Beth Cataldo, January 30, 2007

Menus:
There are two types of menus, layered menus and overlay menus. Layered menus use separate layers in a PS document to determine a button's selected and activated state. You can configure the menus to turn on graphics anywhere on the menu when someone clicks somewhere.

The problem with layered menus is that they are slow to respond to user input and can't be used to make motion menus. You also can't add sound to layered menus.

Overlay menus are single layer menus that use another file -- called an overlay -- to define the shapes of the highlights.

To Add a Menu in DVDSP:
In the top Tool Bar, click the Add Layered (or Overlay) Menu button. Or in the Outline View, control-click anywhere and choose Add>Layered Menu (Add>Overlay Menu). An untitled Menu tile is added. Click on the Untitled Menu and type in the name of the Menu. You can also name the Menu in the Inspector window.

To add your PSD file to this empty tile, drag it from your Assets bin to the name of your Menu.

The Menu Editor

Double click on your menu name in the outline view to open up the Menu Editor. You use the Menu Editor to define buttons, target links and define how the user navigates through your menu.

The background is the part of the menu that does not change in response to the viewer's commands. You define this through the Inspector. If your file has multiple layers, you will have to tell DVDSP layers you want to select for the background.

Using Drop Palettes

Drop palettes make it easy to drag and drop an asset and automatically define it as a background, an overlay, a button, etc.

From the assets bin, select an image and drag it over the menu editor's background but don't release your mouse immediately.

A drop palette appears under your pointer. From here you can choose how to define the menu.

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