Sonic Solutions DVDIT User Manual

USER MANUAL

SONIC

™

DVDit! User Manual — Sonic Part Number 800150 Rev C (06/00)

This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Sonic Solutions. Sonic Solutions assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book.

Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Sonic Solutions.

SONIC SOLUTIONS, INC. (“SONIC”) MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE SOFTWARE. SONIC DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE SONIC SOFTWARE IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SONIC SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY YOU. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

IN NO EVENT WILL SONIC, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BY LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF SONIC HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Sonic, Sonic Solutions, the Sonic logo, sonic.com, AuthorScript, AutoCadence, AutoSonic, cDVD, ConstantQ, DVD Creator, DVD Fusion, DVD Ready, DVDit!, dvdit.com, DVD Producer, DVD Studio, eDVD, First in DVD, hDVD, HighDensity Audio, MyDVD, OneClick DVD, PrePlay, sDVD, SonicCare, SonicClarity, SonicStudio, SonicStudio HD, Streaming DVD, The Business of DVD, The Easiest Way to Publish on DVD, The Smartest Way to Publish on DVD, TimeTwist, Varispeed and Where DVD Meets the Internet are trademarks of Sonic Solutions.

NoNoise is a registered trademark of Sonic Solutions.

Dolby Digital is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. Dolby Laboratories encourages use of the Dolby Digital trademark to identify soundtracks that are encoded in Dolby Digital. This is an effective way to inform listeners of the soundtrack format, and the use of a standard logo promotes easy recognition in the marketplace. However, like any trademark, the Dolby Digital logo may not be used without permission. Dolby Laboratories therefore provides a standard trademark license agreement for companies who wish to use Dolby trademarks. This agreement should be signed by the company that owns the program material being produced. Recording studios or production facilities which provide audio production or encoding services for outside clients generally do not require a trademark license. If you would like more information on obtaining a Dolby trademark license, please contact Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. Information on trademark licensing plus instructions for using the Dolby Digital trademark and marking audio formats can also be found online at http://www.dolby.com.

All other company or product names are either trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Written and designed at Sonic Solutions, 101 Rowland Way, Novato, CA 94945, USA

Contents

1 Getting Started

The Big Picture

An Introduction to DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

How DVDit! Works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

What’s New in DVDit! 2.0? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

DVDit! SE and PE Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Other Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Preparing Files for DVDit! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Online Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Installing DVDit!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Launching DVDit!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Creating, Opening and Saving DVDit! Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

ii Contents

Exploring DVDit! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Palette Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The Video Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Changing the DVDit! Application Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Registering DVDit! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

DVDit!’s Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2 Importing Files

Supported File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Working With Themes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

What are Themes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Using Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Importing Files into Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Moving Files into DVDit! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Previewing Video, Audio, and Still Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Deleting Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3 Creating a Project

What is a Project? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

DVD Video and DVD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Basic Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Examples of DVDit! Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Creating the First Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Contents iii

Working With Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Creating Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Adding a Soundtrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Using the Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Adding Chapter Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Working With Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Creating Menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Adding a Soundtrack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Adding Buttons and Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Editing and Arranging Menu Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating Button Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Changing Movie and Menu Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Movie Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Menu Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Previewing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Working With Widescreen Video (

PE only

) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

4 Creating a DVD

DVDit!’s Output Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Other Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Finishing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating a DVD-R or CD-R Disc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Creating a DVD Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Playing DVD Volumes on Your PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Creating a DVD Master Tape (

PE only

) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

iv Contents

Index

The Big Picture

Video technology has changed dramatically in the last ﬁve years. The cost of creating great-looking video has come down to levels that any videographer — professional or enthusiast — can afford. Whereas tape used to be the format on which to view and distribute video material, the has now become a standard way for video facilities to create and show content.

An Introduction to DVD

DVD is a 12-cm optical disc that looks like a CD but has a far greater storage capacity. It was created by the biggest names in consumer electronics and is now a worldwide multimedia standard. But DVD is far more than just “CD on steroids”; it is a radical change in the way digital video is published and distributed. Fullscreen, full-motion video, crystal-clear digital sound, high-quality color graphics — DVD delivers all of this and more.

DVDs play on dedicated set-top boxes, DVD-equipped PCs, and even portable players. And every player conforms to the same standards, providing guaranteed playback in every machine. Whether you are creating a sales presentation or the next video blockbuster, DVD is the best way to get your ideas into the hands and minds of the people that matter.

digital versatile disc

— DVD —

vi The Big Picture

How DVDit! Works

DVDit! is incredibly easy to use. To create (or content — video, audio, and graphics — using common video and graphics applications. Then, export the result as ﬁles that you can import into DVDit!

After importing the ﬁles into DVDit!, you start assembling the project. DVDs basically consist of video and audio clips that are linked together using Menus are graphical interfaces that let users view video clips by selecting buttons on their TV screens. DVDit! makes it easy; just drag button graphics or text onto a background image, drag audio and video clips or stills onto the buttons, and you’ve created a DVD! You can layer images and text on top of each other and tweak individual items to create stunning effects. And because DVDit! remembers all the ﬁles you’ve imported, you can easily reuse those ﬁles in other projects.

While you are creating a project, you need to check that the buttons point to the right clips, and that the video and audio looks and sounds great. DVDit!’s built-in playback engine lets you preview your work as you progress. It’s easy to see what links to where; if you want to make changes, just continue editing the project until you’re happy with it.

Many DVDs now include a on a computer. Again, with DVDit! it’s easy to add data ﬁles to a project by simply selecting them in a dialog.

DVD-ROM section

author

) a DVD, ﬁrst prepare the

menus

, which contains data ﬁles for use

When you’re satisﬁed with the placement of the graphics, the links, and the overall look and feel of the presentation, it’s time to create the ﬁnal output. You can create a DVD-R or CD-R disc from the project, or create a computer’s hard disk. In DVDit! PE, you can even create a master tape and send it to a replication plant for mass production of DVD discs.

DVD volume

on your

What’s New in DVDit! 2.0?

DVDit! 2.0 offers a wide array of new and enhanced features, including:

General

• Windows 2000 support.

• Keyboard shortcuts for many actions (see “DVDit!’s Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 16 for a full list).

• Cut, copy, and paste of menus, movies, buttons and text.

• Multiple levels of undo and redo.

• Greatly enhanced navigation control for menus and movies, including looping of video segments.

• DVD-ROM support. Now you can add a DVD-ROM section to a disc.

• Disc naming. The Project Settings dialog lets you name the disc and specify the disc size before you create the output.

What’s New in DVDit! 2.0? vii

• New encoder for non-MPEG ﬁles. DVDit! now selects the best video bit-rate, based on the project size and speciﬁed disc size. (You can still choose the bitrate manually.)

• cDVD

• Write to DVD disc directly without creating a temporary DVD volume.

PE version only:

• Widescreen (16:9) video support. Create DVDs using anamorphic 16:9 video.

• Choice of Dolby Digital or PCM audio encoding. You also set the audio bit-

™

. This is a special software DVD player that you can include when you write a project to CD-R. It lets people play your presentation on most CDROM-equipped PCs.

rate independently from the video bit-rate.

viii The Big Picture

• Support for digital linear tape (DLT). You can create master tapes for mass replication of DVDs.

• Projects can have up to 99 menus.

Video Monitor

• Movies. A movie is a combination of a video clip or still image, an optional audio clip, and instructions that tell the DVD player what to do when the movie ﬁnishes or the viewer presses the remote control buttons.

• Chapter points. You can now add chapter points to a movie and link those chapter points to menu buttons. Viewers can jump from chapter to chapter using the remote control.

• Menu/movie list. Movies and menus are listed in the same area, down the right side of the video monitor. Switch between the list of menus and the list of movies in the current project with a simple button click.

• Button thumbnail control. When you create a button by dragging a movie, chapter point, or video clip onto menu background, DVDit! creates the button using a frame from the video. Now you can choose which frame is used.

• Timeline. This lets you play back movies, and add and edit chapter points.

• New ﬁrst play. The ﬁrst play is now an alias of a menu or movie, which means you can delete or replace the ﬁrst play without deleting the menu or movie it references. The ﬁrst play is also separate from the list of menus/movies, in its own dock at the top right corner of the video monitor.

• Nudge control. Move selected menu items using the keyboard keys, for ﬁner control when laying out buttons and text.

• Save color, drop shadow and text settings, and reapply them to other menu objects and other menus.

What’s New in DVDit! 2.0? ix

Palette Window

• More information on each item listed in the Palette window. DVDit! now shows the type and size for each item.

