1 This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the process of creating an iDVD project using sample movie clips and pictures that came with the tutorial. When you are done with the tutorial, you will have a complete project ready to burn on a DVD. From there, you can go on to create your own exciting DVDs. Before You Begin To make it easier to do the tasks in this tutorial, print the document before you start. In many tasks shown in this lesson and in iDVD Help, you need to choose menu commands, which look like this: Choose Edit > Copy. The first term after Choose is the name of a menu in the iDVD menu bar. The next term (or terms) are the items you choose from that menu. Preview the Tutorial Project To see a preview of what the finished project will look like, open the completed tutorial project. You'll be creating a project just like this one in the next part of this tutorial. 1 Double-click the iDVD application in the Finder, and click Open Tutorial. The tutorial project opens in iDVD. When it opens, you see the main menu. The menu has three buttons, Play Movie, Scene Selection, and Extras. It also has an area in the middle called a drop zone that has a slideshow playing in it. 2 If you don't see the slideshow playing in the drop zone, click the Motion button at the bottom of the iDVD window. 3 Click Preview to enter preview mode. 4 Click the Play Movie button. Notice that the menu dissolves into the movie, because a Dissolve transition was set for this menu. The movie plays and returns to the main menu when it is finished. 5 Click the Scene Selection button. A scene menu opens with buttons for each of the chapters in the movie. These chapters were set in video-editing software, such as iMovie, Final Cut Express, or Final Cut Pro. Click a chapter button to play the movie starting from that scene. When the movie finishes playing, it returns to the main menu. 6 Click the Extras button. A submenu opens. Tutorial 1 iDVD Tutorial 7 Click the Snow Day Pictures button to preview the slideshow. When the slideshow finishes playing, it returns to the submenu. 8 Click Exit on the DVD remote control to leave preview mode. Create a New Project Now that you've seen the features of the iDVD tutorial, you are ready to create the project yourself. In this section, you will locate the movies, photos, and audio files you will use, open a new project, and select the theme. Locate the Movies, Photos, and Audio Files to Use in the Tutorial Before you can create a DVD, you need to assemble your images and be sure your movies and songs are in the right format for iDVD. The video clips, images, and audio files you'll use in this tutorial are located inside the iDVD Tutorial folder in the /Library/Application Support folder on your hard disk. They are already in the proper format. Open a New Project in iDVD If iDVD isn't open, double-click the iDVD application icon on your hard disk. If this is the first time iDVD has been opened, click the New Project button in the dialog. If iDVD is already open, choose File > New Project. In the dialog that appears, click the Don't Save button to close the tutorial demo and leave it as it was. Choose a location for your new project, and click Create. Select the Theme A theme is a combination of the background image or background movie that appears on your DVD menu along with the button style, fonts, sizes, and locations for titles and button labels. You can use one of the themes that come with iDVD, or you can customize them and create your own theme. In this tutorial, you will learn how to select an existing iDVD theme. To choose the theme for your DVD menu: 1 Click the Customize button [A] at the bottom of the iDVD window. The Customize drawer opens. B C E D A 2 iDVD Tutorial 2 Click the Themes button [B] at the top of the Customize drawer. Choose All from the pop-up menu [C] at the top of the Customize drawer. 3 Click the Motion button. Some themes contain movies, slideshows, or music. To see the motion or hear the music included in these themes, you need to turn on motion by clicking the Motion button. 4 Move the scroller [D] 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 each theme to see it in the iDVD window. 5 Click the theme named Kids Theater [E] to select it for your project. This theme contains an autoplay movie, which is set to play before the main DVD menu appears. You will see more about autoplay movies later in the tutorial. Notice the symbol in the upper-left corner of the theme indicating that it includes an autoplay movie. 6 Drag the Pictures folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder into the drop zone in the menu. A slideshow of the pictures plays in the drop zone. The drop zone is not a link to view the slideshow; it just lets you add interest to your menu background. You can also add a movie or a single still image to a drop zone. iDVD Tutorial 3 Add a Movie With Chapter Markers After you have chosen your theme, you can add movies to your iDVD project.The movie you'll add to this project contains chapter markers, which identify the start of each scene in the movie. (You add chapter markers in the video-editing software you use to create your movie.) When you drop a movie with chapter markers onto the menu, iDVD recognizes the chapter markers and automatically creates scene selection menus with buttons that link to each of the chapters. To add a movie with chapter markers: 1 Drag the movie Our First Snowman.mov from the Movies folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the menu. Be sure to drag the movie to an area outside of the drop zone. The title of the menu changes to the name of the movie. iDVD automatically creates two buttons on the menu: a Play Movie button [A], so the viewer can play the entire movie, and a Scene Selection button [B] that links to the scene selection menu. A B 2 Double-click the Scene Selection button to open the scene menu. You see a button for each chapter in the movie. The button names match the names assigned to the different chapters. 3 Click the theme named Kids Theater 2 in the Themes pane of the Customize drawer to select it as the theme of the scene menu. This theme was designed to be used as a submenu with the Kids Theater theme. The buttons now have images on them that match the thumbnails set in the video-editing software. 4 In the Customize drawer, click Settings. 