ArcSoft DVD SlideShowTM © ArcSoft, Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ADDING CONTENT CREATING A SLIDE SHOW DESIGNING MENUS "PAN & ZOOM" EDITING PHOTOS TRIMMING VIDEOS PRODUCING YOUR MOVIE PROGRAM OPTIONS FAQ 2 3 4 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 -1- INTRODUCTION Now anyone can make their own fully customized movies on DVD (or VCD). DVD SlideShow offers you lots of cool options and a fun interface to make your movie-making experience smooth and enjoyable. In no time you'll be showing off your unique presentations to friends, family, coworkers, business associates, etc. You don't need any experience in DVD authoring or video editing. Whether for work or for home, DVD SlideShow helps you get it done. Don't forget to utilize the built-in Help file. It covers the functionality of every button and screen. OVERVIEW You're probably already very familiar with commercial DVDs that you rent from a local or online video store. You can pop them into your player and jump to various scenes or "chapters" on the disc. There are sometimes multiple menu pages depending on how the DVDs are designed, but they're generally easy to navigate and you can jump to almost any spot fairly quickly. Well, now you can make your own DVDs with your own content! Include videos, PowerPoint presentations, and customized photo slide shows (which you can create in the program). We've made it easy to combine your videos and photos together on DVD in a completely seamless way. With DVD SlideShow, you can: · · · · · · · · · · Use personal photos for menu backgrounds Create your own menu titles and chapter button captions Customize each chapter button with a creative frame Arrange menu text and chapter buttons any way you like Add your own music to your movie menus Import and trim existing video clips Assemble your own photo slide shows into individual movie chapters Create your own custom "Pan & Zoom" effects in your slide shows Include PowerPoint presentations as photo slide shows Share your creations on convenient DVD discs in either NTSC or PAL format That's quite a number of things you can do! But don't worry, that doesn't mean that things are difficult. In fact, the program is separated into only three main screens! The first screen lets you add your content. The second lets you customize the appearance of the menu. The third lets you burn your movie to disc. -2- ADDING CONTENT First thing's first: Let's add some content to your project! After all, you can't really do much else until you have all the photos and videos that you'd like to include on your DVD, right? Okay, so when you start out, you can do all of the following: · · · · Insert a previously saved video Insert an existing slide show Insert a PowerPoint file (each slide will be converted to a still image) Create a new slide show Take a look at the main screen. The bulk is taken up by a blank movie menu. You'll add content, with each component inserted into the menu as a separate chapter. Don't worry too much about how your menu looks just yet. The first step focuses exclusively on adding content. You can completely customize the look and feel of your menu(s) later. INSERTING A VIDEO You have your cool DV camcorder. You've recorded some cool video. You've transferred it to your computer. And now you want to play it on your DVD player. Well, adding video clips to a DVD SlideShow project is as basic as it gets. To add video clips to your project: 1. Click "Insert Video." 2. Navigate to the folder that contains the videos you want to add. 3. Select the file you want to add. Hold down the CTRL key while clicking to select multiple files. 4. Click "Open." Your files will be added to your project. INSERTING AN EXISTING SLIDE SHOW You can create photo slide shows that are added as individual chapters in your movie. Whenever you create a slide show, you can save it to your computer for use later (you aren't limited to creating a slide show for use in only one movie). To insert a previously saved slide show into your project, you basically follow the same procedure as adding a video, except instead of clicking "Insert Video," you click "Insert Slide Show." Then, search for the slide show file you want to add, and double-click it (or highlight it and click "Open"). (See the chapter "Creating A Slide Show" for details on making a slide show.) INSERTING A POWERPOINT FILE Add PowerPoint files in the same way that you add video clips and previously saved slide show files. Each slide in the presentation will be converted to a standard image file, and the whole thing can be edited just like slide shows that you create within the program. To insert a PowerPoint file, click "Insert PowerPoint," then browse for and select the file on your system. -3- CREATING A SLIDE SHOW Slide shows offer a great way to present photos in a fun, flashy way. When assembling a slide show, you have lots of creative options. You can arrange photos any way you want, attach audio files to each slide, rotate and edit photos, and even create your own "Pan & Zoom" effects. In other words, you don't need to prep photos before adding them into a slide show. You can do it all here. Steps/options include: · · · · · · · Adding Photos Arranging Photos Rotating Photos Inserting Blank Slides Attaching Audio Editing Photos Adding "Pan & Zoom" Effects · · · · · · Setting The Chapter Button Thumbnail Including Transitions Creating A Soundtrack Setting The Duration Naming Your Slide Show Previewing Your Work Slide shows will appear as separate chapters on your DVD. By double-clicking the respective chapter button thumbnail on your menu, you can edit any slide show in your project. To create a slide show, click "Create New Slide Show." The Slide Show Creator screen will appear. ADDING PHOTOS The first thing you'll need to do is grab the photos that you'd like to use for the slide show. You'll notice that most of the buttons are initially dimmed; they'll become available after you add some pics. To add photos to a slide show: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click "Add Photos." Browse to the directory that contains the photos you want to add. Hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and click the photos you want. Click "Open." Your photos will appear on the screen. To acquire photos from a scanner or other connected device: 1. Click the "Acquire Photos" button and choose the type of device from which you'll be capturing. 