• Support for more ﬁle types, including QuickTime movies, Dolby Digital audio

(PE version only)

, and Photoshop graphics.

• Support for Photoshop layers and transparency. When you import a Photoshop ﬁle, each layer becomes a separate item in DVDit!’s Palette window. Transparent backgrounds in Photoshop ﬁles are now imported correctly, which means you can create non-rectangular buttons.

Remote Control

• The Counter window now shows information about the menu or movie being displayed, as well as the playback state, the type of audio, and the amount of time that the current movie/menu has been displayed.

• Play/Pause button.

x The Big Picture

About This Guide

This guide comprises:

• Getting Started — installation and setup instructions, and an introduction to the main components of DVDit!

• Importing Files — importing video, audio and graphics ﬁles into DVDit! and organizing these ﬁles.

• Creating a Project — authoring a project using DVDit!

• Creating a DVD — building a DVD from a project.

We assume that you understand basic Windows operations, such as using a mouse, clicking, double-clicking and right-clicking, and selecting items from menus. If these are unfamiliar terms, please review the Windows help or user manuals that came with your computer.

DVDit! SE and PE Versions

This guide covers both DVDit! SE and PE. DVDit! PE is intended for video professionals who require more features and more control over their presentations, whereas DVDit! SE is aimed towards users who want to create basic DVDs easily. The main differences between the two versions are:

• DVDit! SE lets you create up to 10 menus; PE lets you create up to 99 menus.

• DVDit! PE lets you create widescreen (16:9 anamorphic) projects.

• DVDit! PE lets you import and encode Dolby Digital audio.

• DVDit! PE lets you write projects to digital linear tape (DLT). This is the only way to send projects to a replication facility for mass production of DVD discs.

Where the guide refers to the PE version, you’ll see the phrase

(PE only)

Other Information

Preparing Files for DVDit!

Other Information xi

We recommend that you read the online document (Preparing ﬁles (Eng).pdf). It describes how to create video, audio, and graphics ﬁles for DVDit! projects. If you have problems importing or using ﬁles, check that the ﬁles meet the requirements speciﬁed in this document. (You can ﬁnd a copy in the Documentation folder on the DVDit! Installer CD-ROM and in the DVDit! folder on your PC).

Preparing Files for DVDit!

Online Help

DVDit! also includes online help. After you install and launch DVDit!, choose

Help > Help Topics

to view the online help.

xii The Big Picture

Your notes

Getting Started

This chapter covers getting started with DVDit!, including:

• Installation

• Launching DVDit!

• Creating, opening, and saving DVDit! projects

• The Palette window

• The Video Monitor

• The Remote Control

• Changing the DVDit! application language

• Registering DVDit!

• DVDit!’s keyboard shortcuts

2 Getting Started

Installing DVDit!

Minimum System Requirements

• Windows 98, Windows NT 4 with Service Pack 5, or Windows 2000

• Microsoft DirectShow 6.4 (installed as part of Windows Media Player)

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x (for displaying the online help)

• 300 MHz Pentium II

• 128 MB system memory (RAM)

• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

• Monitor resolution 1024 × 768, 24-bit color (32-bit color recommended)

• 210 MB disk space for the DVDit! application

• Sufﬁcient hard disk space for video and audio ﬁles (9 – 18 GB recommended)

To install DVDit! on your PC

Close all programs.

Insert the DVDit! Installer CD-ROM. The Setup program launches automatically.

Follow the instructions on the screen. By default, the installer places DVDit! in the directory C:\Program Files\Sonic Solutions\DVDit. You can change this to any location on any hard drive.

Note:

number is located on the Installer CD-ROM wallet.

You must enter your DVDit! serial number during installation. This

When the installer ﬁnishes, remove the Installer CD-ROM.

To remove DVDit! from your PC

Close all programs.

Installing DVDit! 3

Click the Windows

Double-click the

Click

DVDit!

Follow the instructions on the screen.

Note:

delete any imported media ﬁles, project ﬁles, or DVD builds in the DVDit folder. You can delete these ﬁles using Windows Explorer.

, then click

The uninstaller removes only the DVDit! application ﬁles. It does not

Start

button, then choose

Add/Remove Programs

Add/Remove

Settings > Control Panel

icon.

4 Getting Started

Launching DVDit!

There are two ways to launch DVDit! Either:

• Double-click the

• Click the Windows

DVDit!

Start

icon on your desktop

button, then choose

Programs > DVDit > DVDit

Creating, Opening and Saving DVDit! Projects

To start a new project

Launch DVDit! After the splash screen displays, you see the Project Planner, which

is the starting point for all new DVDit! projects:

Click Start A New Project or press the Enter key

You can also open the Project Planner by choosing running.

File > New

while DVDit! is

Launching DVDit! 5

Choose the video standard

Click Finish (Next in DVDit! PE) or press the Enter key

Choose the MPEG format

Choose the screen size

(Choose 16:9 only if you will use anamorphic 16:9 video ﬁles)

Click Finish or press the Enter key

Select the project settings:

These two settings determine which MPEG video ﬁles you can import into DVDit! For example, if you choose

NTSC

and

MPEG-2

, you can import MPEG-2 format NTSC video, but you cannot import or use any MPEG-1 or PAL video. (You can import and use AVI and QuickTime ﬁles on either setting.)

(PE only)

Choose the TV screen size:

6 Getting Started

Again, this setting determines which MPEG video ﬁles you can use: if you select

, you can import only 4:3 aspect ratio MPEG ﬁles; and if you select

4:3

16:9

, you can import only 16:9 anamorphic MPEG-2 ﬁles. (You can import AVI and QuickTime ﬁles on either setting; DVDit! marks them as 4:3 or 16:9 when you create the ﬁnal DVD). See “Working With Widescreen Video (PE only)” on page 82 for more information.

To save the project

Choose

In the Save As window, enter a name for the project and click

the project as a .

File > Save

dvdit

(or press Ctrl+S).

ﬁle.

. DVDit! saves

Save

To open an existing project

Launch DVDit!

In the ﬁrst Project Planner window, click

In the Open dialog, navigate to the project (

You can also open a project by choosing DVDit! is running, or by double-clicking the .

Open An Existing Project

.dvdit

) ﬁle and click

File > Open

(or pressing Ctrl+O) while

dvdit ﬁle in Windows Explorer.

Open

To save the project under a new name

Choose File > Save As (or press Ctrl+Shift+S).

2 In the Save As window, enter a new name for the project and click Save. If you

pick a name that already exists, DVDit! warns you that you are about to overwrite an existing ﬁle; click

Cancel and choose a different name.

Exploring DVDit!

Movie timeline

Palette

window

Palette window buttons

First Play

Menu/Movie

placeholder

Video monitor

Menu/Movie

button

DVDit!

menu bar

Menu/Movie

list

Timecode

window

The picture below shows the main workspace where you create DVD Video presentations:

Exploring DVDit! 7

8 Getting Started

The Palette Window

The Palette window lets you browse through your imported video, audio, images, and text, and select individual items for use in a project. You also use the Palette window to import ﬁles into DVDit!, and to create and select different themes:

Theme menu: Use this menu to create, open, and switch among different themes

This pane lists a particular type of ﬁle (in this example, menu backgrounds) from the current theme

Backgrounds button: Click to display menu background images

Buttons button: Click to display menu button graphics

Text button: Click to display all the available fonts

The currently selected theme

Drag the slider up and down to scroll up and down the list of thumbnails

Thumbnails: Drag individual thumbnails into the Video Monitor to use the video, audio or image ﬁle in the current project

Preview button: Click to test (proof) the current project

Media button: Click to display media clips (video, audio, and still images)

Themes are collections of the various backgrounds, buttons, fonts, and media clips with which you create projects. (Use backgrounds, buttons and fonts to create menus; use media clips to create movies.) For details on using themes, see “Working With Themes” on page 21.

Exploring DVDit! 9

Main window

Movie timeline

Menu/Movie button

Placeholders. Use these to create menus or movies

“First Play”

The selected menu (or movie) is shown in the main window

Menu/movie list

Timecode window

Speaker icon indicates that the selected menu has a soundtrack

The Video Monitor

The Video Monitor contains the main window, the movie timeline, and the menu/movie list:

The main window is where you construct DVD menus, preview media clips, and play back the completed project. It displays any menu or movie that you select from the menu/movie list.

10 Getting Started

Menu list Movie list

Menu/Movie List

The menu/movie list contains placeholders. These are containers for creating menus and movies.

