Ulead 1.0 User Manual
User’s Guide for
SpruceUp
Personal DVD Authoring
Version 1.0
Copyright Notice
This user’s guide and its contents is copyrighted ©2000 Spruce Technologies, Inc. All rights
reserved. Under copyright laws, it may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the
written consent of Spruce Technologies, Inc.
SpruceUp is a trademark of Spruce Technologies, Inc. All other trademarks in this manual
are the property of their respective owners.
"Dolby" and "AC-3" are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.
All features and specifications subject to change without notice.
Rev 1.0, November 30, 2000
ii SpruceUp User’s Guide
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Welcome to SpruceUp! ................................................................ 1—2
SpruceUp User Forum .............................................................................1—2
SpruceUp's ReadMe ................................................................................1—2
About This Manual ....................................................................... 1—2
Using SpruceUp’s Help................................................................. 1—3
Printing Help .......................................................................................1—3
Updating Help .....................................................................................1—3
SpruceUp Support ....................................................................... 1—4
24/7 Support Resources (free to trial version and full version users) .............1—4
Mon-Fri 8 AM - 5 PM PST .........................................................................1—4
General Information................................................................................ 1—4
Introduction ................................................................................ 1—5
SpruceUp Trial Version ............................................................................1—5
Learning to Use SpruceUp........................................................................ 1—5
Minimum System Requirements .................................................. 1—6
SpruceUp .............................................................................................. 1—6
Operating System ................................................................................1—6
CPU ...................................................................................................1—6
System RAM........................................................................................ 1—6
Video Card ..........................................................................................1—6
Hard Drive Size ...................................................................................1—6
Removable Media Drives.......................................................................1—7
Syzygy DVD Player .................................................................................1—7
Chapter 2: Creating DVDs
What is a DVD Title? .................................................................... 2—2
Movies................................................................................................ 2—2
Menus ................................................................................................2—2
What Else is Needed to Make a DVD?........................................... 2—3
Movie Sources ........................................................................................2—3
Video and Audio Capture Cards ................................................................2—3
Editors ..................................................................................................2—3
MPEG Encoders ......................................................................................2—4
Ulead Media Studio Pro® 6.0 ........................................................ 2—5
Creating a DVD Title Overview..................................................... 2—9
Gather Your Sources ...............................................................................2—9
Movies................................................................................................ 2—9
Backgrounds .......................................................................................2—9
Buttons ..............................................................................................2—9
Edit Your Sources ...................................................................................2—10
SpruceUp’s User’s Guide iii
Encode for SpruceUp ............................................................................... 2—10
Author the Title ...................................................................................... 2—11
Simulate the Title ...................................................................................2—11
Export the Title ......................................................................................2—12
Set-Top DVD Players ............................................................................2—12
Playing Titles on PCs ............................................................................2—12
The Syzygy Player ...............................................................................2—12
Playing Titles on an Apple Macintosh ......................................................2—13
DVD Basics .................................................................................. 2—14
DVD Introduction....................................................................................2—14
DVD-Video ..........................................................................................2—14
DVD-Audio ..........................................................................................2—14
DVD-ROM ...........................................................................................2—14
DVD-RAM............................................................................................2—14
DVD+RW and DVD-RW .........................................................................2—15
Video CD (VCD) and Super Video CD (SVCD) ..........................................2—15
Distributing SpruceUp Titles .....................................................................2—15
Set-Top DVD Players ............................................................................2—15
PC DVD-ROM Drives .............................................................................2—15
CD-ROM Drives.................................................................................... 2—15
Other Drive Technologies ...................................................................... 2—16
Replicators and DVD-R .........................................................................2—16
DVD-Video File Details ............................................................................2—16
Video_ts Files ...................................................................................... 2—16
Audio_ts Files ......................................................................................2—17
Other Files ..........................................................................................2—17
General Information.............................................................................2—17
Chapter 3: Getting Started
Registering SpruceUp .................................................................. 3—2
The Registration ID ..............................................................................3—2
The Software Enabling Key ...................................................................3—2
What is the Trial Version? .....................................................................3—2
Is Mine a Full Version?.......................................................................... 3—2
The Welcome to SpruceUp Dialog ..........................................................3—2