2. Follow the directions for acquiring photos from your device manufacturer. To remove a slide, highlight it and click the "Delete" button: -4- ARRANGING PHOTOS Once your photos have been added, you'll probably want to arrange the order in which they appear. Simply click and drag a photo from one location to another. ROTATING PHOTOS If a photo is oriented incorrectly, click it to highlight it, and then click either of the "Rotate" buttons until the photo is oriented the way you want. INSERTING BLANK SLIDES You may want to include plain, blank slides at various spots in your slide show. They can be used as backgrounds for adding text for introductions, breaks, credits, etc. To add a blank slide, click the "Add Blank Slide" button. A blank slide will appear before the currently selected slide (of course, you're free to click and drag it to any location). To change the color of a blank slide, right-click it and choose "Background Color." You can then select from a broad color palette. ATTACHING AUDIO Later you'll be able to add audio files that play over your entire slide show, just like a movie soundtrack. For now, you can attach sound files to specific slides. This is ideal for narration. You can add audio commentary to each slide, and then later add music over the entire slide show. To attach audio to a specific slide: 1. Highlight the slide. 2. Click the "Audio Annotation" button and choose either "Attach Audio" or "Record Audio." If you would like to attach an audio file, go to step 3. If you would like to record audio (for example, voice narration), skip to step 4. 3. When attaching audio, a standard Open dialog will appear. Navigate to the directory that contains the file you want, highlight the file, and click "Open." 4. Basic record and playback controls are available so you can capture narration or other audio. Click "Format" to view and edit the audio properties. When you're finished recording, click "Save." A speaker icon will appear on the slide once you attach audio. To detach any audio, highlight the slide, click "Audio Annotation," and choose "Detach Audio." EDITING PHOTOS Highlight the photo you want to modify and click "Edit Photo." (See the "Editing Photos" chapter.) -5- ADDING "PAN & ZOOM" EFFECTS You can customize a "Pan & Zoom" effect for each individual slide, or have the program automatically apply effects to your entire presentation. Pan & Zoom is only available for DVD projects; see the "Pan & Zoom" chapter for more details. SETTING THE CHAPTER BUTTON THUMBNAIL As you already know, your slide show will be added to your project as its own chapter. The chapter will be represented with a thumbnail image. You can set any slide as the thumbnail. To do this, simply highlight the slide you want, and then click the "Set Thumbnail" button. You will see a checkmark icon appear on the slide. When you've completed all of the above, click "Next." You're almost finished! INCLUDING TRANSITIONS Instead of having your slides simply change one to another, why not include some special effects? You can have your photos fade in and out, wipe away, and more. To include transitions between each slide, simply choose the transition you want from the pull-down. (If you don't want special effects, choose "None"; if you'd like random effects, choose "All Effects.") CREATING A SOUNDTRACK You can include a soundtrack that consists of multiple audio files that play throughout your entire presentation. To do so, simply click "Select Audio Files" and choose the tracks you want. If you change your mind and you'd like to remove a track you've already added, simply click the track, followed by "Delete" (the trash can button). SETTING THE DURATION The duration of your presentation is entirely up to you. By entering a numeric value (in seconds), you set the display time for each slide. The "Repeat soundtrack..." checkbox, if checked, loops your soundtrack so that music constantly plays (assuming the presentation is longer than the combined length of the audio tracks you've added). Alternately, you can choose "Auto-Fit to Soundtrack," which sets the display time automatically to match the slide show with your soundtrack (when the last song in your soundtrack ends, the last slide ends). NAMING YOUR SLIDE SHOW Type in a name for your slide show. It will be saved on your computer so that you can use it later for other projects. PREVIEWING YOUR WORK Click "Preview Slide Show" to see your work in action before actually compiling it. (Remember, if you click "Finish," you can still go back at any time to edit it.) When you're ready to go, click "Finish." The program will process all of your photos, transitions, and audio tracks and create your slide show. After, it will add it as a new chapter on your movie menu. -6- DESIGNING MENUS Half the fun of making your own DVD comes from customizing the look and feel of the movie menu. Nothing's cooler than popping in a disc and hearing your favorite song play over your personalized menu background, text, and chapter buttons. When designing your menu (make sure you click "Design" along the top of the screen), you can: · · · · · · Organize chapter buttons any way you like Change the menu "theme" (background, text, and chapter button frames) Use your own photos as backgrounds Customize the menu text (the title and all chapter button captions) Use a variety of chapter button frames Add music to each menu page Note: When adding content, you may have noticed that one or more menu pages were added to your project. Use the navigation buttons (arrows along with the "home" icon [it looks like a house]) to jump from page to page. You're free to customize each and every menu page independently. ORGANIZING CHAPTER BUTTONS Chapter buttons jump to various clips or slide shows that you've added to your project. Your movie will play each chapter sequentially wherever you start. You can organize your chapter buttons in a variety of ways. The easiest way is to simply use a preset layout. Basically, the program contains a variety of templates that order the chapter buttons in numerous ways. If you want to be more creative, you can organize them yourself. To use a preset layout: 1. Click the "Customize" tab. 2. Under "Select a Layout," choose the layout that best suits what you're looking for. Double-click the layout to apply it to the current menu page. Alternately, you can click and drag the layout to your menu. Note that you can apply a different layout to each different menu page in your project. To organize your chapter buttons yourself: ...