First Play

(In these examples, Movie 1 is the First Play)

Drag the slider up and down to scroll up and down the list

Menu placeholders

To switch between menus and movies, click the Menu/Movie button

Movie placeholders

A menu contains a background and one or more buttons that link to different movies. A movie contains a video track or still image, plus an optional audio track. Movies and menus also contain instructions that control the DVD player’s behavior.

To create a menu, you drag a background thumbnail from the Palette window onto a menu placeholder, then add buttons. To create a movie, you drag a video or still image thumbnail onto a movie placeholder. See Chapter 3 for details.

Exploring DVDit! 11

Click here to choose different movies

Scroll bar. Use this to scroll along the timeline when zoomed in

Start button. Click to play/pause the movie

Zoom buttons

Playhead. Indicates the position of the current movie frameChapter point label

Chapter points Timecode window.

Use this to move the playhead to a speciﬁc frame, and to add chapter points at speciﬁc frames

Timecode/Chapter point button

First Play Placeholder

The First Play placeholder indicates which menu or movie will start playing automatically when the ﬁnished disc is inserted into a DVD player. See “Creating the First Play” on page 36 for more information.

Timeline

The timeline lets you play back movies and add chapter points:

See “Using the Timeline” on page 44 for more information.

12 Getting Started

The Remote Control

The Remote Control appears when you click the Preview button at the bottom of the Palette window. Use it to test how the project will behave in a DVD player (see “Previewing the Project” on page 80 for details).

Menu — performs the action speciﬁed in the Movie Properties dialog

Counter window. See “Counter Window” on page 13

Title — jumps to the ﬁrst menu in the menu list

Arrow buttons — click to select different buttons in a menu

Previous — jumps back to the last chapter point marker or the previous movie

Rewind — runs the video backwards at 2x real-time

Play/Pause — plays/pauses the video

Closes the Remote Control

Return — performs the action speciﬁed in the Menu Properties dialog

Enter — activates the selected menu button

Next — performs the action speciﬁed in the Movie Properties dialog

Fast forward — runs the video forward at 2x real-time

Stop — stops all playback. When you click this button, you can edit the menu in the Video Monitor window

Counter Window

Shows the playback state:

 = playing

❙ ❙ = paused

■ = stopped

 = fast forwarding

 = rewinding

Shows what is currently displayed: video, still, or menu

Shows which chapter is playing, or which menu button is selected

Shows the type of audio: PCM, MPEG, or Dolby Digital (PE version only)

Shows the length of time that the video, still, or menu has been playing, in hours:minutes:seconds

Exploring DVDit! 13

14 Getting Started

Changing the DVDit! Application Language

DVDit! lets you change the application language, which means that DVDit!’s menus, dialog boxes, and buttons are displayed in a different language (English, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Simpliﬁed Chinese, or Traditional Chinese).

To change the application language

Choose Edit > Options. The Options window appears:

Choose a new Language

After you click

Click OK

OK, DVDit! restarts automatically.

Registering DVDit!

It’s a good idea to register DVDit! Registration gives you access to special offers, upgrades, and extra artwork on the DVDit! web site while DVDit! is running.

To register DVDit!

Choose Help > Register.

2 Follow the instructions on the screen.

Note: DVDit! gives you several ways to register. The quickest way is by using the

Internet. You can also print a registration form for mailing or faxing.

Registering DVDit! 15

. You can register at any time

16 Getting Started

DVDit!’s Keyboard Shortcuts

General Shortcuts

Action Keyboard shortcut

Exit DVDit! Alt+F4

Save project Ctrl+S

Save project as... Ctrl+Shift+S

Create a new project Ctrl+N

Open an existing project Ctrl+O

Project Planner

Ctrl+Q

Button Keyboard shortcut

Start a New Project Enter

Next/Finish Enter

Video Monitor

Action Keyboard shortcut

Cut selected object(s) Ctrl+X

Copy selected object(s) Ctrl+C

Paste Ctrl+V

Undo last action Ctrl+Z

Delete selected object(s) Delete

Remote Control

Remote Control button Keyboard shortcut

Arrows Left, right, up, and down arrow keys

Play/Pause Space bar

Previous Ctrl+left arrow

Next Ctrl+right arrow

Rewind Alt+left arrow

Fast Forward Alt+right arrow

Menu Esc

DVDit!’s Keyboard Shortcuts 17

18 Getting Started

Your notes

Importing Files

To create a DVD Video project, you need graphics, video, audio, and text. This chapter explains how to import ﬁles into DVDit!, and how to organize these imported ﬁles into themes. The chapter includes:

• Supported ﬁle formats

• Working with themes

• Importing ﬁles into DVDit!

• Previewing media clips

• Getting information on individual ﬁles

• Removing ﬁles from DVDit!

20 Importing Files

Supported File Formats

Audio and video

• Audio Visual Interleave (.avi)

• MPEG-1 video (.m1p, .m1v, .mp1, .mpg, .mpeg, .mpv)

• MPEG-2 video (.m2p, .m2v, .mp2, .mpg, .mpeg, .mpv)

• MPEG-1 Layer II audio (.abs, .mpa)

• QuickTime (.mov, .qt)

• WAVE Audio for Windows (.wav)

• (PE only) Dolby Digital (.ac3)

Graphics (for backgrounds, buttons and still images)

• Windows or OS/2 Bitmap (.bmp, .rle)

• JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg)

• Macintosh PICT (.pct, .pic)

• Photoshop (.psd)

• Portable Network Graphic (.png)

• TIFF (.tif)

(TIFF ﬁles must not be LZW compressed)

• Targa (.tga, .vda, .icb, .vst)

For information on creating these ﬁles for DVDit!, see the online document “Preparing Files (Eng).pdf”, which is in the Documentation folder in the DVDit! application folder.

Working With Themes

Palette window with the Backgrounds button selected

Palette window with the Media button selected

Same theme.

Different items

displayed.

Backgrounds list

Media list

Before you import ﬁles into DVDit!, you need to understand a little bit about themes.

What are Themes?

Themes are DVDit!’s way of managing different kinds of media. Each theme is a separate collection of images, video, and audio. DVDit! comes with several builtin themes, and you can order more from the DVDit! web site (http://dvdit.com You can import images, video and audio into the built-in themes; you can also create your own themes.

When you open a theme, DVDit!’s Palette window lists the menu backgrounds, or buttons, or text, or media clips from the theme, depending on which button is selected at the bottom of the Palette window. For example:

Working With Themes 21

22 Importing Files

Before you import a ﬁle, you must open the theme where you want it to be listed. (And for images, you must also decide whether to put the image in the Backgrounds, Buttons, or Media list — video and audio ﬁles always go into the Media list.) DVDit! always imports ﬁles into the theme that is currently open.

The Palette window also has a

Text button. When you click this button, the

window lists all the fonts installed on your PC.

Palette window with Text button selected

These fonts are available in every theme. To add or remove fonts, exit DVDit! and install or remove the fonts (see Windows’ Help for details).

Use themes to organize your materials to suit the way you work. For example, you could create a theme called “Sunsets” and keep only sunset-related material in it; or you could have a theme called “XYZ Training Video” containing the materials for a single project. (A project can use items from multiple themes, and a theme can be reused in multiple projects.) When you need a particular item, just open the appropriate theme and drag the relevant thumbnail into the project.

Using Themes

Click to select a theme

Click OK

Enter a name for the new Theme

Click OK

To open an existing theme

Choose Theme > Open Theme in the Palette window’s menu bar. The Select Theme dialog appears:

This opens a new set of backgrounds, buttons, and media clips.

Working With Themes 23

To create a new theme

Choose Theme > New Theme in the Palette window’s menu bar. The select Name dialog appears:

24 Importing Files

Tip: Try to keep your theme names short and meaningful. Only about 10

characters of the name will appear at the top of the Palette window.

The new theme contains no video, audio, or image ﬁles, so no thumbnails appear in the Palette window. To add ﬁles to this new theme, see “Importing Files into Themes” on page 25.

To switch from one theme to another

Choose Theme > [name] in the Palette window’s menu bar (where [name] is the name of a theme that is already listed in the menu):

For example, choose Theme > Corporate to switch to the Corporate theme

The selected theme’s thumbnails appear in the Palette window.

Importing Files into Themes

DVDit! makes it simple to import ﬁles. You can select ﬁles from a dialog in DVDit!, or drag ﬁles from Windows Explorer into DVDit!’s Palette window. These two methods create shortcuts, which are links from DVDit! to the ﬁles. The ﬁles can be stored on any connected disk. This means you can add the same ﬁle to several themes without using up any more disk space.

If you often rename or move your ﬁles, you may prefer to move the original ﬁles into DVDit! (see “Moving Files into DVDit!” on page 27 for details).