Upgrading to or Enabling the Full Version ..................................................3—3
If You Entered a Serial Number .............................................................3—5
If You Do Not Have a Serial Number....................................................... 3—5
Launch Window ........................................................................... 3—7
Preferences ................................................................................. 3—9
NTSC/PAL Selection .............................................................................3—9
Simulation Preview Decoder Selection ....................................................3—9
Display Project Size..............................................................................3—9
Adding a Custom Entry ...................................................................... 3—10
Video Standards of the World ...................................................... 3—11
Africa........................................................................................... 3—11
PAL.......................................................................................................3—11
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—11
iv SpruceUp User’s Guide
Asia ............................................................................................. 3—12
NTSC ....................................................................................................3—12
PAL.......................................................................................................3—12
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—12
Caribbean .................................................................................... 3—12
NTSC ....................................................................................................3—12
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—12
Central America........................................................................... 3—12
NTSC ....................................................................................................3—12
Europe......................................................................................... 3—13
PAL.......................................................................................................3—13
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—13
Middle East .................................................................................. 3—13
PAL.......................................................................................................3—13
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—13
North America ............................................................................. 3—13
NTSC ....................................................................................................3—13
PAL.......................................................................................................3—14
Oceania ....................................................................................... 3—14
NTSC ....................................................................................................3—14
PAL.......................................................................................................3—14
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—14
South America ............................................................................. 3—14
NTSC ....................................................................................................3—14
PAL.......................................................................................................3—14
SECAM (use PAL setting) .........................................................................3—14
SpruceUp User Interface ............................................................. 3—15
Main Window .........................................................................................3—15
Menu Bar ............................................................................................3—15
Main Control ....................................................................................... 3—15
Media Gallery ...................................................................................... 3—16
Along the Top ................................................................................... 3—16
The Main Area ..................................................................................3—16
At the Bottom ................................................................................... 3—16
Menu Gallery .......................................................................................3—17
Menu Gallery .......................................................................................3—17
First Play..........................................................................................3—17
Work Area .......................................................................................... 3—18
Work Area .......................................................................................... 3—18
Work Area Toolbar ............................................................................... 3—18
Default Tools ....................................................................................3—18
Text Tools ........................................................................................3—19
Alignment and Sizing Tools ................................................................3—19
Quickstart.................................................................................... 3—20
Creating a Simple Title ............................................................................ 3—20
Start a New Project ...........................................................................3—20
Loading Background and Movie Assets .................................................3—20
SpruceUp’s User’s Guide v
Select the Opening Menu Background..................................................3—20
Add a Button to the Menu ..................................................................3—20
Add a Target to the Button................................................................. 3—21
Add Some Text ................................................................................. 3—21
Saving the Project............................................................................. 3—21
Something to Simulate! .....................................................................3—21
Something to Export! ........................................................................3—22
Working with Movie Assets....................................................................3—22
Keyboard Shortcuts ..................................................................... 3—23
File Functions ......................................................................................3—23
General Functions ................................................................................3—23
Edit Commands ...................................................................................3—23
To Open Dialogs ..................................................................................3—23
Main Control Modes.............................................................................. 3—23
Work Area Display ...............................................................................3—24
Text Properties .................................................................................... 3—24
Button Resizing ...................................................................................3—24
Media Gallery Shortcuts........................................................................ 3—24
Alignment Tools ...................................................................................3—24
Clip Properties .....................................................................................3—25
Pull Down Menus ......................................................................... 3—26
