Changing and Adding Buttons

As with backgrounds, the number of buttons Liquid Edition supplies for its users is excellent. And again, if you really want to, you can import your own buttons as PSD files directly from Photoshop. Most templates come with a nominal amount of buttons per template, but you can easily add another button to the menu using drag and drop.

Buttons are preset graphic files with two states: highlighted (when selected) and non-highlighted (when not selected). If this means nothing to you, then stick with the preset buttons and modify those within the DVD Menu Template Editor.

To alter a button's style

1.	Make sure the Buttons option is selected.
2.	Highlight the button you want to change by clicking it once (Figure 12.47). Figure 12.47. Select the button and click the Button option to open up the preset styles.
3.	Select a different button from the preset area that runs down the right side of the interface by clicking it once.

To change the size of a button

• With the button selected, grab any one of the corner handles and drag it out to the required size (Figure 12.48).
  
  

  Figure 12.48. Dragging out a button to adjust its size.

  

  
  

To change the active and selected colors

• Click the Active or Selected color square, then change the color in the color picker (Figure 12.49).
  
  

  Figure 12.49. Changing the active and selected colors.

  
  
  

Tip

• The default active color is yellow. When you select another color, consider your choice carefully in case the active color is no longer obvious when the button is displayed as "selected" on the TV.

To add another button

• Make sure the Button option is selected and then drag your button from the right side of the interface to the menu.
  
  

Tips

• When you add additional buttons to the interface, always check for collisions using the Collision Detection button. You can find details on this in the "Collision Detection" sidebar.

• If you add Next and Previous buttons to a DVD menu that currently only has one page, they don't show up until you add a second page to your menu. See the "Adding a New Page" section later in this chapter.

Creating a Text Button

You can also use text to create a button. You're probably familiar with this format from seeing commercial DVDs. For example, you choose the language of the DVD by clicking the actual language name.

To create a text button, first highlight the text you want to turn into a button. Then click the drop-down menu in the Button area and select Normal button from the list (Figure 12.50).

Figure 12.50. Turning text into a button.

Collision Detection

When you're adding buttons, it's important to make sure the pixels don't overlap; otherwise the DVD you burn may not work. Overlapping buttons are a common problem caused either by the user placing them badly, or by the highlighted state of the button spreading further than expected.

If a collision occurs in the DVD edit menu, Liquid Edition automatically detects this and the Collision Detection button begins to flash. Click once on this button and the area of collision shows in red (Figure 12.51).

Figure 12.51. The collision detection interface.