DVD Studio Pro 1.5: Using Photoshop Layers to Specify Button Appearances

You can use the Photoshop Layer method to specify what the buttons on a still menu look like when they are selected and activated. ("Selected" means that if the viewer clicks the Enter or OK key on the remote control, that button will be activated and its action will be carried out.)

To use the Photoshop Layer method, you need a Photoshop file with at least one layer for the background and the normal state buttons, plus one additional layer for the selected and activated states of each button.

1. Make sure the Photoshop file is in the Assets container.
2. Select a menu. In the Picture area of the Property Inspector, choose a Photoshop file from the Asset pop-up menu.
3. In the Property Inspector, click "Layers (always visible)."
4. In the box that appears, select the layers to use for the normal state of the buttons.
5. In the menu editor, select a button, and choose which layers of the Photoshop file to reveal for each state of the button (in the Display area of the Property Inspector).
6. To check your work, choose Show Selected State and Show Activated State from the Buttons menu.
It's easiest to work with the Layer method if you organize the layers according to the button positions in the containers in the Project View. (First the layers for the background, then the layers for Button 1, then the layers for Button 2, and so on.) If you create empty layers beginning with a hyphen ("-") they appear as menu dividers in the Property Inspector's Layers menu.

If your DVD has multiple languages, you need a Photoshop file or layers for each language. If you use multiple Photoshop files for a single set of menus, the layers must be named and organized identically on all of them.