File Pull Down ........................................................................................3—26
Edit Pull Down ........................................................................................3—27
View Pull Down....................................................................................... 3—30
View Pull Down....................................................................................... 3—30
Help Pull Down ....................................................................................... 3—31
Chapter 4: Assets
Assets.......................................................................................... 4—2
Assets in SpruceUp Projects ..................................................................4—2
Asset Properties...................................................................................4—2
Important Differences Between Asset Types...............................................4—2
Understanding the Style Gallery ............................................................4—2
Importing Differences...........................................................................4—3
Deleting Within SpruceUp .....................................................................4—3
General Asset Information .......................................................................4—4
Parsed File ..........................................................................................4—4
Using the Style Gallery ................................................................ 4—5
Usage Hints ...........................................................................................4—6
The "Add Media Asset" Dialog ..................................................... 4—7
Video Assets ................................................................................ 4—9
Introduction ...........................................................................................4—9
General Quality Issues ............................................................................4—9
Start at the Source ..............................................................................4—9
Noisy Video ......................................................................................... 4—9
Transcoding Artifacts............................................................................ 4—9
What is MPEG? .......................................................................................4—9
Elementary and Multiplexed MPEG Files ..................................................4—9
MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 ............................................................................ 4—10
vi SpruceUp User’s Guide
Bit-Rates ............................................................................................4—10
Video Resolution..................................................................................4—10
MPEG-1 ...........................................................................................4—10
MPEG-2 ...........................................................................................4—11
Picture Frame Rate ..............................................................................4—11
Aspect Ratio ........................................................................................ 4—11
Chroma Format ...................................................................................4—11
What’s a GOP?..................................................................................... 4—11
GOP Length ...................................................................................... 4—11
GOP Pattern .....................................................................................4—12
Open or Closed GOPs.........................................................................4—12
Supported Video Formats ........................................................................4—12
What Happens Exactly When Importing Video?...........................................4—12
Movie Properties ..................................................................................4—13
MPEG Settings Summary ............................................................. 4—14
MPEG Type .........................................................................................4—14
MPEG Structure ...................................................................................4—14
Bit-Rates ............................................................................................4—14
Audio Sample Rate...............................................................................4—14
Video Resolution..................................................................................4—14
MPEG-1 ...........................................................................................4—14
MPEG-2 ...........................................................................................4—14
Frame Rate ......................................................................................... 4—14
Aspect Ratio ........................................................................................ 4—14
Chroma Format ...................................................................................4—14
GOP Size (maximum) ........................................................................... 4—14
Audio Assets................................................................................ 4—15
Compressed vs. Uncompressed ................................................................4—15
Dolby® Digital AC-3 ...............................................................................4—15
SpruceUp Supported Audio Formats .......................................................... 4—16
Disc Space Math ..................................................................................... 4—16
Uncompressed.....................................................................................4—16
Compressed ........................................................................................ 4—16
Background Assets ...................................................................... 4—17
Supported Formats ................................................................................. 4—17
What Happens When Importing? ..............................................................4—17
Background Properties..........................................................................4—18
Button Assets .............................................................................. 4—19
Button Properties.................................................................................4—19
Chapter 5: Tutorial
SpruceUp Tutorial Introduction ................................................... 5—2
Tutorial Assets .......................................................................................5—2
Tutorial Sections.....................................................................................5—2
Things to Know While Going Through the Tutorial ....................................5—2
Tutorial Step One ........................................................................ 5—4
SpruceUp Introduction ............................................................................5—4
User Interface Orientation .......................................................................5—4
SpruceUp’s User’s Guide vii
Tutorial Step Two ........................................................................ 5—5
Loading Assets .......................................................................................5—5
The Style Gallery ....................................................................................5—5
Style Gallery Notes ..............................................................................5—5
Loading Tutorial Assets ...........................................................................5—6
