Create eye-catching, professional DVD menus and packaging in minutes! DVD Art Professional Volume IV from Eye Scream Factory includes 20 themes and 240 design templates for DVD menus, disc labels, and case inserts. Each theme includes main and chapter DVD menus in HD (1920 and 1280), NTSC, PAL, and DV along with matching disc labels, case inserts, and background images. Easily create new looks and styles by adjusting layers, changing text, modifying colors, and adding photos and videos. All templates are provided as layered Adobe Photoshop files. Additional background images are provided as .JPGs. The templates can be edited using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Encore, or GIMP and work great with Adobe Encore, Apple DVD Studio Pro, and many other DVD authoring applications.

• 
  Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Templates with Adobe Encore

Using DVD Art Professional with Adobe Encore




• 1. Copy the Eye Scream Factory DVD Art Professional menu templates to your computer's hard drive. You may wish to place the files in your Adobe Encore library folder so you can see the entire library directly from within Encore.

  2. Open Encore and create a new project, giving it a name and location and selecting your authoring mode, television standard, and dimensions. For this project, we will use Encore's default settings: Authoring Mode set to DVD and Television Standard set to NTSC.

  3. Bring your DVD Art Professional menu template into Encore project by selecting File > Import As > Menu and then selecting the template of your choice. For this project, we'll use the following templates from DVD Art Professional Volume II:
  
  • weddingdance-main-NTSC_DV.psd
  • weddingdance-selections-NTSC_DV.psd
  
  About DVD Art Professional DVD Template Names

  4. Double click on “weddingdance-main-NTSC_DV” in the project menu to see the menu in Encore. Now we can customize the template by changing “Title of Film” to our title. To do that, select the Text tool in the Encore toolbar, and click directly in the Preview window where it reads “Title of Film”. A cursor should appear, allowing you to change the text. Type your title in and your new title should now take the place of “Title of Film”, complete with the Adobe Photoshop layer effects we’ve included with this template.

  
  
  If your title is long, it may be necessary to adjust the scale of the Title of Film text by highlighting the Title of Film folder in the Layers tab and using the Move (M) tool to change the scale of the title. To do so, drag the corner of the bounding box until the title is the appropriate size; hold down the shift key to keep the title from being stretched. You can also use the Move tool to change the position of the title. In this example, I pressed the Enter key before typing "Wedding" to bring that word on a separate line. Then, I moved the title up with the Move tool.

  5. For our wedding DVD, we're not going to include any special features, so we can remove that option by clicking on the "(+) Special Features" folder and pressing delete.
  
  
  
  Now I can use the Move Tool to move the Start Movie and Scene Selection layers in a way that looks pleasing with only these choices.

  

  You may notice that many of the folders and layers have names that begin with codes such as (+) or (=1). These codes are necessary so that Encore will recognize the subpictures. If you open a template in Photoshop and choose to rename any of the folders or layers, make sure not to disrupt this naming convention and only change the text after this coding.

  6. Now it's time to make our Selections Menu. I can double-click on "weddingdance-selections-NTSC_DV" in the project tab to alter these options in the same manner. First, I'll change the scene titles into the names of the individual scenes I want the DVD to recognize. Twirl down the "Scenes" folder in the Layers tab to see each of the Scene Placeholder folders. If you need fewer scenes than are provided, delete them by highlighting them in the Layers tab and pressing delete. If you need more scenes, simply highlight one of the Scene Placeholder folders in the Layers tab and select Edit> Duplicate. Now I can use the Text and Move tools to change the names of the scenes the same way I changed the "Title of Film" text in step 4. Click on the "Show Safe Area" button in the Preview window to see title-safe guides.

  
  
  7. If you need to create a Special Features menu you can re-import "weddingdance_selections_NTSC_DV.psd" and change the text to reflect the special features.

  Now your menus are complete and you're ready to import your clips and subtitle tracks and build a timeline in Encore.

  Learn How to Create a New Look

• 
  Add Videos To Your DVD Menus in Adobe Encore

Add Videos To Your DVD Menus




• Many Eye Scream Factory DVD menu templates include optional Video Drop Zones. These drop zones let you add your own videos to the DVD menu templates. Here's how to use the drop zones in Adobe Encore...

  Start by creating an Adobe Encore project, importing the Eye Scream Factory DVD menu template, and editing the text layers (see Using DVD Art Professional with Adobe Encore for more information). Now, import the clip that you’d like to use in the drop zone by choosing File>Import As>Asset. In the Project tab, locate the clip you’re using and drag it over the drop zone in the menu. The clip will automatically resize to fit in the drop zone.
  
  
  
  Now, select the menu in the Menus tab and check the 'Animate Buttons’ box in the Motion tab of the Properties tab.
  