Note: When you import ﬁles, DVDit! checks that each ﬁle is allowed in the list

displayed in the Palette window, based on the ﬁle type and the Project Planner settings. If a ﬁle is the wrong type (for example, if you try to import a video ﬁle into the Backgrounds list), DVDit! imports only the valid ﬁles and displays a message warning you that a ﬁle could not be imported.

Importing Files into Themes 25

To import files from within DVDit!

In the Palette window, open the theme where you want the ﬁles to go (for example, choose

Theme > Default to open the Default theme).

2 At the bottom of the Palette window, click the button for the kind of media you

are importing (for example, click the graphics for use as menu backgrounds).

Backgrounds button if you are importing

3 Choose Theme > Add Files to Theme in the Palette window’s menu bar (or right-

click on the list of thumbnails and choose menu).

Add Files to Theme from the pop-up

4 In the Selection window, select the ﬁles you want to import and click Open.

DVDit! creates a thumbnail for each imported ﬁle in the Palette window.

26 Importing Files

To drag files into DVDit!:

In DVDit!’s Palette window, open the theme where you want the ﬁles to go (for example, choose

Theme > Default to import ﬁles into the Default theme).

2 At the bottom of the Palette window, click the button for the kind of media you

are importing (for example, click the audio ﬁles).

Media button if you are importing video or

3 Launch Windows Explorer (click the Windows Start button and choose Programs

> Windows Explorer).

4 In Explorer, locate the ﬁles you want to import. If necessary, move the Explorer

window so that you can see DVDit!’s Palette window underneath.

5 Drag ﬁles over to DVDit!’s Palette window and release the mouse button.

DVDit! creates a thumbnail for each imported ﬁle in the Palette window.

Importing Files into Themes 27

This folder contains the DVDit! application

All themes go into this folder

Theme folders (the Corporate and Default folders are created when you install DVDit!)

These folders contain the different types of media in the Default theme

Moving Files into DVDit!

To import real ﬁles into DVDit! instead of creating shortcuts, you must move ﬁles into special folders within DVDit!

When you create a new theme, DVDit! creates a folder in Windows labeled with the theme name. Within that folder, DVDit! creates three subfolders — labeled Backgrounds, Buttons, and Media — where it stores the shortcut links to ﬁles. The diagram below shows the folder structure as it appears in Windows Explorer:

So, when you open the Default theme and click the Palette window, DVDit! looks in the folder labeled Default, opens the Backgrounds subfolder, and displays thumbnails for all the ﬁles in that folder.

To import a real ﬁle into DVDit!, move the ﬁle into one of the subfolders in a particular theme. Put video, audio and stills in the Media folder, button graphics in the Buttons folder, and menu background images in the Backgrounds folder.

Backgrounds button in the

28 Importing Files

To move a file into a Theme folder

Exit DVDit! if it is running.

2 Launch Windows Explorer (click the Start button and choose Programs >

Windows Explorer) and navigate to the ﬁle’s location.

3 Right-click on the ﬁle and choose Copy or Cut from the pop-up menu (choose Cut

only if disk space is limited).

4 Navigate to the DVDit! theme folder where you want to place the ﬁle. For

example, navigate to the ..\Themes\Default\Media folder if you are moving a video clip into the Default theme.

5 Paste the ﬁle into the folder:

Right-click, then choose

Paste

(This example shows a ﬁle being pasted into the Default theme’s Backgrounds folder)

The next time you launch DVDit!, it will detect the new ﬁle and display a thumbnail in the Palette window.

Previewing Video, Audio, and Still Images

Click and drag the playhead to pause, fast-forward or rewind the video

You can play back any imported ﬁle within DVDit!

To play a file

Right-click on the thumbnail in the Palette window and choose Play from the popup menu.

• If the ﬁle is a video clip, the video plays in the Video Monitor’s main window:

Previewing Video, Audio, and Still Images 29

• If the ﬁle is an audio clip, you hear the audio through your PC’s speakers.

• If the ﬁle is an image, the image appears in the main window for ﬁve seconds.

2 To stop playback, right-click on the ﬁle’s thumbnail again and choose Stop.

30 Importing Files

Deleting Files

When you no longer need a ﬁle, it is easy to delete.

To delete a file from DVDit!

Right-click on the thumbnail in the Palette window, then choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

• If the selected ﬁle is a shortcut, DVDit! asks if you want to delete both the

shortcut and the source ﬁle, or just the shortcut. Click or click the ﬁle in the list.

• If the ﬁle is not a shortcut, DVDit! asks if you are sure you want to delete the

ﬁle. Click the list.

No (or press Enter) to delete only the shortcut. Click Cancel to leave

Yes to delete the ﬁle, or click No (or press Enter) to leave the ﬁle in

Yes to delete both ﬁles,

Note: The backgrounds and buttons that come with DVDit! (in the Default and

Corporate themes) are all contained in a special ﬁle and cannot be deleted. You also cannot delete a ﬁle if it is being used in the current project.

Creating a Project

This chapter guides you through creating a new project with DVDit!, including:

• What is a project?

• Creating the First Play

• Working with movies — creating movies, adding sound, adding chapter points, and playing the movie

• Working with menus — creating menus, adding sound and buttons, linking movies and menus to buttons, changing colors, and other effects

• Previewing the DVD Video presentation

• Working with widescreen (16:9 anamorphic) projects (PE only)

Before you begin a project, it helps to think about how you want the ﬁnal output to look and feel — what you want the viewers to see when they put the DVD disc into the player, how you want them to navigate through the presentation, and so on. This planning is useful when it comes to designing and creating buttons and menus.

32 Creating a Project

What is a Project?

DVD Video and DVD-ROM

A DVDit! project contains the video, audio, and navigation instructions that make up a DVD Video presentation. A project can also include DVD-ROM data ﬁles for use on a computer. (You add the DVD-ROM ﬁles by selecting them in the Project Settings dialog — see “Finishing the Project” on page 87 for details.)

A single project ﬁts on one side of a DVD disc, so if you want the DVD to be replicated on a double-sided disc, you must create a separate project for each side.

Basic Steps

The following steps show how to build or author a DVD Video project. You don’t have to follow these steps exactly; this is just a guideline.

1 Create the First Play:

The First Play tells the DVD player to start playing a particular movie or menu when the disc is inserted in the player. For example, in many Hollywood movie DVDs you see an FBI warning when you insert the disc, followed by the movie’s main menu. In DVDit!, you could do this by placing the FBI warning video or still in the First Play placeholder.

2 Create movies:

A movie contains a video clip or still image, and an optional audio clip. If the movie contains a video clip, you can add chapter points; these let the viewer jump to speciﬁc locations in the video.

What is a Project? 33

3 Create menus:

A menu contains a background image and at least one button that links to a movie, or a chapter point, or another menu. You can also add a soundtrack that plays while the menu is displayed. DVDit! SE lets you create up to 10 menus in a single project (up to 99 menus in DVDit! PE), and each menu can have up to 36 buttons.

4 Link the menu buttons to the movies and to other menus.Change the default

properties for individual movies and menus, if necessary:

For a movie, you can specify the movie duration, what to do when the movie ﬁnishes (for example, display a menu, or loop to the beginning of the movie), and what to do if the viewer presses different buttons on the remote control while the movie is playing.

For a menu, you can choose which button to highlight when the menu is displayed. You can also tell the DVD player to perform some action automatically (for example, play a movie, or display a different menu) after a set duration.

5 Preview the project by playing it using the Remote Control.

6 Finish the project by specifying the disc size and name, and add DVD-ROM data

ﬁles if desired (see Chapter 4).

7 Create the DVD (see Chapter 4).

34 Creating a Project

Examples of DVDit! Projects

These examples show how you can use DVDit! to create basic DVD presentations. You can create far more elaborate presentations rapidly and easily from these simple beginnings.

Single movie (with chapter points)

Movie 1 timeline

First Play

Chapter

point

This is a very basic project with no menus and just a single movie. To create this presentation, place a video clip (and an audio clip) in the First Play placeholder, then add the chapter points. (Every movie always has at least one chapter point, at the beginning of the video.)

The movie starts playing when the disc is inserted in the DVD player, and the viewer can jump from one chapter to another by pressing the Next and Previous buttons on the remote control. When the movie ﬁnishes, the disc stops playing.

Chapter

point

(disc stops)

End

Multiple movies

Movie 1

First Play

Chapter

point

Chapter

point

Chapter

point

Here are four movies, with Movie 1 in the First Play placeholder. As each movie ﬁnishes, an instruction tells the DVD player to play the next one (you specify this instruction in the Movie Properties dialog — see “Changing Movie and Menu Properties” on page 77).