Tutorial Step Three...................................................................... 5—7
Creating Menus ......................................................................................5—7
Naming Your Project ............................................................................5—7
Creating the Menus .............................................................................. 5—7
Creating the First Menu .....................................................................5—7
Creating the Second Menu .................................................................5—7
Putting Text on the Menu ................................................................... 5—7
Putting a Button on the Menu .............................................................5—8
Assigning a Default Button ................................................................. 5—9
To Align the Button with the Text ........................................................5—9
Tutorial Step Four........................................................................ 5—10
Using Clip Properties ...............................................................................5—10
Clip Properties Dialog Introduction .........................................................5—10
Clip Properties Tutorial .........................................................................5—10
Opening the Clip Properties Window .................................................... 5—10
Using the Scrub Bar ..........................................................................5—10
Setting a Chapter Point......................................................................5—10
Changing the EyeFrame ..................................................................... 5—11
Making Chapter Buttons..................................................................... 5—11
Changing the Menu Background..........................................................5—11
Adding Frames to the Background Assets.............................................5—11
Exiting the Clip Properties Dialog ........................................................5—11
Tutorial Step Five ........................................................................ 5—13
Finishing the Menus ................................................................................5—13
Tutorial Step Six .......................................................................... 5—14
Simulating the Title.................................................................................5—14
Using the Simulator ................................................................................5—14
Exiting Simulation Mode ..........................................................................5—14
Tutorial Step Seven ..................................................................... 5—15
Exporting the Title ..................................................................................5—15
Choose the Write Device.......................................................................... 5—16
If You Selected a CD-R/RW or DVD-R Drive.............................................5—16
If You Selected Title Set... ....................................................................5—16
Choose the Items to Include ....................................................................5—16
Start the Write .......................................................................................5—16
Chapter 6: Creating Menus
Creating Menus Basics................................................................. 6—2
Introduction ........................................................................................6—2
Menu Backgrounds ............................................................................... 6—2
Buttons ..............................................................................................6—2
Text ................................................................................................... 6—2
Drop Shadows ..................................................................................... 6—2
Overlapping Buttons.............................................................................6—2
viii SpruceUp User’s Guide
Creating a Menu .....................................................................................6—2
Setting the Background ........................................................................6—2
Adding and Assigning a Button ..............................................................6—3
Adding Text ........................................................................................6—4
Using the Alignment and Sizing Tools .....................................................6—4
Simulating the Menu ............................................................................6—5
A Movie as First Play ................................................................... 6—6
What is First Play? .................................................................................. 6—6
A Movie as First Play ............................................................................... 6—6
Movie as First Play Considerations ............................................................6—6
Right-Clicking on Buttons ............................................................ 6—7
The Button Properties Dialog .................................................................... 6—7
Overlapping Buttons.................................................................... 6—9
Introduction ...........................................................................................6—9
Setting Button Priorities ..........................................................................6—9
Different Kinds of Overlap........................................................................6—9
Using the Alignment and Sizing Tools.......................................... 6—11
Surprising Results!...............................................................................6—11
Selecting Multiple Items .......................................................................6—11
The Alignment Buttons ............................................................................6—11
Edge Alignment Buttons .......................................................................6—11
Center Alignment Buttons ..................................................................... 6—11
Evenly Spaced Alignment Buttons ..........................................................6—12
Other Alignment Buttons ......................................................................6—12
The Size Buttons ....................................................................................6—12
Adding Drop Shadows ................................................................. 6—13
Turning Drop Shadows On and Off ............................................................ 6—13
Setting Default On/Off Status ................................................................ 6—13
Setting Drop Shadow Properties ...............................................................6—13
Default Versus Custom ......................................................................... 6—14
The Drop Shadow Settings.......................................................................6—15
Drop Shadow X/Y Position.....................................................................6—15
Drop Shadow Color ..............................................................................6—15
Drop Shadow Opacity ........................................................................... 6—15
Drop Shadow Blur ................................................................................6—15
How Do I Get One Button's Shadow to Match Another's? .............................6—15
Using the Shadow as a Glow ....................................................................6—15
Layering Priorities ....................................................................... 6—16