5 Drag the audio file "Cat Briar Road 0'32.m4a" from the Audio folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the Audio well in the Settings pane to set the background audio for the scene menu. 4 iDVD Tutorial 6 Double-click the Back button to return to the main menu. Each submenu contains a Back button to get to the previous menu and a Next Scenes button to navigate to the next scene menu, if one exists. 7 If you want to take a break, choose File > Save Project to save your project. If you quit iDVD, when you open it again, your project opens. Customize the Main Menu You can add a subtitle to the main menu, change the color, style, and position of the text, set a transition to the next menu or movie, and add music to the menu. To customize the menu: 1 With your project open and the main menu showing, choose Advanced > Show TV Safe Area. This shows the area on the menu that will be visible on most television sets. 2 If you want to add a subtitle or descriptive text, choose Project > Add Text. Double-click the text that appears to select it, and then type "Let's build a snowman!" Make the text smaller by dragging the Size slider [A] in the Text section of the Settings pane to the left. Click outside the text. Drag the text below the title. B A 3 Double-click the title of the menu to select it, and then type "Snow Day!" to change the title. Click outside the text. To make it possible to move the title, choose Custom [B] from the Position popup menu. The title moves to the right. Drag the title back above the subtitle, and then drag the slider to the left to make the title smaller. Click outside the text. 4 Choose Dissolve [C] from the Transition pop-up menu in the Settings pane. The menu will dissolve into the movie or the scene selection menu when the viewer clicks a button on the burned DVD. C D iDVD Tutorial 5 5 Drag the audio file "Prevailing Winds 0'33.m4a" from the Audio folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the Audio well [D] to make it the background audio for the main menu. 6 Click Preview to check your results. 7 When you are finished, click Exit on the DVD remote control to leave preview mode. Add a Submenu If you want to add more movies or slideshows to your DVD, you can add another submenu. You can also use your own image or movie clip as the background of a DVD menu. Here, you'll create a new submenu and add a custom background to it. To add and customize a submenu: 1 Click Folder to place a new button on the main menu. Select the text on the new button (labeled "My Folder") and type "Extras." 2 Double-click the button to open the new submenu. 3 Drag the file named "snowday24.jpg" from the Pictures folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder, and hold it over the menu in an area outside the drop zone. Press the Command key and drop the file in place. The new background is set, and the drop zone that was on the menu disappears. 4 Drag the audio file named "Cat Briar Road 0'32.m4a" from the Audio folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the Audio well in the Settings pane. 5 Double-click the title of the menu to select it, and then type "Extras" to change the title. Click outside the text. Drag the title to center it. 6 iDVD Tutorial Create a Slideshow You can use iDVD to create a slideshow from a group of pictures and add a soundtrack to it. You can even let viewers copy the pictures in the slideshow from the DVD using the DVD-ROM contents feature. To add a slideshow: 1 With the Extras menu visible, click the Slideshow button at the bottom of the iDVD window. A button named "My Slideshow" appears on the menu. 2 Select the text on the button and type "Snow Day Pictures." 3 In the Customize drawer, click Settings. 4 Choose the oval button shape from the Style pop-up menu [A] in the Button section of the Settings pane to change from a text to an image button. A B 5 Select Free Position [B], then drag the button where you want it, within the TV safe area. 6 Choose Bottom from the Position pop-up menu [C] and White from the Color pop-up menu [D]. Adjust the button position, if necessary. C D 7 Double-click the button to open the slideshow editor. 8 Select and drag all the pictures from the Pictures folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the slideshow editor. Note: If you want to create a slideshow using photos in your iPhoto library, you can drag a photo album or a group of pictures from the Photos pane (in the Media pane of the Customize drawer) to the slideshow editor. For more information about this, see "Creating an iDVD slideshow" in iDVD Help. 9 Choose Droplet from the Transition pop-up menu [A]. B C A D 10 Drag the file "Prevailing Winds 2'09.m4a" from the Audio folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the Audio well [B] in the slideshow editor. Notice that the slideshow duration changes, depending on how long the music is. Hold the pointer over the Audio well to see how long the music is. The Slide Duration pop-up menu is automatically set to "Fit to Audio." Note: If you want to add music from your iTunes library to the slideshow, you can drag a playlist or a group of songs from the Audio pane (in the Media pane of the Customize drawer) to the Audio well to add it to your slideshow. For more information about this, see "Adding audio to a slideshow" in iDVD Help. iDVD Tutorial 7 11 To add original high-resolution versions of your slideshow photos to the DVD-ROM portion of the disc, select "Add original photos on DVD-ROM" [C]. Your viewers will be able to copy the photos to their hard disks from the DVD. 12 Click the Return button [D] to exit the slideshow editor and return to the previous menu. 13 Select the Snow Day Pictures button. Drag the slider above the button to make a different image appear on the button. 14 To set the transition from the menu to the slideshow, choose Dissolve from the Transition pop-up menu in the Settings pane of the Customize drawer. 15 Drag the file "Cat Briar Road 0'32.m4a" from the Audio folder in the iDVD Tutorial folder to the Audio well in the Settings pane to make it the background audio for the menu. 16 Preview the slideshow you have just created by clicking Preview and then clicking the Snow Day Pictures button. 17 When you are finished, click Exit on the DVD remote control to leave preview mode. 18 Choose File > Save Project. Use Map View Using map view, you can see a graphical overview of your project, that shows icons for each element in the project and navigational paths to each submenu, slideshow, and movie. In map view, you can drag media into the project to set an "autoplay" movi ...