Disc authoring in Studio
For the purposes of editing in Studio, a disc menu is just one more type of clip. As with titles, you can use or adapt the menus provided in the Album, or construct your own from scratch in the Classic Title Editor.
To get a feeling for what is involved, try creating the pair of “instant” projects described below. You don’t have to go as far as making discs, but you can preview your movie using the DVD playback controls on the Player.
Instant video scene catalog: In an empty project, multi-select a good number of scenes from the Album and drag them onto the video track. Now switch to the Disc Menu section of the Album (the bottom tab) and drag any of the menus to the beginning of the Timeline. When Studio asks if you would like to “create chapters at the start of each video clip”, click Yes (see Using menus from the Album). A new track appears at the top of the Timeline, and a small “flag” appears over each of your clips. These represent links from the menu you just added. And that’s it – sit back and watch the show.
Instant slideshow: This time, start in the Still Images section of the Album. Drag as many images as you like onto the video track of an empty project, then drag in any disc menu as the first clip on the Timeline, and again click Yes when asked if you want links automatically created. Turn next to the Transitions section of the Album, pick any transition, and drag it between the menu and the first of your still images. Finally, select all of the still images (click the first, then shift-click the last), click with the right mouse button, and choose Ripple Transition from the pop-up menu. Instant slideshow!
The similarity between titles and disc menus is not just on the surface: a menu is essentially “a title with buttons”. Any title on the Timeline’s main video track can be converted to a disc menu simply by adding one or more buttons in the Classic Title Editor.