Changing an Item's Priority......................................................................6—16
Square Pixel Issues ..................................................................... 6—17
What is a "Square Pixel"? ........................................................................6—17
Video Pixels ...........................................................................................6—17
What Does This Really Mean? ................................................................6—17
Menus as Simple Slide Shows ...................................................... 6—18
Slide Show Tips......................................................................................6—18
Resources ...........................................................................................6—18
Actually Building the Title .....................................................................6—18
SpruceUp’s User’s Guide ix
Chapter 7: Custom Buttons
Custom Button Introduction ........................................................ 7—2
Using SpruceUp's Button Maker................................................... 7—3
General Usage........................................................................................7—3
Creating Photoshop Buttons ........................................................ 7—4
Introduction ...........................................................................................7—4
The Button File.......................................................................................7—4
Basic File Settings................................................................................ 7—5
Background.........................................................................................7—5
Mask .................................................................................................. 7—5
Subpicture ..........................................................................................7—5
Thumbnail...........................................................................................7—6
General Information................................................................................ 7—6
Chapter 8: Typing Text
Typing Text ................................................................................. 8—2
How To Start .......................................................................................8—2
Setting the Color .................................................................................8—2
Setting the Font and its Attributes .........................................................8—2
Some Font Considerations.....................................................................8—3
Overlapping Text .................................................................................8—3
Modifying Existing Text.........................................................................8—3
Typing Text on a Button .......................................................................8—3
Applying Global Changes .........................................................................8—3
Making Text Entries Match ....................................................................8—3
Aligning Multiple Text Entries ................................................................8—4
Chapter 9: Clip Properties
Clip Properties Dialog .................................................................. 9—2
Opening and Closing the Clip Properties Dialog...........................................9—2
Playing the Movie ...................................................................................9—3
Setting and Naming Chapter Points........................................................... 9—4
The URL Setting .....................................................................................9—5
Setting the EyeFrame™ ...........................................................................9—5
Exporting Thumbnails of Chapter Points ....................................................9—6
Manual Mode ....................................................................................... 9—6
Automatic Mode...................................................................................9—6
Exporting Frames as Backgrounds or Stills.................................................9—7
Clip Properties Keyboard Shortcuts ............................................. 9—8
Chapter 10: The Author Mode
Using the Author Mode .............................................................. 10—2
Using This Help .................................................................................... 10—2
Basic Operations................................................................................... 10—2
Assets ................................................................................................. 10—2
Creating a Menu ................................................................................... 10—2
x SpruceUp User’s Guide
Working With Movies............................................................................. 10—2
Chapter 11: Simulation Mode
Simulation ................................................................................. 11—2
Using the Simulator .............................................................................. 11—2
Button Navigation .............................................................................. 11—3
Movie End Action ...............................................................................11—3
Simulating Titles with a First Play Movie ............................................... 11—3
Exiting Simulation Mode ........................................................................ 11—3
Chapter 12: Export Mode
Export Interface ........................................................................ 12—2
SpruceUp Trial Version .......................................................................... 12—2
Opening the Export Interface .................................................................12—2
Export Summary........................................................................ 12—3
Project Info Section............................................................................ 12—3
Export Size Section ............................................................................ 12—4
Export Dialog............................................................................. 12—5
Basic Options ....................................................................................... 12—5
Export Properties ............................................................................ 12—5
Output Destination .......................................................................... 12—6
Advanced Options ................................................................................. 12—7
Source Options ............................................................................... 12—7
Write on CD/DVD Media ................................................................... 12—7
Working Directory ........................................................................... 12—7
Include .......................................................................................... 12—7
Post Export Action ........................................................................... 12—9
Restore Original Settings ................................................................. 12—9
Test Write ...................................................................................... 12—9
What Happens During an Export? .............................................. 12—10
Output To: CD-R/RW or DVD-R .............................................................. 12—10
The Auto Insert Notification................................................................. 12—10
Writing to the Disc ............................................................................. 12—11
The Source Type Setting..................................................................... 12—11
