Disc Menus

nmartens wrote on 7/8/2022, 1:23 AM

I'm trying to do something very simple but can't get past the complex options. I have 15 mp4 files. I want to put them into a single video movie. And I want to have a menu where each clip has an entry. Clicking on the menu plays that clip. When that clip finishes start playing the next one. Return to the menu when the last clip has played. I also want my own mpeg image to be my background. Can anyone give me step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish this? Or point me to the manual?

I'm using Magix Edit Pro 2013 Plus. I know, a little behind the times but I don't need much. I'm running on Windows 10.

Thanks.

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 7/8/2022, 2:33 AM

@nmartens

The manual is available under Help within the the program.

If you want the disc to play exactly as you have described ie a disc with a main menu to play all files in sequence and, depending on the menu template used, several menus for the Chapters the simplest method is:

add the 15 mp4 files to the timeline in the sequence you want them to play.
at the beginning of each file set a Chapter marker
In the disc menu, click the Edit tab and change the background image working through the options shown below

You will also have a Chapter menu automatically created which you can edit as well.

Note: the total run time of the 15 movies played in sequence is limited to 2 hrs or the disc capacity - approximately 4 GB for a standard DVD disc and 25 GB for a standard Blu-Ray disc You will get a warning if the disc capacity is exceeded and an offer for the movie to be adjusted automatically.

HTH

John EB
Forum Moderator

nmartens wrote on 7/16/2022, 10:31 PM

You've helped a lot. I built the movie and put all the chapter tags in place. But I still can't seem to build the menu correctly. This is what I'm wanting to do. I simply want a jpg image to be the full screen background (no animation, no sound). I then want to put a title at the top of the menu. Followed by a simple list of clips. I stumbled onto something that came close. It has a snowcapped mountain as the background. And it listed all of my clips. Now, I want to replace the background with my jpg image. And I want to remove the silly arrow it has.

Is there by chance any videos on this forum that will walk me through the process of building a menu?

Thanks.

browj2 wrote on 7/16/2022, 10:54 PM

@nmartens

First, did you put chapter markers on the timeline? Chapter markers become menu item. Clips don't show up as menu items - you have to have chapter markers. See the manual so that we are talking the same language. The menu items are chapters - wherever the chapter marker is on the timeline, that is what will play, whether it is one clip, a part of a clip or many clips.

Background - in Burn, Edit mode, click on Design page/Edit button. This opens the interface and you can change the background to whatever you want.

The title is probably already at the top of the page. Double-click on it to open the interface. Change it to whatever you want, including font, colour, size.

Did you watch the Magix tutorial "Burning with a disk menu?" Scroll down and watch it.

John CB

johnebaker wrote on 7/17/2022, 3:16 AM

@nmartens

Can you give us an example of the design you require.

There are certain elements of the templates that are not easily editable depending on the starting template used, this is the case with the Snow Capped mountain template you have found.

What action do you want after the selected chapter has been played?

The default action is to play the following chapter(s) to the end of the movie. If you want to return to the Chapter menu after playing the selected chapter then a different technique has to be used.

John EB

nmartens wrote on 7/18/2022, 1:37 AM

I've attached several screen shots.

johnebaker wrote on 7/18/2022, 10:59 AM

@nmartens

Thanks for the images.

We do need to know what action you are looking end of a chapter being played is reached as I described above.

Do you want all text menus or buttons with thumbnails as in the home page of the Mountaineers template?

I would suggest you start with a template that has the menu button styles you like as you are going to change the rest of menu items bearing in mind the following:-

If you use buttons with a thumbnail then the maximum per chapter page for 'good layout' and visual appearance is 12 in a 3 row 4 column arrangement as in the Winter Wonderland template, squeezing 15 onto a single meu page is going to look cluttered.

Depending on the starting template this can result in 2 or more Chapter menus.

It can be done with text only buttons as in the Chapter page of the Mountaineers template.

The chapter icon (funny arrow) can be changed to a different type of button from the Buttons tab when editing a menu, however the choice is limited.

John EB