| Review the questions and answers in this section to try to sharpen your DVDit! menu-creation skills. Also, take a few moments to tackle my short quiz and the exercises. Q&A | Q1: | I'm having trouble working with text in DVDit! I drag a font to a menu but when I type nothing happens. I click the word "Text" and start typing, and again nothing. What should I do? | | A1: | Click one more time. Changing the DVDit! text is a three-click process: one to select and place the text on the menu, another to put a frame around the text to change its shape and move it, and another to highlight the text for editing. When you're done typing, click outside the box to complete your work. Later, if you want to edit the text, it's another three-click process: one to create the frame, a second to highlight all the text, and a third to put a cursor within the text. | | Q2: | I create buttons and select all of them by Ctrl-clicking to change their shapes all at once, but when I click a center handle only that button changes shape. What's going on? | | A2: | You probably clicked a white center handle as opposed to a red handle. Even though all the buttons are highlighted with frames , only one will have a red center handle. This is a conscious design decision by Sonic that I think is counterintuitive. I think you should be able to click any handle on any button to change all their shapes at once. Nevertheless, if you want to use a center handle to change the buttons' shapes, select the button with the red center handle. One other possibility is that you did not click directly on the red center handle. Even if you missed it by a pixel, DVDit! thinks you're selecting the button, not grabbing its handle. | Quiz | 1: | How do you change the menu background for the First Play menu? | | A1: | Drag a new background to the menu placeholder screen for the menu that is currently the First Play menu. Don't drag that new background to the First Play screen (even if it's no longer named "First Play"). That will turn that background into a new menu and put it in the First Play screen, kicking out the former First Play menu. | | 2: | How do you change the First Play menu? | | A2: | Drag any menu from the stack of menu screens to the First Play placeholder screen (always the top menu screen). The new menu will show up in the First Play screen, and the former First Play menu will remain in its place among the menu screens. | | 3: | How do you make menus using your own background graphics? | | A3: | First, import your background(s). Open the Background palette and select Theme, Add Files to Theme. Navigate to your graphics file(s), select one or more, and click Open. Check the bottom of the Background palette. Your backgrounds should be there. Select and drag one or more to separate menu placeholder screens. | Exercises | 1: | Create four blank menus by dragging different backgrounds to the menu placeholders. For each menu, drag the three other menus to it in turn, linking one menu to the other three. Open the Remote Control interface. The First Play menu should be in its display. Start clicking the menu icons to see how easily DVDit! lets you jump from one menu to another. | | 2: | Use a text outline ”or better still, flowcharting software ”to create a menu layout for a family video project ”be it vacations , outings, family history, or sports. Think in terms of nested menus two or three levels behind the main menu. This is purely for planning purposes. There is no way to import such an outline into DVDit! | | 3: | Create still images from your Premiere video project to use as menu backgrounds or buttons. As a reminder, in Premiere's workspace, place the edit line over the desired frame, select Export Timeline, Frame, and then save it. You can import these images into DVDit!'s Background and/or Button palettes by selecting Theme, Add Files to Theme. If you use a full-screen image as a button, it will fill the screen. Simply grab a handle and shrink it to fit. One drawback: It won't have that nice beveled look you get if you drag a menu or video's first frame to a menu. | |