The viewer can also jump from one movie to the next by pressing the Next and Previous buttons on the remote control.

Movie 4Movie 3Movie 2

(disc stops)

End

What is a Project? 35

First Play

Menu 1

Movie 4

Movie 3

Movie 1

Movie 2

Button

First Play

Menu 1Movie 1

Movie 2

Button

Chapter

point

Chapter

point

Chapter

point

Menu 2

Button

Chapter

point

Single menu and multiple movies

This project has a menu in the First Play placeholder, with buttons that link to four movies. When a viewer inserts this disc into the player, the menu displays until the viewer activates a menu button; then the movie linked to that button starts playing. When the movie ﬁnishes, the menu is displayed again.

Multiple menus and movies

This shows the beginnings of a more complex project:

• Movie 1 is in the First Play placeholder and contains an FBI warning. When Movie 1 ﬁnishes, Menu 1 is displayed.

• Menu 1 has button links to Movie 2 (the main feature) and Menu 2.

• Menu 2 is a scene selection menu, with button links to different chapter points in Movie 2. The last button in Menu 2 links back to Menu 1.

36 Creating a Project

Creating the First Play

The First Play is an instruction that tells the DVD player to display a particular movie or menu automatically when the disc is inserted.

You create the First Play by dragging a video, still, or menu background into the placeholder above the movie/menu list. This placeholder does not contain a movie or menu; it simply indicates which movie or menu is the First Play, rather like an alias or shortcut to a ﬁle in Windows. You can change the First Play contents and even delete it without affecting the real movie/menu. (If a disc does not have the First Play instruction, nothing happens when you insert the disc in a player; you must press the remote control buttons to start playing the disc.)

To create the First Play

Drag a background, video, or still image thumbnail onto the First Play:

The thumbnail appears in the First Play placeholder.

Creating the First Play 37

First Play containing Menu 1 First Play containing Movie 1

If you drag a background onto the First Play, DVDit! creates a new menu labeled “Menu 1” in the menu list. If you drag a video or still image, DVDit! creates a new movie labeled “Movie 1” in the movie list (you may need to switch to the movie list to see it — click the button at the bottom of the movie/menu list to choose

Movies). This is the real menu or movie; the First Play just shows a copy

of its thumbnail. The First Play label changes to “Menu 1” or “Movie 1” to show that it references this new menu/movie:

DVDit! also creates a new empty placeholder labeled “Menu 2” or “Movie 2”. You use this to create another menu/movie; see “Creating Menus” on page 51 and “Creating Movies” on page 39 for details.

38 Creating a Project

To change the First Play

Drag a different menu or movie placeholder onto the First Play placeholder:

This example shows Movie 2 being dragged onto the First Play

The First Play shows the new menu/movie’s thumbnail and its label changes to the new menu/movie’s label.

To change the First Play contents (for example, to change the menu background to a different background), simply drag a new thumbnail of the same type onto the First Play placeholder. (For example, replace a menu background with another background thumbnail.)

To delete the First Play

When you delete the First Play, you are only deleting the instruction that tells the DVD player to play a particular movie or menu automatically. If you want to delete the actual movie or menu, see “To delete a movie” on page 42 or “To delete a menu” on page 54.

1 Click the First Play placeholder to select it, then press the Delete key. DVDit! asks

if you are sure you want to delete the First Play.

2 Click Ye s. The menu or movie thumbnail disappears from the First Play

placeholder. You can either create the First Play again or leave it empty.

Working With Movies

A movie contains a video clip or still image, an optional audio clip, and instructions that tell the DVD player how long to display the movie, what to do when the movie ﬁnishes, and what to do if the viewer presses different remote control buttons while the movie is playing. A DVD Video project must contain at least one movie.

If the movie contains a video clip, you can also add chapter points; these let the viewer jump to speciﬁc locations in the video.

After you’ve created all the movies and menus, you can change how the DVD player plays individual movies and menus; see “Changing Movie and Menu Properties” on page 77 for details.

Creating Movies

Working With Movies 39

To create a new movie

Display the movie list (click the button at the bottom of the movie/menu list to choose

Movies).

2 Drag a video or image thumbnail from the Media list onto the empty placeholder:

40 Creating a Project

The thumbnail appears in the placeholder. Now you can add sound and chapter points, and link the movie to a menu.

To create a new movie by creating a button link

Display the menu list (click the button at the bottom of the movie/menu list to choose

Menus).

2 Click the placeholder containing the menu where you want to create the button

link. The menu appears in the main window.

3 Drag a video or image thumbnail from the Media list onto the main window:

If you release the mouse button over the menu background, DVDit! creates a new button from the thumbnail. If you release the mouse over an existing button, DVDit! links the button to the video or image. In both cases, DVDit! adds a new movie placeholder containing the video or image to the movie list.

Working With Movies 41

You can see the new movie by clicking the movie/menu button to choose Movies.

To change the movie contents

Drag a video or image thumbnail from the Media list onto the movie placeholder.

For example, to change the video, drag a different video thumbnail onto the placeholder.

To change the movie placeholder label

DVDit! always gives each placeholder the name “Movie x”, where x is a sequential number. You can change this to something that describes the movie.

1 Click the label on the placeholder you want to rename (the name becomes

highlighted).

2 Type a new name and press the Enter key:

Note: If the First Play references this movie, the First Play placeholder label also

changes to the new name.

42 Creating a Project

To create a copy of the movie

Click the movie placeholder to select it.

2 Choose Edit > Copy (or press Ctrl+C).

3 Choose Edit > Paste (or press Ctrl+V). DVDit! creates a new movie placeholder in

the movie list and pastes the copied movie into it.

To delete a movie

Click the movie placeholder to select it.

2 Press the Delete key. DVDit! asks if you are sure you want to delete the movie.

3 Click Ye s. The placeholder disappears from the list.

Note: If you delete a movie that is referenced by the First Play, DVDit! also

removes the movie thumbnail from the First Play placeholder. This means that there is now no First Play instruction telling the DVD player what to play automatically. You can either create the First Play again, or leave it empty. If you only want to delete the First Play instruction, not the referenced movie, see “To delete the First Play” on page 38.

Adding a Soundtrack

To add a soundtrack to a movie

Drag an audio thumbnail from the Media list onto the movie placeholder:

Working With Movies 43

You can also add a soundtrack to a movie by linking an audio clip to the same menu button as the movie — see “To add audio to a movie” on page 68 for details.

To change the soundtrack

Drag a different audio thumbnail onto the movie placeholder.

To remove the soundtrack from the movie

Right-click on the movie placeholder and choose Clear Audio from the pop-up menu.

44 Creating a Project

Using the Timeline

To select a movie

Either:

• Click the movie placeholder in the movie list

• Click the label above the timeline and choose the movie from the drop-down list:

When you select a movie, it remains in the timeline until you select a different one. You can now switch to the menu list and link the selected movie to buttons in a menu — see “Creating Button Links” on page 66 for details.

To play the selected movie

Click the Start button. The movie plays in the main window:

Working With Movies 45

2 To pause the movie, click the Start button again.

To scroll through the movie

1 Click and drag the playhead along the timeline. As you move the playhead, the

movie scrolls forward or backward in the main window.

46 Creating a Project

To begin playback at a specific point in the movie

In the Timecode window, enter the timecode where you want playback to start:

The timecode window displays hours:minutes:seconds:frames

2 Press Enter. The playhead moves to the speciﬁed frame, which is displayed in the

main window.

3 Click the Start button to begin playback from this point.

You can also begin playback at a particular chapter point; see “To play back the movie from a chapter point” on page 50 for details.

To zoom the timeline in and out

By default, DVDit! shows the entire length of the movie in the timeline (100% zoom). Click the “mountain” buttons above the

Start button to zoom in and out:

Zoom inZoom out

Working With Movies 47

Adding Chapter Points

Once you have selected a movie (see “To select a movie” on page 44), you can add chapter points.

Chapter points have two main purposes: they let the viewer jump to different scenes (chapters) in a movie using the remote control buttons; and they let you create scene selection menus, with buttons that link to different chapter points.

To add a chapter point to the selected movie

Double-click on the timeline where you want to add a chapter point:

DVDit! creates a new chapter point. The playhead moves to the chapter point location and the frame at this location appears in the main window.

DVDit! labels the chapter point “Chapter x”, where x represents its position along the timeline. This label appears when you move the mouse over the chapter point or select it, and the number is displayed on the DVD player (and in DVDit!’s Remote Control) when this chapter is playing. To change this label, see “To rename a chapter point” on page 49.

