Menu Editor

A brief overview of the Menu Editor

Upon load the Menu Editor you are presented with a default scene containing one item. The default item is a yellow sqaure that covers the entire preview pane. This is typically an image you would use for a back ground. You can resize the default image into a smaller item for use with something such as a HUD.

Each menu/HUD is made up of individual items. Every item is a visual representation of a different element in your menu/HUD.

Add a new item

On the general tab press the "New Item" button.

A new item is added and appears in the selection list. To make changes to an item you need to first select it by clicking its name in the selection list.

** Remove an item **

Press the "Remove Item" button

Resize and Reposition item

The width and height number boxes control the items width and height. The X and Y number boxes control the position of the item. The (0,0) coordinate is the bottom left of the screen. ** Important note - the menu editor does not use screen resolution but scales the image by 1/1000th of the screens resolution. You cannot enter values greater than 1000. (500,500) would represent the center of the screen and (1000,1000) would be the top right of the screen.

Active items

To make an item active select the item from the selection list then check the active box. By default an item is inactive. Active items will not interact with the mouse and will only show the default image.

Hide an item / make invisible

If you wish to hide an item from the scene uncheck the visible box.

** Change an items image(s) **

Select the item from the selection list then click the Images tab. The image tab has three image options.

Default - The default image displayed. This is the image displayed on an inactive item or when the mouse is not inside the item.

On Enter - The image that is displayed when the mouse enters the items area. You can use this create special button effects when you scroll the mouse cursor over an item.

Pressed - The image that is displayed once you click the item.

** Text generator **

You can use the text generator to automatically generate a text image for an item. Select an item from the selection list then click the Text Creator tab. On the text creator tab you will see three colored boxes. You can click each box to change its color.

Default - The default color of the text.

On enter - The color of the text when the mouse enters the text area.

Pressed - The color of the text when you click it.

Just below the "change font" button is the text message box. Type text into this box a preview will appear below the color selection box.

Press the "change font" button to select a new font and size. It is recommended you use a large font size. The image created is based off the font size. Small font sizes will not scale well on larger screens and will appear pixelated and in some cases unreadable.

Creating the text image

Once you are satisfied with your text. Click the "Create" button and the images will be saved to the currently selected item.

** Previewing your menu/HUD **

Check the preview box at the bottom of the editor. Now you can scroll the mouse over preivew pane and see how the items will look when interacting with the mouse.

** Save and Load menu files **

To save a file select save from the file menu. Give the file a name and select okay. When saving a file be sure to choose an empty directory. All of the images associated with the menu file will be save in the same directory as the menu file. To load the file select load from the file menu. You can also clear the current menu by selecting new from the file menu.