Apple iDVD 4 Tutorial User Manual

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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.

iDVD Tutorial

Tutorial

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
are the items you choose from that menu.

Choose

is the name of a menu in the iDVD menu bar. The next term (or terms)

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.

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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

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.

drop

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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.

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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

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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
(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.

chapter markers

A

B

, which identify the start of each scene in the movie.

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.

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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.

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