Arcsoft DVD SLIDESHOW User Manual

ArcSoft DVD SlideShow

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 2

ADDING CONTENT 3

CREATING A SLIDE SHOW 4

DESIGNING MENUS 7

"PAN & ZOOM" 9

EDITING PHOTOS 10

TRIMMING VIDEOS 11

PRODUCING YOUR MOVIE 12

PROGRAM OPTIONS 13

FAQ 14

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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.

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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:

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).

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.

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.

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."

To insert a PowerPoint file, click "Insert PowerPoint," then browse for and select the file on your system.

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