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Here you can see few sample DVD menus created with our graphics
The menus were combined with text and images directly inside DVD-lab PRO 2.0 authoring software because of its great menu capabilities, but you can of course use any other suitable software for example Photoshop or Real-Draw PRO to overlay the text or video stills, then use the result in your authoring. And if you want a motion thumbnails, you can combine it all very easily in a video editing application - for non-rectangular video we even include Alpha masks.
 First image shows very effective way of creating interesting menus by adding items in perspective. This changes the normal flat looking menu you have been using before to something that looks more professional. We used the background menuletters1 from Texts folder. Of course all what we did after that was to add text and apply perspective transformation to it. This could be done directly in DVD-lab PRO 2.0 with its new Perspective tool and Packages but it can be done as easily in Adobe Photoshop or Real-Draw PRO. Then we added three little bullets that will be used as the actual buttons on DVD to show which item is selected. This is usually better than having the text highlighted because a text will show jagged edges on DVD highlighting, while the red circle blends nicely within the bullet. Of course not to mention that we cannot even have the text highlighted on the image because the boundaries of the text will overlap. There are other backgrounds in our gallery similar to this one so it
 The second image shows combining video with the background template. Of course this particular graphics is also suitable to be used as a background for menu text, but here we used it for video clip.
This could be done in any NLE video editor such Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas Video or inside of DVD-lab PRO using Render Motion feature. The great thing about this template is that it include a separate 32 bit Cut-Out Alpha Mask. First we put down the video frame and resized it so it is just a bit bigger than the whole TV screen. We applied desaturate filter to it. Then we directly placed over the 32 bit Alpha Mask Cut Out image - this is the same image as the background but with the center screen removed using alpha transparency . We already have most of the work done without actually doing much. At the end we can add the background image on top of all this and change its transparency to 80% so it adds back some reflections to the video on the TV screen. Now we can render a new clip. Such clip can be used as a special effect on DVD or a video presentation.
 The third image is a Chapter menu. The idea is similar to the previous example. The chapter template has also separate 32 bit Cut-Out mask which makes the creation of this menu very simple process in any video editor. It is also perfectly suitable for creating DVD-lab PRO Chapters menu template: Add the chapter background image as a menu background (hold Shift while dragging it to menu). Then from Preview window drag any 6 video still frames to the menu and resize/position them so they just overlap the TV screens. If you want you can make the thumbnails black and white by very simple adjusting the Fill color from Automatic to black. Then add the Cut-Out mask to the menu especially prepared for this. Switch off any drop shadow on the mask, then position it so it is aligned with the background. Here you have it. If you want to add a reflection to the screens drag again the chapter background image (but this time no Shift!) and then adjust the transparency of it to something like 80%.
If you want to use this as a still chapter menu don't forget to use the great DVD-lab PRO feature - replace video still. Simply drag a new still from the Preview window over one of the six TVs and drop it. DVD-lab will replace the old still with the new one and apply the same effects even the original still is buried under two layers of masks. Or simply follow the documentation and render the videos into a motion thumbnails using Render Motion feature.
 Last image on this page shows a very simple menu that really doesn't take any work at all. We used our stand3 from Indoor Scenes. All we did was to add text, apply some formatting to it (Photoshop, Real-Draw PRO, DVD-lab PRO all could do this) and then in our DVD authoring set Invisible check marks as the buttons.
This is really very quick example, but the background will add depth to otherwise simple menu and make it interesting.
You will notice that our DVDStyle gallery is full of images that will add great impact to your project without much work. We designed all of our graphics this way so there is always enough empty place to put your text, image or video clips. And don't forget that our gallery is being constantly updated with new themes and graphics.
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