There are numerous instructions for using a main menu Bonus Button in a Premiere Elements DVD menu setup to allow the viewer to skip to special stills and/or videos at the end of the major presentation. Strategically placed main menu marker(s) and stop markers(s) on the Timeline are part of the drill.
Then there are those times when the menu scheme is set up to allow viewer to navigate a multiple movies presentation by selecting a specific movie on the Scene Selection page for viewing, followed by return to Main Menu. Timeline Scene Marker(s) and Stop Markers (s) are typically part of that scenario. But, such a scheme results in the Play All button of the Main Menu losing its play all function, relegating it to play back only the first movie and then return to main menu. The question becomes "Is there a way to do this without Play All button of the Main Menu losing its play all function?"
Back in 2008 I described a way to do this via the "Bonus Button" concept. In this workaround, the Main Menu's Bonus Button becomes the Play All Button, the original Main Menu Play All Button is removed, and a duplicate of the Timeline content placed at the end of the major presentation becomes the "Bonus item".
ISSUE
How to do this menu customization so that
- Play All Button and Scene Selection Button from main menu
- Each scene/movie selected on the Scene Selection page will play back just its specific scene/movie and then return only to Main Menu after its playback
- Major perk is no sacrificing of main menu's Play All option.
SOLUTION
The solution to the issue described in ISSUE is to have the Main Menu's Bonus Button become the Play All Button, get rid of the original main menu Play All Button, and have a duplicate of the Timeline content at the end of the major presentation become the "Bonus item" which is summoned by the Play All Button of the Main Menu.
HOW TO
The example uses 3 video clips, each representing a different movie. For our purposes, the word movie or scene or video clip are the same.
STEP 1
From the Media Panel, drag Video #1 to the beginning of Video Track 1. Place a Scene Marker at the beginning of Video #1 and Stop Marker at the end of Video #1.
STEP 2
Now drag Video #2 to Video Track 1, leaving a few seconds gap between the end of Video #1 and the beginning of Video #2. Place a Scene Marker at the beginning of Video #2 and a Stop Marker at the end of Video #2.
STEP 3
Next drag Video #3 to Video Track 1, leaving a few seconds gap between the end of Video #2 and the beginning of Video #3. Place a Scene Marker at the beginning of Video #3 and a Stop Marker at the end of Video #3.
STEP 4
Then go back to the Media Panel and drag Video #1, Video #2, and Video #3 (trio for the Play All option) from the Media Panel to Video Track 1. These "new" draggings will be placed side by side (no gaps in the trio, no Scene Markers, no Stop Markers) on the Timeline and positioned, leaving a few second space between the end of Video #3 (major presentation)) and the beginning of Video #1 of the trio (Bonus item for Play All option). Now place the Main Menu Marker at the beginning of Video #1 (of the trio for Play All option) and name it Play All.
STEP 5
The typical set up for the existing DVD Main Menu has a Play All button and Scene Selection button. You can add a "Bonus items" button. That is what we just did with our Main Menu Marker, but we called it Play All, not Bonus. So, when you get to your DVD Main Menu of choice, no doubt you will find
- Play All (part of the original menu)
- Scene Selection
- Play All (the "Bonus Item" button that we just created).
The "Play All" (part of the original menu) can be challenging to the modification. Some choices for getting rid of it include:
- Play All without decorative backing. Select the Main Menu in the disc/movie menus section's bin so that the Main Menu page appears on the disc/movie menus section's screen. Double click the Play All button in the Main Menu to open the "Change text" dialog. In the "Change text" dialog, make sure that Play All text is highlighted, hit Delete and then the spacebar and/or Enter. Click OK to exit the "Change text" dialog.
- Play All with decorative backing. Depending on the circumstances where Play All has a decorative background behind the text, try to minimize the bounding box containing the background remaining after the Play All text removal as described above, and move it to a lesser noticed spot on the Main Menu. Alternatively, find the Main Menu's .psd file on the computer hard drive, and open it in Photoshop Elements. In that .psd file, delete the Play All Layer Group. Just turning off the visibility icon for that Layer Group has not always proven effective. At this level, it is advisable to be working from a copy of the original .psd for Menu Menu.
Adobe's overview of Premiere Elements disc/movie menus can be found in the following Adobe document
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/premiereelements/using/WS09e4b3c48f3a79fc19b622510385d4355c-7e19.html#WS09e4b3c48f3a79fc19b622510385d4355c-7e12
The navigation of multiple movies in one major presentation in a Premiere Elements burn to Blu-ray when Stop Markers are involved in the workflow is not possible since Stop Markers do not function in the playback of the Premiere Elements Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc.
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September 03, 2014 Add On
Also see blog post
PE: Disc Menu Folders/Files Locations
http://atr935.blogspot.com/2014/09/pe-disc-menu-foldersfiles-locations.html
ATR
