Play scene order out of sequence?

Pullmanite wrote on 5/4/2006, 10:46 AM
I shot a video of a play that has its scenes out of sequence, almost like "Memento" in a way.

I'd like to have the main program as a single render with normal chapters (play chapters 1-14 in sequence) but also have an option to view the play in chronological sequence (scene 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14).

Any way to do that without a separate render?
Would I need to render the video as separate scenes to get that to work?
I won't have room on the disk to have two separately rendered versions... is this possible?

Comments

bStro wrote on 5/4/2006, 2:01 PM
Assuming you're using anything other than version 1.0:

1. Add your regular version to the project. If it's not already divided into chapters, do so now.

2. Click on the disc icon in the Project Overview window and go to Insert -> Page (or Sub Menu -- I don't think it really matters). You're going to use this as a "holding spot" for your different chapters. You could do this without a menu, but it's nice to have someplace to organize things. We'll call this Storage.

3. Since this menu is just for organization purposes, we don't want any connections to it -- if DVDA created a link to this menu from any other menus, delete those links. You can probably delete the Return link that will be on the Storage menu, but you might want it there in case someone accidentally stumbles onto the Storage menu. Never know.

4. Copy your main movie onto the Storage menu. Then copy and paste that button enough times so that you have one button for each of your chapters. Go to the Project Overview window and rename each of these so you can easily identify them by chapter. Whether you name them (top to bottom) according to their chronological order or scen order is up to you; just pay attention to that order when you do the next step.

5. In the Project Overview window, double-click the first button under the Storage menu and go to its timeline. Drag the In and Out points so that only one chapter will play. For example, if you named that button Chapter 13, then drag the Out point to the end of Chapter 13 (it's actually the beginning of Chapter 14, but don't worry about it), and then drag the In point to the beginning of Chapter 13. (Doing the Out point first is less confusing; as you move the In point, the chapter numbers on the timeline will change.) Do this for all of the items on your Storage menu.

You have up two options for what to do next, depending on which version of DVDA you're using.

6a. For DVDA 3.0, Playlists: Go to whichever menu from which you want access to the chronological version, be it the main menu or a special features menu, etc. Go to Insert -> Playlist. You'll get a pop-up window to select which items you want on the playlist. Choose all the chapters you want in the chrono version and click OK. Then go to the Playlists window and, if they're not already in chrono order, drag the playlist items around until they are.

6b. For DVDA 2.0 or 3.0, End Actions: Go to the Storage menu and copy the button for whichever chapter is first chronologically. Paste that button to whichever menu you want access to this version from (yadda yadda, as above). Double-click the new button, go to the End Actions tab of the Properties window, and change the Destination property to whichever chapter you want to be next. Then double-click that item in the Project Overview and change its End Action / Destination property the same way to reflect the next chapter. And so on. Link the last (chronological) chapter to the menu that started this sequence.

Rob
Pullmanite wrote on 5/5/2006, 8:48 AM
Holy Toledo! That has to be the most clear and concise set of instructions I have ever come across on a forum... thank you so much for your time and help!

I have DVDA 3.0 so this will work wonders. Thank you again.