Planning ahead - some advice please

[Peter S]

I am working on a project that will probably have 20 to 30 sections varying from 5 to 10 minutes each in length. I would like to give viewers options to choose which section to watch, to exit at any point and return to the start of the section or to start a new section. I would like to make the output available as either a CD or a DVD at the users option.

For the CD version:

I have read previous threads explaining the creation of a menu based on a "one slide menu exe" linking to other exe files, but never tried this myself in 4.48. I understand that this will be possible in the final version of 5 but is not yet available. Can anyone please confirm this? For individual slides the current buttons in O & A only seem to provide information about a slide but nothing more. Is it going to be possible to use them to "go to" other places such as other slides or other files? Or can they be used in other ways to help menu creation?

For the DVD version:

This would seem to be easier as I can just use the video builder pages to create a structure for the DVD and let the viewer use the remote to stop/start/return to menu. BUt ... is there a catch?

I would like to ensure that I do not spend too much time producing separate sections for the CD version that I later wish I had bundled together and would really appreciate any advice or comments that anyone can offer.

I have already seen that I could have saved some time if I had waited for the new text options but then I do like some of the more complex Photoshop text effects!!

Peter

[Ian]

Hi Peter

You're correct that the 'action' function of the buttons in v5 has not yet been turned on, but Igor has indicated that this should be available very soon (possibly in Beta#10). Even so, there is nothing to stop you making all of your sequences in v5, but using 4.48 to create the main menu. This will work fine, and the only thing you will lose is the new button designs in v5.

As you say, the DVD option will work anyway using the standard DVD menu structure.

Ian