A quick explination of MMB and how I make my HD menus
- From: "Ken Maltby" <kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:37:27 -0500
I am making some very good menus for playback of my
NAS archived video. This is a great way to go, if you want
to create something impressive and informanitive to select your
videos from.
http://photos.yahoo.com/kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just click on the pictures at the site, but to see
them full size you can download them, they are small
<200KB files.
Too bad you can't hear the background music, or see the
transitions between menu pages.
Multimedia Builder (MMB) makes it very straight forward, even
though it wasn't designed with this in mind, it's perfect for the job.
(Except for one thing, simple Motion Menus, or more accurately
using a motion video background.)
http://mmb.mediachance.com/index.html
They have a trial version you can download.
It is a very graphical interface that lets you build pages of
program interface. It was, and still is, used to make the install
programs for a lot of hardware and software. It is also often
used to make interactive training material.
You create Objects on a Page, within a Project.
The Object create dropdown list:
Text
Input Text
Paragraph Text
Text Button
Bitmap Button
Alpha Button
Bitmap
Animated GIF
Metafile
VR Panorama
List Box
Rectangle
Circle
Line
Polygon
Rectangular Hot Spot
Polygon Hot Spot
Video
MCI Object
Dynamic FX
Audio Visualization
Script
Image Matrix
HTML
Flash
Binding Object
Plug-in
Most objects have, in addition to the settings/data inputs
needed to create the object, the following Actions icons:
Command & Page Icon (External Commands and Page actions)
This is one way to interact with external programs (like Media
Player Classic)
The Trigger Actions for a Text Button are:
On Mouse Click: (a dropdown list with a bunch of options
including Run Program.)
Path: (where you specify the path to the external program to
run)
[For example C:\MMB Menus\mplayerc.exe]
More Parameters: ( This is where the command line switches go)
[ for example
"M:\Stargate Atlantis\Season 1\SGA_S1_E14.mp4" /play /fixedsize 1280,720]
-------------
That's the way I "link the menu selection to a command line interface",
for these menus.
-------------
Then for the Interactions Icon (Interaction with other objects)
There are actions for when the mouse is over an object, including:
Show/Hide, Show/Fade Out, Show Only, Hide Only, and
Run Script.
You select the Object for the action from another dropdown list.
[ For example I have the Episode description (like in the Andromeda
menus I posted) as a text object that is hidden until mouse over, for
my later menus.] [ I have also used the Text to Speech script
commands, to have the text read aloud on mouse over]
You can also set two Mouse click on object triggers.
( These are in addition to any command action, and just deal
with the objects display and embedded video.)
Then for the Sounds Icon (Sound Actions)
It is where you can specify a sound to play on mouse over
and/or mouse click for the object.
You can use an Embedded Sound or an external audio file.
The last Icon for most objects is the Script Icon (More Actions)
Here you can create very useful scripts, using the only "Wizard"
I ever liked. [Most "Wizards" do more to restrict you than help you,
this one is different.] [On these menus I usually just use it to stop the
background music when the object is selected.]
The wizard covers plenty more than you need for menus, but
you can also create your own, with a lot more possibilities. MMB
even provides a nice little script editing window, and save and load
buttons.
That describes the objects for the most part.
There are settings for the Project as a whole and settings for the
Page. (It is in the Page Properties that you set the background
music, image, mouse cursor and Page Transitions. )
There are also various Effects available.
That describes MMB.
--------------------------------------------------------
As to "how I create them", I guess you mean the artwork/
backgrounds, maybe the text as well.
The Text is just a result of having picked up a few good
fonts from various sources, including the $9.95 4000 Fonts
CDs you find on discount display stands everywhere.
The Background Images are mostly just the largest Wallpapers
I can find for the TV show I'm collecting. I have to crop and
resize them for my HD display, and so I have a place for the
menu objects. I use the free Gimp2 graphic editor, to do the
usually minor, manipulations required.
I also use abstract wallpapers and NASA photos for
background images. I just uploaded a couple of more menu
images using such backgrounds and Bitmap Buttons.
http://photos.yahoo.com/kmaltby@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Once you have done a few, it is really easy, especially if you
use a logical and consistent file structure and naming convention.
( I have menus that are done that include everything but the
episode name for episodes that haven't even aired. All I need
do is open the project file and add the names, once the episodes
are captured and given their proper file name. )
Luck;
Ken
.
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