2 To add another chapter point, double-click on the timeline again.

Tip: You can jump from one chapter to another by pressing the Tab key. Press Tab

to move jump towards the end of the movie; press Shift+Tab to jump towards the beginning.

48 Creating a Project

To add a chapter point at the playhead location

Right-click anywhere on the timeline and choose Insert Chapter from the pop-up menu.

The new chapter point appears at the playhead location.

To add a chapter point at a specific location

Click the Timecode T button. It changes to a C.

2 Enter the timecode where you want to add the chapter point and press Enter:

Use the timecode format hours:minutes:seconds:frames

The new chapter point appears at the location you entered.

Note: DVDit! will not let you create the new chapter point if one already exists

at this location.

Working With Movies 49

To move a chapter point

• Hold down the Ctrl key as you drag the chapter point along the timeline to a new location

• Click the chapter point to select it, then press the left or right arrow key to nudge the chapter point to the previous/next complete frame

• Select the chapter point, then hold down Shift and press the arrow keys to nudge the chapter point in one-second increments

Note: You cannot move the ﬁrst chapter point.

To rename a chapter point

Right-click on the chapter point and choose Rename from the pop-up menu:

The chapter point label becomes highlighted.

2 Type a new name and press the Enter key.

50 Creating a Project

To play back the movie from a chapter point

Click the chapter point where you want playback to start. The playhead moves to that location.

2 Click the Start button.

To delete a chapter point

Right-click on the chapter point and choose Delete from the pop-up menu:

The chapter point disappears.

Working With Menus

A menu is a screen with buttons that let the DVD viewer jump to the movies and other menus on the DVD. A menu must contain a background image and at least one button link to a movie or another menu. You can also add text to the menu to label or explain the buttons.

To build a menu, you choose a background, add buttons and text, then link the buttons to movies and other menus. Buttons can be a graphic object, a text object, or even a movie/menu thumbnail.

When a project contains multiple menus, you should create button links between menus so that the viewer can navigate to them. For example, if you have two menus, you should create two links: one from the ﬁrst menu to the second menu, and another from the second menu back to the ﬁrst.

After you’ve created all the movies and menus, you can change how the DVD player plays individual movies and menus; see “Changing Movie and Menu Properties” on page 77 for details.

Working With Menus 51

Creating Menus

To create a new menu

Display the menu list (click the button at the bottom of the movie/menu list to choose

Menus).

52 Creating a Project

2 Drag a thumbnail from the Backgrounds list onto the empty placeholder:

The thumbnail appears in the placeholder and the full image appears in the Video Monitor’s main window. Now you must add buttons and links to build the menu.

To change the menu background

Drag a new background thumbnail onto the menu placeholder.

To create a copy of the menu

Click the menu placeholder to select it.

2 Choose Edit > Copy (or press Ctrl+C).

3 Choose Edit > Paste (or press Ctrl+V). DVDit! creates a new menu placeholder in

the menu list and pastes the copied menu into it.

This procedure copies the entire menu, including its buttons and text, but does not copy any button links to movies or other menus.

Working With Menus 53

To change the menu placeholder label

DVDit! always gives each placeholder the name “Menu x”, where x is a sequential number. You can change this name to something that indicates the placeholder contents.

1 Click the label on the placeholder you want to rename (the name becomes

highlighted).

2 Type a new name and press the Enter key:

Note: If the First Play references this menu, the First Play placeholder’s label also

changes to the new name.

54 Creating a Project

To rearrange the menus in the menu list

Drag the menu you want to move to another position in the list:

(This example shows Menu 2 being moved between Menu 4 and Menu 5)

The menu moves to the new position.

To delete a menu

1 Click the menu placeholder to select it, then press the Delete key.

2 DVDit! asks if you are sure you want to delete the menu. Click Yes.

The menu placeholder disappears from the list.

Note: If you delete a menu that is referenced by the First Play, DVDit! removes

the menu thumbnail from the First Play placeholder. This means that there is no First Play instruction telling the DVD player what to play automatically. You can either create the First Play again or leave it empty. If you only want to delete the First Play instruction, not the menu, see “To delete the First Play” on page 38.

Adding a Soundtrack

To add a soundtrack to the menu

Drag an audio thumbnail from the Media list onto the menu placeholder:

Working With Menus 55

This soundtrack will loop while the menu is displayed.

A speaker icon appears at the bottom of the main window when you select a menu that has a soundtrack:

56 Creating a Project

To change the menu soundtrack

Drag a different audio thumbnail onto the menu placeholder.

To remove the soundtrack from a menu

Click the menu placeholder. The menu appears in the main window.

2 Right-click on the menu background and choose Clear Audio from the pop-up

menu.

Adding Buttons and Text

A menu can have up to 36 button links to movies and other menus. You can build each button out of multiple graphic and text objects. After you add a button or text object, you can move and edit it as described in “Editing and Arranging Menu Objects” on page 62; to link the button to a movie or menu, see “Creating Button Links” on page 66.

To change the color, text properties, and drop shadow effect, see “Special Effects” on page 72.

To add a button graphic to the menu

The button appears on top of the menu background

Drag a thumbnail from the Buttons list onto the menu background:

Working With Menus 57

To create a button from a video or still image

Drag a still image or video thumbnail from the Palette window’s Media list onto the menu background.

DVDit! creates a rectangular button with the thumbnail superimposed on it. This button is linked to a new movie that DVDit! creates automatically in the movie list.

58 Creating a Project

To create a button from a movie or chapter point

Select the movie from the list above the timeline’s Start button.

2 Drag a chapter point up onto the menu background:

(Dragging the ﬁrst chapter point creates a link to the entire movie)

DVDit! creates a rectangular button from the frame at the chapter point location. This button is linked to the chapter point.

Working With Menus 59

This indicates which frame is used as the button thumbnail

Selected button

To change the frame displayed on a button

If you created a button by dragging a movie or chapter point onto a menu background, you can change the frame that appears on the button.

1 Click the button to select it. The timeline shows which chapter point is linked to

the button, and the position of the frame that appears on the button.

2 Right-click on the timeline at another point and choose Set Button Thumb from

the pop-up menu:

The frame at the point where you clicked replaces the frame displayed on the button.

60 Creating a Project

To create a button from another menu

Make sure the menu where you want to place the button is displayed in the Video Monitor’s main window.

2 Drag another menu’s placeholder from the menu list onto the menu background:

In this example, dragging Menu 2 onto Menu 1’s background creates a button that links to Menu 2

DVDit! creates a rectangular button with the other menu’s thumbnail superimposed on it. This button is linked to the other menu.

You can also use this method to create a button link to the First Play contents. Simply drag the First Play placeholder onto the menu to create the button.

To add text to the menu

The word “Text” appears in the font that you chose

Drag a font name from the Text list onto the menu background:

Working With Menus 61

2 Double-click the word “Text” (it becomes highlighted). Type anything you want,

such as a name for a button. To stop editing, click on the main window outside the text.

3 Move the text as needed. For example, if this is a button label, drag the text over

the button.

To change the text color, font, size and other properties, see “To change the text properties” on page 76.

62 Creating a Project

Editing and Arranging Menu Objects

You can select, move, and change the size of any button or text object in the Video Monitor’s main window. You can also cut, copy and paste these objects into any menu.

The “Safe” Area

TVs are designed to project images that are larger than the physical screen (this is called “overscanning”). This ensures that the image ﬁlls the whole screen, but it also means that the outside edges of the image are cropped. The part of the image that can be seen is called the “safe” area:

Edge of TV screen

“Safe” area

Full image (as seen in DVDit!’s Video Monitor window)

The border between the safe area and the edge of the image is about 30 pixels

When you arrange the buttons on a menu, make sure that you place them within the safe area (more than 30 pixels from the edges of the image).

Working With Menus 63

To select buttons and text

Click a button or text object to select it. A frame with red handles appears around the object:

2 To select more than one object, hold down the Ctrl key and click each object.

3 To deselect a selected object, just Ctrl-click it again.

You can resize, delete, cut, copy, and paste the selected objects. You can also change their color and other properties; see “Special Effects” on page 72 for details.

To move selected menu objects

1 Click and drag the object to move it around the main window.

2 Press the up, down, left, or right arrow keys to nudge the object(s) in one-pixel

increments.

3 Hold down the Shift key as you press the arrow keys to move the object(s) in 10-

pixel increments.

