Highlights in ARCH

David Delaney · June 9th, 2009, 08:35 PM

I want to change a button (that happens to be a graphic of yellow TEXT) so the highlight is another color (red). I created two states of the button in Photoshop (normal = yellow button and mouseover=red button) but I can't seem to figure out how to get the HIGHLIGHT to be the second image, it is always either a text box or an underline, but not the secondary image. I went into the MASK properties and changed it to the second state graphic, but this didn't seem to do the trick...any ideas?

Ryan Laytart · June 9th, 2009, 10:47 PM

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but this may solve your problem:

I was pretty frustrated with Architect for this reason. Unless someone else knows how to make this happen, then you'll have to try my work-around.

In a previous project, I wanted a pencil to be the cursor in the menu. The only way to do this in Architect is to create a menu for each highlight. In other words, if you have two buttons on the menu, each will end up having it's own menu.

The default menu will have the desired highlight picture over the first button. when you navigate to the 2nd button, it must be set to auto-activate, which takes you to the next menu. This is just a copy of the first menu, but the highlight is now over the 2nd button.

The drawback to this is that you can't have music on the menu, since it will be interrupted each time you navigate to a different button.

Any of this make any sense? If not, I can upload a video of the menu I made.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only way to create your own picture highlights in Architect.

David Delaney · June 10th, 2009, 03:31 PM

I just want the mouse-over the button to be something other then the rectangle or underline. I want to create my own highlight/mouseover.

Ryan Laytart · June 10th, 2009, 04:38 PM

If you're only looking to set the graphic to a different color during highlight, then a red highlight mask set to 100% opacity should do the trick. I'm not sure you even need a 2nd psd layer to accomplish this.

As far as I know with Architect, the only 3 highlight options are rectangle, underline and mask.

Jeff Harper · June 10th, 2009, 04:40 PM

David,

You are looking at the project in DVDA.

Click once on the button in question. Look to the upper right and you will see button properties. Click on "highlight". Use the style tap to play with options that are available.

Go back up to button properties to change colors. After changing things you have to preview to see the button changes.

To use a pre-prepared image as a button, (and I might be wrong about this) you are getting into a whole thing that is not "outright" supported by DVDA. It can be done, but it involves masking, etc., and doing other things that I know nothing about.

What you want to do, from my VERY limited understanding, is relavtively easy to do in Adobe Encore, which can use photoshop images for various things, and supports the use of overlays, etc. It might not be as easy as I have heard, but I know that you can buy menu templates for Encore, and some of them are VERY cool. Google it and you'll find a couple of websites that sell templates. You won't to my knowledge find any anywhere for DVDA.

With DVDA it is a bit of a process. The VASST training DVD goes into this on "Going deeper into DVDA".

If you are serjous about doing this type of stuff regularly with DVDA I recommend the training DVD above, as it goes through this process step by step.

Jeff Harper · June 10th, 2009, 04:45 PM

Ryan, after reading your post (which I didn't read to begin with as I should have) maybe what he wants to do isn't that complex.

But David what Ryan says is right, there are very limited options with DVDA menus out of the box, but with masks and things you can do more.

Ryan Laytart · June 10th, 2009, 06:05 PM

Jeff is correct about Encore. It works hand in hand with Photoshop when creating complex menus with layers. What I like most about it is the ability to use transparent buttons and highlights.

If you have the money to drop, you should look into getting Encore, which, unless you get lucky and find a separate copy, is only available with the Photoshop suite.

June 9th, 2009, 08:35 PM	#1
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Highlights in ARCH - how can I make my own? I want to change a button (that happens to be a graphic of yellow TEXT) so the highlight is another color (red). I created two states of the button in Photoshop (normal = yellow button and mouseover=red button) but I can't seem to figure out how to get the HIGHLIGHT to be the second image, it is always either a text box or an underline, but not the secondary image. I went into the MASK properties and changed it to the second state graphic, but this didn't seem to do the trick...any ideas?

June 10th, 2009, 04:38 PM	#4
Ryan Laytart Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Temperance, MI Posts: 86	If you're only looking to set the graphic to a different color during highlight, then a red highlight mask set to 100% opacity should do the trick. I'm not sure you even need a 2nd psd layer to accomplish this. As far as I know with Architect, the only 3 highlight options are rectangle, underline and mask. Last edited by Ryan Laytart; June 10th, 2009 at 06:06 PM.

June 9th, 2009, 10:47 PM	#2
Ryan Laytart Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Temperance, MI Posts: 86	I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but this may solve your problem: I was pretty frustrated with Architect for this reason. Unless someone else knows how to make this happen, then you'll have to try my work-around. In a previous project, I wanted a pencil to be the cursor in the menu. The only way to do this in Architect is to create a menu for each highlight. In other words, if you have two buttons on the menu, each will end up having it's own menu. The default menu will have the desired highlight picture over the first button. when you navigate to the 2nd button, it must be set to auto-activate, which takes you to the next menu. This is just a copy of the first menu, but the highlight is now over the 2nd button. The drawback to this is that you can't have music on the menu, since it will be interrupted each time you navigate to a different button. Any of this make any sense? If not, I can upload a video of the menu I made. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only way to create your own picture highlights in Architect.

June 10th, 2009, 03:31 PM	#3
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	I just want the mouse-over the button to be something other then the rectangle or underline. I want to create my own highlight/mouseover.

June 10th, 2009, 04:40 PM	#5
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	David, You are looking at the project in DVDA. Click once on the button in question. Look to the upper right and you will see button properties. Click on "highlight". Use the style tap to play with options that are available. Go back up to button properties to change colors. After changing things you have to preview to see the button changes. To use a pre-prepared image as a button, (and I might be wrong about this) you are getting into a whole thing that is not "outright" supported by DVDA. It can be done, but it involves masking, etc., and doing other things that I know nothing about. What you want to do, from my VERY limited understanding, is relavtively easy to do in Adobe Encore, which can use photoshop images for various things, and supports the use of overlays, etc. It might not be as easy as I have heard, but I know that you can buy menu templates for Encore, and some of them are VERY cool. Google it and you'll find a couple of websites that sell templates. You won't to my knowledge find any anywhere for DVDA. With DVDA it is a bit of a process. The VASST training DVD goes into this on "Going deeper into DVDA". If you are serjous about doing this type of stuff regularly with DVDA I recommend the training DVD above, as it goes through this process step by step.

June 10th, 2009, 04:45 PM	#6
Jeff Harper Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 8,425	Ryan, after reading your post (which I didn't read to begin with as I should have) maybe what he wants to do isn't that complex. But David what Ryan says is right, there are very limited options with DVDA menus out of the box, but with masks and things you can do more.

June 10th, 2009, 06:05 PM	#7
Ryan Laytart Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Temperance, MI Posts: 86	Jeff is correct about Encore. It works hand in hand with Photoshop when creating complex menus with layers. What I like most about it is the ability to use transparent buttons and highlights. If you have the money to drop, you should look into getting Encore, which, unless you get lucky and find a separate copy, is only available with the Photoshop suite.