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.