animation, you specify the path and the total frames as above, however, instead of playing back immedialy the button animations will kick off randomly in the total second window you specify. So if you specify 30 seconds, you'll end up with a 30 second video where each of the buttons will randomly play the animation with a frequency(0-100) you specify. The general effect i'm going for is to create some type of pulsing effect (like the buttons in MCE) that just keeps the picture from looking static. This rough mock up video will help demonstrate what the heck i'm talking about
https://home.comcast.net/~zadigian/animatedButtons.rar
Code:
Button Animation Path =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\button animation\button animation\button%d.png
Button Animation Frames =25
Button Animation Slow Down =2
Button Animation Frequency =2
Button Animation Length in Seconds =10The animations I used is only 25 frames and only includes the counting up, the counting down is added by the program when by playing the animations back in reverse once it hits the top.
Obviously, these animations are optional, but I think if implemented by some one with some artistic ability (read: not me) they could look extra slick
So why am I telling you all this? Well, I hope eventually that in addition to the regular screens you modify for your themes that you'll also want to take advantage of the .override files and the optional button animations to customize the look and feel of the DVD menus generated by your theme.
I've got a pretty stable version working you can download and play with and i'd be very interested in any ideas you have for improving the look/feel/layout of the menus or making program more customizable.
https://home.comcast.net/~zadigian/menuGen_v1_0.rar
Usage: Included in the .rar file above there is an example of the .gen file that the program uses as input. Basically all you need to do to start cranking out menus is modify the included menuGen.gen file to match your setup and run the executable.
Some notes:
* Make sure that the work folder already exists and is empty
* To keep the program from deleting it's working images, set debug delete to '1'
* Make sure you modify all of the paths to the executables to be correct for where you extract the folder
* The video thumbnails currently do nothing
* Currently I use my own DVD menu navigation buttons (buttons4.png) however if there is any desire I can add the ability to specify your own.
* To create an .override file, just copy the full list of options from above into a notepad and save it into your theme's "Media" folder as 'menuGen.override'.
* You don't need to mess with the Video Information section, however if you want to add more buttons, just add more videos upto a max of 7
Code:
Theme Folder =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\bluetwo_metal_dark\BlueTwo Metal Dark\Media
Work Folder =C:\DVD
Graphics Magick =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\bin\gm.exe
Mplex =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\bin\mplex.exe
jpeg2yuv =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\bin\png2yuv.exe
mpeg2enc =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\bin\mpeg2enc.exe
spumux =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\bin\spumux.exe
AC3 audio =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\Silence.ac3
Button Image =C:\Documents and Settings\zadigisc.DS\Desktop\menuGen_v1_0\MenuGen\buttons4.png
Leave files for debugging (0 is false, 1 is true)=1
-------------------------Video 0-------------------------
Video 0 Show Title= Lost
Video 0 Episode Title= Live Together, Die Alone
Video 0 Description= After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack and Sayid come up with a plan to 'confront' "The Others" and hopefully get Walt back.
Video 0 Thumbnail=C:\Path\To\Some\jpeg\or\png\folder.png
-------------------------Video 1-------------------------
Video 1 Show Title= Lost
Video 1 Episode Title= Live Together, Die Alone
Video 1 Description= After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack and Sayid come up with a plan to 'confront' "The Others" and hopefully get Walt back.
Video 1 Thumbnail=C:\Path\To\Some\jpeg\or\png\folder.png
-------------------------Video 2-------------------------
Video 2 Show Title= Lost
Video 2 Episode Title= Live Together, Die Alone
Video 2 Description= After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack and Sayid come up with a plan to 'confront' "The Others" and hopefully get Walt back.
Video 2 Thumbnail=C:\Path\To\Some\jpeg\or\png\folder.png
Netherlands