  

  When an Eye Scream Factory Main Menu features a drop zone, the drop zone is created as a graphical element as opposed to a functional button. However, Encore will still recognize it as a button, so certain steps must be taken to make sure that you can’t click on the video through a DVD player. The following instructions explain how to do this. (Note: the following steps are not necessary with Eye Scream Factory Selections Menus as those drop zones are functional buttons.)

  Select the Basic tab and uncheck the Automatically Route Buttons box.
  
  

  Click on the Show Button Routing button. This shows you how a DVD remote will navigate through your menu buttons.

  

  We want our Video layer to link to itself so that a DVD player doesn't recognize it as a button. All the numbers in the button routing of the Video layer must reflect the number of the layer itself—in this case "4". We can achieve this by clicking on any numbers we need to change and dragging them outside of the button until they all read "4". Likewise, we need to make sure that the other buttons don’t route to the Video layer. Drag any number that reads "4" onto the button in which it should route.

  Here is how the routing should look after we’ve made the adjustments...
  
  

  You will notice that some Eye Scream Factory Selections Menus include two Chapter Groups - Video and Text. Video Chapter Groups include drop zones and Text Chapter Groups include text-only buttons. You may choose one or the other by clicking on the menu you’re editing, clicking on the Layers Tab, and toggling the visibility of the layer by clicking on the Eye icon next to the group. You may then change the chapter names and/or create the video buttons as described in this tutorial.
  
  

• 
  Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Templates with Apple DVD Studio Pro

Using DVD Art Professional with Apple DVD Studio Pro




• 1) Launch DVD Studio Pro. A new project will open by default.
  
  Please note that before using any of the layered Adobe Photoshop files as menu items in Apple DVD Studio Pro, it is important to flatten all layer effects and to rasterize all text layers or they will not look as they do when viewed in Photoshop.

  

  2) In the Assets tab, click Import and select the files that you want to use; you will need to import both the main and the selections files to complete the DVD menus. The "main" file is for the background image and navigation buttons that appear when you insert the DVD into the DVD player, while the selections file contains the graphics for the buttons that will enable the user to navigate through the various chapters or titles of the DVD.

  

  The imported files will appear in the Assets tab.

  

  3) In the graphical tab, select the items that appears by default (usually labeled Track 1 and or Menu 1) and remove them by pressing the delete key on your keyboard. The tab Graphical should now appear empty.

  

  4) In the toolbar click the Add Layered Menu button and a new menu item will appear.

  

  5) Select the new menu item by clicking it.

  6) Once selected, the Menu Editor will display its controls.

  

  7) In the General Tab, find the imported Background pop-up menu and select the imported file.

  

  Check the box for the background layer and uncheck the rest. You should now see the imported file in the Menu viewer.

  
  
  8) In the Menu tab, create DVD Studio Pro button areas by clicking and dragging. Be careful not to create the buttons too closely together and ensure that the button areas do not overlap.

  

  9) Click on one of the button areas to select it and observe that the Menu Editor will display it's controls. In the Layers tab, select the appropriate layers for each button in each state.

  

  10) Control-click the background image of your menu and select Simulate Menu to preview your menu in the Simulator.

  

  Once all of the buttons have been configured, your menu is ready to be connected to your other assets.

  Follow the same procedure for the scene selection menu as you did for the setup of the main menu, and then link the buttons to the imported media assets in the timeline.

  
  

• Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Backgrounds with Apple iDVD

Using DVD Art Essentials with Apple iDVD




• You can use DVD Art Essentials menu backgrounds in conjunction with the menu themes that come with iDVD's template library, dramatically expanding the choices you have when putting together a custom menu. Here's how:

  1. Copy the new Eye Scream Factory DVD Art Essentials menu backgrounds from the DVD to your computer's hard drive.

  2. Open iDVD and create a new project, giving it a name and location and selecting the proper aspect ratio.

  3. With the Theme button highlighted, scroll through the iDVD library themes to find one that you'd like to use. Keep in mind that you will replace the background image with an Eye Scream Factory DVD menu background, so when choosing a theme, pay attention to "drop zones" - the areas designated for your photos. When you see a theme that suits you, click on it in the browser window to select it. You should see it in your project window.

  

  4. Bring your DVD Art Essentials image into your new iDVD project by selecting File> Import> Image and then selecting the background of your choice. For this tutorial, we'll use "waves-NTSC_DV.jpg" from DVD Art Essentials Volume I.

  When you've imported the image, it should automatically take the place of the background in your iDVD template. Now you are free to drop your photos in the "drop zones" of the template and customize your text.

