DVD Production I: Introduction to idvd Assemble your movies and still images Before you create your DVD, assemble your materials and check that your movies are in the correct format for idvd. All movies in QuickTime format except MPEG files, QuickTime VR, and Sprites can be added to an idvd project. For best results, export your movies as QuickTime files that are in DV (digital video) format. If you created your movie in Final Cut Pro and inserted chapter markers, export your movie using Final Cut s QuickTime Conversion and be sure to select the Include Chapter Markers option. To choose a theme for your DVD menu: A "theme" is a combination of the background image or background movie, a music clip, and the button style that appear on your DVD menu. In each theme that comes with idvd, the fonts, sizes, and locations for titles and button labels are already set for you. You can use one of the themes that come with idvd, or you can create and save your own customized version. Some themes are accompanied by music, but you can replace the existing music or add your own music to all of the themes. There are four kinds of themes from which to choose: "Picture only" themes have static background pictures. Example: Green Linen Two. "Picture with audio" themes have static background pictures accompanied by music. An example is Claim Check. "Motion" themes have short videos that "loop" (or repeat) in the background with or without accompanying music. An example is Global. "Drop Zone" themes have one or more Drop Zones, sections of the main background to which you can add slideshows, movies, and still images. An example: Postcard. The first three kinds of themes have buttons to which you can add still images or movies. Drop Zone themes come with text buttons, but you can change these to still image or motion buttons in the Customize drawer. To choose the theme for your DVD menu: 1. Click the Customize button at the bottom of the idvd window. The Customize drawer opens. 2. Click the Themes button at the top of the Customize drawer. If you do not see a list of themes when you click the button, choose All from the pop-up menu at the top of the Customize drawer. 3. Move the scroller up and down to see the themes. Use the pop-up menu at the top to check out all the different kinds of themes. Click the theme to preview it. 4. Click the desired theme to select it. 5. Drag a movie from your folder in the Finder into the Drop Zone. The movie plays in the Drop Zone. (The Drop Zone is not a link to view the movie; it only shows part of the movie in your menu.)
6. Click the Motion button to stop the movie. 7. With the pointer over the Drop Zone, press the mouse and drag the movie image left, right, up, or down until you are satisfied with the placement of the image. Click the Motion button again to start the movie playing. To add movies to your DVD: After you have chosen your theme, add movies to your idvd project. You can import movies from the Finder or can also use the imedia browsers to import content from itunes, iphoto, and imovie directly into your idvd projects. 1. If the Customize drawer is not open, click Customize at the bottom of the idvd window. You see three media buttons at the top of the Customize drawer. 2. Click Audio. If you have itunes 3 or later installed, and you have music in your library, you will see your playlists and songs in the itunes browser, ready to drag into your project. 3. Click Photos. If you have iphoto 2.0 or later installed, and you have photos in your library, you will see your albums and images in the iphoto browser, ready to drag into your project. 4. Click Movies. If you have imovie 3 or later installed, and there are movies in the top level of the Movies folder in your home folder, you will see movies in the Movies folder browser. idvd does not recognize movies nested within folders in the Movies folder. If you keep movies in other folders on your hard disk, you can add search paths to those folders so all your movies will be visible in the Movies folder browser. You can set the additional movie file search paths in the Advanced pane of idvd preferences. 5. Drag your movie files to your DVD menu. IDVD creates buttons that link to the movies. Drop Zone themes come with text buttons only, but you can change these to still image or motion buttons in the Customize drawer. To change the menu title: 1. Click the title to select it. 2. Type your new title and press Return. You can also change button labels by selecting the text and typing a new name. To create an additional menu and theme: A menu can have only six buttons. If you want to put more than six items on your DVD, use one or more of your six available buttons to link to another menu (or "submenu"). If you have multiple submenus in a series, each menu can have five buttons that link to movies or slideshows, and a sixth button leading to the next submenu. 1. Click the Folder button to create a new button. Name the button. 2. Double-click the button to open the new menu. 3. Click the Themes button in the Customize drawer and change the theme if desired. If you want to turn off the music and motion for now, click the Motion button. If you want to turn off the music only, click the small audio icon in the lower right corner of the Audio well.
