Creating and Linking Buttons

Buttons (or, more properly, the highlight layer) are the mechanism for constructing menus. When used in a title domain they are often referred to as "button-over-video", or BOV. When selected a button can change color and/or contrast. Another set of color/contrast values is used for "action" (or pressed), at which time the command defined for the button is executed.

The highlight section has 5 pages:

Enter the highlight/effect editor by double clicking on the subpicture in the file manager and switching to the editor with the "controls" pulldown -> "Buttons / Highlight / Effects".

Before you can edit buttons you must select a subpicture track, not a single stream. This is necessary so that attributes for different display modes get set into the highlight layer. It also makes it convenient for viewing the menu in different display modes

It is also useful to turn on the display of button outlines.

Creating Buttons

Start by drawing the outline of the button using the mouse. Click on one corner, then drag the "rubber rectangle" to the opposite corner. If you dislike the rectangle you can start again by clicking anywhere.
You can also move and resize the button later, but bear in mind that on widescreen material 2 or 3 display modes are available, and MuxMan will scale and position buttons in the other display modes (those not on screen at the moment) for you to match the video.

When you are happy with the shape click "Make Button"

This will create the button, show its properties, and for the first button, change the controls from "effects" to "highlights"

Each button can be assigned to one of three color schemes. The color and contrast values of the color schemes are defined in the same manner as the base color for a subpicture.

Linking Buttons

The cursor keys on the remote can be used to move from one button to another thru the button links. To set button links click on one of the link selectors (they are, in order from left to right, "left", "right", "up", and "down"

Click on the button that will link to the next button in the selected direction

And drag the rubberband to the button that is the next button in the selected direction.

The button outline for button 3, shown here without background video for clarity, now shows that button 2 is linked to the left.

Testing button color schemes

Now to set and test the "Select" and "Active" colors click on the "operate" button.

Hover over any button and it will change to the "Select" color. In this case the color is too opaque so we change it using the contrast spinner for the "PA" button of "Select"

Now we can see the underlying video. And to view the result better we have turned off the display of the button outlines by clicking off the "Show: Buttons" button. Note: styles of button making vary, this example uses a filled rectangle. Other ways could use just the edge, or a symbol beside the video layer button image.

Click on any button and it will change to the "Active" color. Again, too opaque for this style.