  

  

• Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Backgrounds with Pinnacle Studio

Changing the background




• When you've selected the Studio DVD menu of your choice, open the Video Toolbox or double-click the menu on the timeline. Click the Edit Menu button to change the background :

  

  The Edit Menu Window will open. Next, click on the Backgrounds tab, and then click on the Folder icon and navigate to your images (that you download on Eye Scream Factory). It might be helpful to create a specific folder where you placed the images from Eye Scream Factory.

  Caution : before opening the folder where the elements of Eye Scream Factory are, I urge you to watch and note the path for the backgrounds delivered in Studio (for Studio 12 and XP it is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Pinnacle\Content\Backgrounds or C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Pinnacle\Content\Backgrounds 16x9). Indeed, each time you open the Menu Editor, the default path for the backgrounds is the same than the last time you opened the Menu Editor. If so, you may have difficulty finding the backgrounds that come with Studio if you have not taken the precaution above.

  Now I can choose a new background while keeping the chapters and buttons that are already in place :

  

  Until you hit Ok, you can change your choice as many times as you want. Next week, we will continue this tutorial by showing how to integrate an animated background...

  Here are few examples:

  Same but with an animated background

  On the site you'll also find videos for making animated menu backgrounds. These videos are in MOV format. DVD Art Essential Volumes and DVD Art Professional Volumes do not contain animated menu background. You need to order them separately.

  .MOV format is not supported by Title Deko, the titling module integrated in Studio. We will have to use trickery.

  We follow the same steps as above, and when you click on the Background tab in the Menu editor, just make the background transparent by clicking on the checkerboard icon :

  

  Valid with OK and return to Studio. Simply import into the timeline, on the Overlay track, the .mov and place it just below the menu. Set the clip duration or the menu duration to be identical. And that's it !

  

  Check in the viewer that the background of our menu is now animated :

  

  Finally, the buttons

  Buttons are only included in DVD Art Professional Volumes.
  Please refer to our tutorial Handling layers with Gimp to learn how to get the buttons to format tga.

  Caution : The same warning as the one on the path to the backgrounds is valid here for buttons !

  After loading a menu, press the Buttons tab in the Menu Editor :

  

  Select the button(s) already in the menu and you want to replace :

  

  Choose your replacement button through the Browse buttons icon :

  

  For example the heart with the arrow saved in the tutorial mentioned earlier. This is what happens :

  

  Until you hit Ok, you can change your choice as many times as you want.

• Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Backgrounds with Sony DVD Architect Studio

Using DVD Art Essentials with Sony DVD Architect Studio




• You can use DVD Art Essentials DVD menu backgrounds in Sony's DVD Architect Studio.

  First, click on the Background Media button in the Menu Page Properties tab.
  
  

  In the Background Media tab, it will list 'Video' and the default background. Click where it reads ‘Default’, and in the pop-up menu, select 'Replace'.
  
  

  A window will open allowing you to select a different background. Navigate to where you have your DVD Art Essentials images stored and select one. For this tutorial I'll use worldmap-essentials-NTSC_DV. Then click 'Open.'

  Your new background will appear.
  
  
  

• Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Backgrounds with Grass Valley EDIUS

Using DVD Art Essentials with Grass Valley EDIUS




• Eye Scream Factory DVD Art Essentials images can be used to replace the existing backgrounds in Grass Valley EDIUS DVD menus.

  When you're ready to burn your sequence to disc, click on the Export button in the bottom-right corner of the Recorder Window and select Burn to Disc from the drop-down menu.

  

  The DVD Creator utility will open. Click on the Style tab and then look through the category tabs at the bottom to view the DVD menu presets. Double-click on the thumbnail of a menu. Choose your menu based on the foreground elements as we will be replacing the background.

  

  Now select the Edit tab in the DVD Creator utility. To change the background, double-click where it reads "Back".

  

  Click on the File icon and navigate to your Eye Scream Factory DVD Art Essentials menu backgrounds. Here I chose 'binarycode-essentials-NTSC_DV'.

  

  Click OK and you'll see your new background in place of the old one.

  

   

• Using Eye Scream Factory DVD Menu Backgrounds with Nero Vision

Using DVD Art Essentials with Nero Vision




• DVD Art Essentials provides additional backgrounds for the DVD menus included with Nero Vision.
  
  Vision will automatically link your clips to one of its pre-programmed DVD menus. You may choose one of Vision's menu templates and replace the background image with a DVD Art Essentials background.

  First, choose the Vision template you’d like to start with by clicking on its thumbnail in the Templates tab.

  

  Then, click on the Customize tab and choose the Background drop-down. Choose ‘Picture file' and navigate to your desired DVD Art Essentials background. Your existing Vision DVD menu will now have a new background!