A Back button is automatically added to the new menu. When viewing the finished DVD, viewers must click this Back button to return to the previous menu. To create a scene menu using a movie with chapter markers: idvd recognizes chapter markers set in video-editing software, and can create scene submenus using the markers. The submenus let the viewer see an index of the movie's scenes, designated by chapter markers. You can set your idvd chapter marker preferences so that submenus are always created when you import a movie with chapter markers, never created, or you decide each time. To create a scene menu: 1. Drag a new movie from your folder in the Finder to the menu. When you drag it to the menu, the name of the menu changes to the name of the movie. If the movie has chapter markers In It, idvd automatically creates two buttons on the menu: a button with the title of the movie, so the viewer can play the entire movie, and a submenu button that links to a scene submenu. 2. If you want to rearrange the buttons, click the Settings button, and then select the Free Position button in the Button editing area. Rearrange the buttons as you want. 3. Double-click the Scene Selection button to open the first scene submenu. You see a button for each of the first six chapters in the movie. The button names match the names you assigned to the different chapters, and the button images match the chapter thumbnails you set in the video-editing software. A submenu is created for each six chapters in your movie. 4. Rearrange the buttons if necessary. (Select the Free Position button in the Customize drawer.) Each submenu also contains a Back button to get to the previous menu and a Next Scenes button to navigate to the next scene submenu, if one exists. To create a custom background for your DVD menu: You can use your own background image or movie clip in a DVD menu. 1. Make sure your scene menu is still showing. 2. If you don't see the Settings pane of the Customize drawer, click Customize and then click Settings. 3. Do one of the following: Drag a movie from your folder to the Background Image/Movie well. Choose File > Import > and select a movie. Command-drag a movie to the background menu. To use a movie from the Movies folder browser, drag your movie to the Settings button, hold it there until the Settings pane opens, and then drop your movie onto the Background Image/Movie well. To change menu title and button options: You can change the shape of buttons and the text style for button labels and menu titles. 1. Click Customize and then click Settings. 2. Choose the desired position from the Title Position pop-up menu. 3. Choose a button shape from the Button shape pop-up menu.
4. Choose a font from the Button Font pop-up menu. 5. Make sure that Free Position is selected, and then drag the buttons to the opposite corners of the menu, or anywhere you like. Buttons within the TV safe area will be visible when the DVD is viewed on a TV screen. To see the boundaries of the TV safe area, choose Advanced > Show TV Safe Area. If the theme you select has text buttons, and you prefer still image or motion buttons, you can override the theme. Click the Customize button, and then the Settings button. Choose a button shape from the pop-up menu. Select Free Position so you can move the buttons. To save a theme as a favorite: After customizing a theme, you can save the theme as a favorite that you can apply to any new DVD menu you create. 1. Click the "Save as Favorite" button at the bottom of the Settings pane. 2. Name the favorite in the Save dialog shown below. Click OK. Your custom menu is displayed in the list of themes in the Customize drawer. Choose Favorites from the Themes pop-up menu to find it. 3. Click the Back button (the button with curved arrow) to return to the previous menu. To set the start frame for a motion button: When you drag a movie to your menu in the idvd window, you create a motion button that displays a looping portion of the movie it links to. To see a preview of the motion button, click the Motion button. A new button uses the first frame of the movie as the starting frame for the looping portion. You can change the image displayed on a button to any frame in the movie by dragging the slider that appears above the button when it is selected. 1. Click the button to select it (the button that links to the whole movie, not the Scene Selection button). 2. Drag the slider below the button to select a different frame for the first frame of the video loop. If you set the button title position to Top in the Customize drawer, the slider appears below the button. 3. Click the Customize button to open the Customize drawer, and then click Settings. Drag the Motion Duration slider to the number of seconds you want the video to loop, up to 30 seconds. (If you had also assigned a background movie to the menu, the duration you select for the movie button would also apply to the background movie.) To make the motion button show a still image instead, click the button to select it, then deselect the Movie checkbox below it. To create a slideshow: You can use idvd to create a slideshow from a group of pictures and add a soundtrack to it. See IDVD Help for instructions. To preview your disc: Preview mode shows how your DVD will look when you play it on your home DVD player
or computer with a DVD drive. 1. Click the Motion button to turn on the motion background and buttons. 2. Click the Preview button to switch to preview mode. Use the arrow buttons on the remote control to select a button in the menu and click Enter to activate the selected button. Use the Backward and Forward buttons on the remote to advance through the slides in a slideshow. Click the Menu to return to the DVD menu. 3. When you are finished, click the Preview button again or click the Exit button on the remote control. To burn your DVD: When you are finished with your idvd project, you can write it to a blank DVD-R disc. Write a disc only when you are sure that you are finished with your project. Once you write to a DVD-R disc, it cannot be overwritten. If you change anything in your idvd project, you have to write it to a new, blank DVD-R disc. 1. To see motion menus and buttons in your finished disc, click the Motion button to turn motion on. If motion is not turned on when you burn the disc, you won't see motion in the disc. 2. Click the Burn button once to indicate you are ready to burn, and a second time to begin the burning process. When prompted, insert a blank disc into the drive. The time it takes for the disc to be created depends on the amount of video on the disc and the type of computer. On average, it takes two to three minutes to encode and write one minute of video to the disc. Note: This document is adapted from Apple s idvd Help and Tutorial files. For more information, visit Apple s idvd support page at http://www.apple.com/support/idvd. Patricia A. Facciponti Instructional Technologist faccipop@lafayette.edu Ext. 5632, Skillman109 Questions? Contact: John O Keefe Manager, Instructional Technology okeefej@lafayette.edu Ext. 5161, Skillman107