Creating buttons from Vegas-created markers

dxdy wrote on 4/17/2011, 10:11 AM

I have been unable to figure out how to create buttons on a menu and tie them to chapter markers created in Vegas 10. (I am using DVDA 5.2).

I have tried creating a project as a single movie project, or as a menu based project with the same frustrating result - either the markers are not visible, the marker creation tool is greyed out, or the markers do not appear in the Button Properties/Actions/Destination choices.
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Does anyone have a detailed description of how to proceed? I rendered from Vegas 10.0c to the MPG2 DVDA NTSC Video Stream template with Save project markers in media file option checked.

TIA,
Fred

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 4/17/2011, 3:01 PM

It's hard to say what you're doing wrong without knowing what exactly you're doing, dxdy.

But if you've added markers to your timeline and you'd like them to be used as Scene/Chapter Markers in DVD Architect, it should be as simple as choosing Make Movie/Burn DVD and checking the option to use the markers as scene markers. Then, when you click the Send to DVD Architect button, the video will show up in your DVD Architect project with the scene markers on its timeline.

I have no idea why the Create Scene/Chapter Markers button would be grayed-out.

What steps are you taking from Vegas to DVD Architect? It doesn't sound like you select the Burn to DVD option and then clicked the Send to DVD Architect button.

dxdy wrote on 4/17/2011, 4:02 PM

Thanks for the reply Steve. As I was typing up my workflow, I figured it out.

In the past, I have made each chapter a Vegas project. I render it out as an MPG2 and AC3. Then I open DVDA, drag the files onto the workspace, and each gets a button. I set end actions to move to the next video and all is well.

In trying to eliminate the brief pause between chapters for someone who plays the DVD all the way through, I created all the chapters within one Vegas project, put markers at the beginning of each "chapter", and rendered it out as one big MPG2 and one big AC3.

I created a Menu-based project in DVDA. Then I used Insert/Media and selected the MPG2 file from the rendered subdirectory.

HERE IS THE STEP I WAS MISSING:

Now I click on the one button that was created in the Insert/Media step. Then I right click and select Insert Scene Selection Menu. And there appears a menu with a button for each marker. Marvelous.

I don't know if this is the best way to achieve menus from markers, but it does work. Having read your post, I don't see a "Burn to DVD" option in Vegas Pro 10. I do see under Tools "Burn Disc", but that has nothing called "Send to DVD Architect" that I can see.

Thanks for addressing my problem,
Fred

Steve Grisetti wrote on 4/17/2011, 4:33 PM

My instructions work in Vegas Movie Studio HD 10, Fred. Things may well be different in Pro. Sorry.

L8R wrote on 4/17/2011, 10:28 PM

wow, maybe I'm missing something here but I think you are way over thinking this.
When you reneder out your project to .m2t for dvd, there is a check mark that says include markers.
When you open up DVDA and insert media the markers will follow.

In my discs I do two things for my clients. I provide scene selection menus that are used from the marker points. I also give them main chapter marks, to jump to major chunks of the video.
What I do there is to copy the "text only or text and image" media file on the menu and paste it on back onto the menu. I paste as many as I need for the chapters I want.
Then when you double click the media it opens up the timeline. I simply just arrange the start and stop points of each chapter. (which you can still link together or only change the start point and not the end point.
So your viewer has the option of playing the full file or going to a chapter to start at a major part or going further to a scene selection menu for each marker.
I just change each pasted "reference" to a chapter to it's appropriate name.