64 Creating a Project

To resize menu objects

After selecting an object, click and drag any of the nine handles to change its size:

Resize diagonally

Resize horizontally

• By click-dragging the center handle, you resize in all directions while keeping

• To maintain the object’s proportions, hold down the Shift key as you drag a

• When several objects are selected, click-dragging any object’s handles will resize

You can also resize text objects by changing the font size. See “To change the text properties” on page 76 for details.

Resize vertically

Resize in all directions

the object centered on the same point. Dragging up and to the left makes the object smaller; dragging down and to the right makes it larger.

handle.

all the selected objects.

Working With Menus 65

To cut, copy and paste selected menu objects

Choose Edit > Cut (press Ctrl+X) or Edit > Copy (press Ctrl+C). You can also right-click on a selected object and choose

Cut or Copy from the pop-up menu.

2 To paste the object(s) in the current menu, choose Edit > Paste (press Ctrl+V).

You can also right-click on the menu and choose

Paste from the pop-up menu.

3 To paste the object(s) into a different menu, click the menu placeholder in the

menu list, then choose

DVDit! pastes objects in the same position on the main window that they were in when you cut/copied them. This makes it simple to align objects with one another; just press the arrow keys (or press Shift+arrow keys) to nudge the newly pasted objects horizontally or vertically.

Edit > Paste.

Note: When you copy and paste an object that has a link to a movie, the link is

not copied.

To delete menu objects

Select the objects and press the Delete key.

66 Creating a Project

Creating Button Links

After laying out a menu, you can link movies and other menus to the buttons.

Note: If you created a button by dragging a video, image, movie, chapter point,

or another menu directly onto the menu background, the button link has already been made.

To link a media clip to a button or text object

Drag a video or image thumbnail from the Media list onto a button or text object:

DVDit! creates a new movie in the movie list and links the button or text to this movie. When the viewer selects the button or text object, the DVD player will play the movie.

Working With Menus 67

To link a movie or chapter point to a button or text object

Select the movie from the list above the timeline’s Start button.

2 Drag a chapter point onto the button or text object in the main window:

If you drag the ﬁrst chapter point, DVDit! links the whole movie to the button. If you drag any other chapter point, DVDit! links that chapter point to the button.

68 Creating a Project

To add audio to a movie

Drag an audio thumbnail onto a button that is already linked to movie:

To link another menu to a button in the current menu

Make sure the menu containing the button where you want to create the link is displayed in the main window.

Working With Menus 69

2 Drag the other menu’s placeholder from the menu list onto the button:

This creates a link to the other menu. When the viewer selects the button, the DVD player will display the linked menu.

You can also use this method to link a button to the First Play. Simply drag the First Play placeholder to the button or text to create the link.

70 Creating a Project

Each box lists the movie (or menu) that is linked to the button or text object

To check the button links

If you’re not sure which buttons have links, right-click on the main window and choose

Show Button Links from the pop-up menu:

2 To see the buttons again, right-click on the main window and choose Hide Button

Links.

To delete a button link

1 Right-click on the button and choose Clear Movie or Clear Menu from the pop-up

menu.

You can also replace a link by linking the button to a different menu or movie.

Working With Menus 71

Unselected

button

Selected button

Button Highlights

Whenever a viewer selects a button in a menu created by DVDit!, the button highlights to show that it is selected. For example:

To see how the button links will look, play back the project as described in “Previewing the Project” on page 80.

Overlapping Buttons

Although you can create menus with layered button and text objects, DVDit! will not let you create a DVD if two menu buttons overlap (by “button”, we mean a graphic or text object that is linked to a movie or menu). This is because many PC based DVD players cannot display overlapping buttons correctly.

When you create a button from multiple layered objects, make sure that you link a movie/menu to only one of the objects. Use the see which objects have links (see “To check the button links” on page 70).

Show Button Links command to

72 Creating a Project

Special Effects

Changing the Menu Colors

DVDit! lets you change the color of any part of the menu, including buttons, text, and backgrounds. You can change individual items or all items at once.

To change the menu colors

If you want to change certain button or text objects only, select the object(s).

2 Choose Effects > Adjust Color to open the Color Adjustment window.

3 Choose what you want to change from the Apply To drop-down list:

Current menu background — to change only the background color

•

• Selected menu items — to change only the objects you selected in step 1

• Current menu — to change the whole menu

4 Change the color settings:

Drag the sliders to adjust the hue, saturation and brightness

Click OK

This window shows the effect of your changes

(If you chose Selected menu items from the Apply To list, this window does not appear; instead, the changes are shown in the main window

Select Save Settings to keep these settings for the next time you open the Color Adjustment window

Working With Menus 73

If you selected

Save Settings, the Color Adjustment window will default to the

saved settings the next time you open it. You can use this feature to apply the same effect to multiple objects, or multiple menus.

74 Creating a Project

Changing the Drop Shadow Effect

By default, DVDit! adds a drop-shadow effect to every object you add to a menu. You can change this effect for individual items or for the whole menu.

To change the drop shadow effect

If you want to change the shadow effect for certain buttons or text objects only, select the object(s).

2 Choose Effects > Drop Shadow to open the Drop Shadow window.

3 Choose what you want to change from the Apply To drop-down list:

Items in current menu — to change the shadow for all objects in the menu

•

• Selected menu items — to change only the objects you selected in step 1

4 Change the drop shadow properties (the main window shows the effect):

Drag this slider to change the distance between the object and its shadow

Drag these sliders to change the shadow’s color and brightness

Select Save Settings to keep these settings for the next time you open the Drop Shadow window

Drag this slider to change the shadow from sharp to fuzzy

Drag this slider to make the shadow more or less transparent

Drag this icon around the black button to change the light source angle

Click OK

Working With Menus 75

If you selected Save Settings, the Drop Shadow window will default to the saved settings the next time you open it. You can use this feature to apply the same effect to multiple objects, or multiple menus.

76 Creating a Project

S t t

Changing Text Properties

DVDit! lets you change the color, font, language, size and style of any text object.

To change the text properties

Select the text object(s) you want to change.

2 Choose Effects > Text Properties to open the Text Properties window.

3 Change the text properties. The Video Monitor’s main window shows the effect of

your changes:

If you selected multiple text objects, select these checkboxes to apply Font,

Size, Effects, and/or Color

properties

Drag these sliders to adjust the text color and brightness

elect Save Settings to keep hese settings for the next ime you open the Text

Properties window

If you selected

Save Settings, the Text Properties window will default to the saved

Choose a font Face

Choose a Script if you want to change the text language

Select Bold, Italic, and/or

Underlined

Enter a text size...

...or choose a size from the drop-down list

Click OK

settings the next time you open it. You can use this feature to apply the same effect to multiple objects, or multiple menus.

Changing Movie and Menu Properties

The Movie Properties and Menu Properties dialogs let you add instructions to individual movies or menus that control how they are displayed. For example, you can loop a particular movie, or set a default button on a menu. These dialogs give you a high degree of control over individual elements of your presentation.

You should set movie and menu properties only after you have created all the movies, menus, and button links, so that all possible options are available in the dialog windows.

Movie Properties

The movie properties tell the DVD player what to do:

• When a movie ﬁnishes playing

• When the viewer presses the remote control’s Menu or Next buttons

Changing Movie and Menu Properties 77

You can also set the duration of still images, or force the video to freeze on the last frame.

To change the movie properties

Right-click on the movie placeholder (or on the timeline while the movie is selected) and choose

Properties from the pop-up menu.

78 Creating a Project

2 Change the Movie Properties:

You can change the movie label here

For stills, enter the Duration that the image will be displayed (in hours:minutes:seconds:frames)...

For video, select Inﬁnite to make the last frame display until the viewer presses a remote control button (you cannot change the video duration)

...or select Inﬁnite to display the image until the viewer presses a remote control button

Select the action that will occur when the viewer presses the remote control’s Next button

Menu Properties

The menu properties tell the DVD player:

• Which menu button to highlight when the menu is ﬁrst displayed

• What to do when the viewer presses the remote control’s Return button

• How long to display the menu (inﬁnitely, or for a speciﬁc duration)

• What to do at the end of the set duration (play a movie, display another menu, etc.)

Select the action that will occur when the viewer presses the remote control’s Menu button

Select the action that will occur when the movie ﬁnishes playing

Click OK

Changing Movie and Menu Properties 79

You can change the menu label here

Either enter the Duration that the menu will be displayed (in hours:minutes:seconds:frames)...

...or select Inﬁnite to display the menu until the viewer selects a button

Select the menu button that will be highlighted when this menu is displayed

Select the action that will occur when the viewer presses the remote control’s Return button

Select the action that will occur when the menu duration ends

Click OK

To change the menu properties

Right-click on the menu placeholder and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.

2 Change the Menu Properties:

80 Creating a Project

Previewing the Project

While you are creating a presentation, you need to check that everything works the way you want. Using DVDit!’s playback mode, you can preview the audio and video, and activate buttons to test their links.

To play the project

Click the Preview button at the bottom of the Palette window.

The Remote Control appears and the Video Monitor displays the First Play object — for example, if the First Play is a movie, the movie starts playing:

2 When a menu is displayed, click the Remote Control’s buttons to select different

menu buttons and play the linked movies or go to the linked menus, just like a real DVD player. You can also activate menu buttons by clicking them.

Previewing the Project 81

3 When a video is playing, click the Next and Previous buttons to jump from one

chapter to another.

These keyboard shortcuts also operate the Remote Control buttons:

Remote Control button Keyboard shortcut

Arrows Left, right, up, and down arrow keys

Play/Pause Space bar

Previous Ctrl+left arrow

Next Ctrl+right arrow

Rewind Alt+left arrow

Fast Forward Alt+right arrow

Menu Esc

Note: If you click the Stop button, you can edit (move, delete, and resize) the

buttons, text, and other objects on the menu. Click the playback.

Play button to resume

4 To return to editing the project, click the “X” button at the top-right corner of the

Remote Control.

82 Creating a Project

Working With Widescreen Video (

Creating a widescreen (16:9 anamorphic) project is much the same as creating a normal 4:3 project. DVDit! displays video and stills in letterbox format on the Video Monitor’s main window, and you create menus and links just as you do normally. Menus are displayed in 4:3 format, both in DVDit! and in the ﬁnished presentation. (On a widescreen TV, menus will have letterbox mattes at the left and right sides.)

When a viewer watches a widescreen DVDit! project on a 4:3 television, the DVD player setup determines how the TV displays the video:

• If the player is set to automatic letterbox, the video appears with letterbox mattes at the top and bottom

• If the player is set to automatic pan & scan, the left and right sides of the video are cropped. (Widescreen video is 25% wider than 4:3, so 12.5% of the picture is lost from each side)

• If the player thinks the TV is a widescreen model, the video will be squeezed horizontally to ﬁt the TV screen

The online document Preparing Files for DVDit! (Preparing Files (Eng).pdf) lists the video and image sizes required for widescreen projects. This document is in the Documentation folder in the DVDit! folder on your PC.

PE only

)

Creating a DVD

You’ve created a DVD Video presentation, and you’re satisﬁed with the placement of the graphics, the links, and the overall look and feel. It’s time to output the project in a format that you can distribute to other people.

This chapter includes:

• DVDit!’s output formats

• Finishing the project

• Creating DVD-R and CD-R discs

• Creating DVD volumes on your hard disk or other media

• Playing DVD volumes

• Creating DVD master tapes

84 Creating a DVD

DVDit!’s Output Formats

DVDit! lets you create DVD discs, DVD volumes, and DVD masters:

DVD Disc

This refers to a recordable (DVD-R or CD-R) disc:

• DVD-R discs work with any set-top or PC based DVD player. The discs can contain up to two hours of high-quality video

• CD-R discs work only with a PC based DVD player, and contain about 15–20 minutes of high-quality video. (Although many set-top players can read CD-R discs, they cannot play CD-Rs containing DVD Video; they can play only audio CDs or video CDs (VCDs). If you insert a CD-R containing DVD Video into a set-top player, it will either do nothing or eject the disc)

Many software DVD players also cannot play DVD Video from a CD-R, so you can choose to include a special cDVD™ player when you record onto CD-R. This player is written to the ROM section of the disc; it launches automatically and plays the DVD Video when the disc is inserted in a PC. This guarantees that most people can view your presentation.

Note: The cDVD player works only on Windows based PCs.

You can make multiple discs from a project, with DVDit! prompting you to insert each disc into the DVD/CD recorder. You can also make DVDit! check that the project will be written to the disc correctly, which saves you from wasting valuable discs.

DVDit!’s Output Formats 85

DVD Volume

A DVD volume is a folder containing ﬁles for the video, audio and navigation information required by the DVD player, as well as any DVD-ROM data ﬁles. You can create a DVD volume on any computer media (for example, on your hard disk), and play the ﬁles using a PC based DVD player.

The DVD volume is useful for testing the project before you create a DVD disc or DVD master; this can save a lot of time if a project is large or contains AVI and QuickTime ﬁles that must be encoded into MPEG format.

DVD Master

This option lets you write the project to a digital linear tape (DLT), which you then send to a replication plant for mass production of DVD discs. This is the only method for producing discs in bulk.

(PE only)

Other Options

Source Options

You can create the output from the current project, or from a DVD volume that you created previously, or from just the DVD-ROM portion of the current project (see “Finishing the Project” on page 87 for information on creating the DVDROM portion).

You can even create DVD discs and DVD masters from a disc image ﬁle produced by another application, such as Sonic’s DVD Creator. (A disc image is a special ﬁle that contains all the DVD information but has no directory structure. It represents the exact position of every piece of data on the ﬁnal disc.)

86 Creating a DVD

Multiple File Systems on a Disc

All DVD discs contain at least two ﬁle systems: the universal disc format (UDF) ﬁle system and the ISO 9660 ﬁle system. Among other things, these ﬁle systems deﬁne how a DVD-ROM ﬁle name appears when viewed on a computer.

The UDF ﬁle system allows ﬁle names of up to 255 Unicode characters, which can include accented characters and Asian characters. All modern computer operating systems read the UDF ﬁle system. Older operating systems, such as Windows 95, read the ISO 9660 ﬁle system, which limits ﬁle names to 8+3 characters (like MSDOS ﬁle names) and allows only numeric and uppercase ASCII characters plus the hyphen to be used. Also, under ISO 9660 folders can be nested only eight levels deep. If you want the DVD-ROM ﬁles to be usable on older systems, you must limit the ﬁle names to 8+3 characters.

To get around the limitations of ISO 9660, you can include the Joliet ﬁle system when you create a disc. This allows up to 110 Unicode characters in ﬁle names and unlimited nested folders, but it works only under Windows 95. It also takes up some disc space. If the project contains no DVD-ROM ﬁles, you should turn off the

Joliet option when you create the disc.

DVDit! also lets you use a version of ISO 9660 that allows ﬁle names up to 30 characters long, but this is incompatible with PCs running MS-DOS. If you want the DVD-ROM ﬁles to be usable under MS-DOS, you should turn off the

long ﬁle names option when you create the disc.

Use

Temporary Storage

By default, DVDit! creates a temporary DVD volume before writing the ﬁles to the DVD disc, DVD volume or DVD master. If your PC has limited disk space, you may prefer to turn off this feature; in this case, DVDit! writes the ﬁles directly to the output medium.

Sonic Solutions DVDIT User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

The Big Picture

An Introduction to DVD

How DVDit! Works

What’s New in DVDit! 2.0?

General

Video Monitor

Palette Window

Remote Control

About This Guide

DVDit! SE and PE Versions

Other Information

Preparing Files for DVDit!

Online Help

Getting Started

Installing DVDit!

Minimum System Requirements

To install DVDit! on your PC

To remove DVDit! from your PC

Launching DVDit!

Creating, Opening and Saving DVDit! Projects

To start a new project

To save the project

To open an existing project

To save the project under a new name

Exploring DVDit!

The Palette Window

The Video Monitor

Menu/Movie List

First Play Placeholder

Timeline

The Remote Control

Counter Window

Changing the DVDit! Application Language

To change the application language

Registering DVDit!

To register DVDit!

DVDit!’s Keyboard Shortcuts

General Shortcuts

Project Planner

Video Monitor

Remote Control

Importing Files

Supported File Formats

Audio and video

Graphics (for backgrounds, buttons and still images)

Working With Themes

What are Themes?

Using Themes

To open an existing theme

To create a new theme

To switch from one theme to another

Importing Files into Themes

To import files from within DVDit!

To drag files into DVDit!:

Moving Files into DVDit!

To move a file into a Theme folder

Previewing Video, Audio, and Still Images

To play a file

Deleting Files

To delete a file from DVDit!

Creating a Project

What is a Project?

DVD Video and DVD-ROM

Basic Steps

Examples of DVDit! Projects

Single movie (with chapter points)

Multiple movies

Single menu and multiple movies

Multiple menus and movies

Creating the First Play

To create the First Play

To change the First Play

To delete the First Play

Working With Movies

Creating Movies

To create a new movie