Output To: Title Set .............................................................................. 12—11
The Source Type Setting..................................................................... 12—11
Output To: Disc Image .......................................................................... 12—12
The Source Type Setting..................................................................... 12—12
How Long Should the Export Take? ........................................... 12—13
Compiling ............................................................................................ 12—13
Writing to CD-R/RW or DVD-R Disc ......................................................... 12—13
Writing a Disc Image............................................................................. 12—13
Drive Names .............................................................................. 12—14
Manually Copying Files to CD-R ................................................. 12—15
Introduction ......................................................................................... 12—15
What Makes a Valid Title? ................................................................... 12—15
Creating the Files to Copy...................................................................... 12—15
SpruceUp’s User’s Guide xi
Copying the Files with Adaptec's Easy CD Creator..................................... 12—15
Copying the Basic Files ....................................................................... 12—15
Copying the Syzygy Player .................................................................. 12—16
Copying the SpruceUp Trial Version...................................................... 12—16
Actually Making the Disc ..................................................................... 12—17
The Syzygy Player ..................................................................... 12—18
What is "Syzygy"?.............................................................................. 12—18
What is the Syzygy™ Player? .............................................................. 12—18
Installation Issues.............................................................................. 12—18
Syzygy Playback ................................................................................ 12—18
Bypassing Autorun ............................................................................. 12—19
Syzygy Playback Problems ..................................................................... 12—19
Skips the First Menu........................................................................... 12—19
Playing on Systems with Two Drives .................................................... 12—19
Other Players Cause Conflicts .............................................................. 12—19
Playing on an Apple OS.............................................................. 12—20
Playing on Linux OS................................................................... 12—20
Export Issues ............................................................................ 12—21
CD-R and CD-RW Media ........................................................................ 12—21
DVD-RAM and DVD+RW ........................................................................ 12—21
Creating Simple Title Sets ................................................................... 12—21
Creating DVD-ROM Discs .................................................................... 12—21
Video and Audio Quality ........................................................................ 12—21
Includes Items and the Working Directory ............................................... 12—22
Chapter 13: General Information
SpruceUp's "URL" Entry............................................................. 13—2
Finding the URL Entry ........................................................................... 13—2
Chapter Points................................................................................... 13—2
Buttons ............................................................................................ 13—2
The URL Entry is Not Just for URLs! ........................................................ 13—2
The URL Entry in Action......................................................................... 13—2
Using the Color Dialog ............................................................... 13—3
NTSC/PAL Colors .................................................................................. 13—4
Video Basics .............................................................................. 13—5
MPEG Video ......................................................................................... 13—5
Horizontal Pixels ................................................................................ 13—5
Vertical Lines .................................................................................... 13—5
MPEG-1 ......................................................................................... 13—5
MPEG-2 ......................................................................................... 13—5
Why NTSC’s 29.97 Frame Rate? ............................................................. 13—6
What is 4:2:0 Component Video? ........................................................... 13—6
xii SpruceUp User’s Guide
Chapter 14: Problems
Error Messages.......................................................................... 14—2
A ........................................................................................................ 14—2
C ........................................................................................................ 14—3
D........................................................................................................ 14—4
E ........................................................................................................ 14—5
F ........................................................................................................14—6
G........................................................................................................ 14—6
H........................................................................................................ 14—6
I......................................................................................................... 14—6
L ........................................................................................................ 14—8
M........................................................................................................ 14—8
N ........................................................................................................ 14—9
O........................................................................................................ 14—9
P ........................................................................................................ 14—10
R ........................................................................................................ 14—10
S ........................................................................................................ 14—11
T ........................................................................................................ 14—12
U ........................................................................................................ 14—14
W ....................................................................................................... 14—15
Y ........................................................................................................ 14—15
General Troubleshooting ........................................................... 14—16
Display Troubleshooting ........................................................................ 14—16
Video Playback ..................................................................................14—16
Audio Playback .................................................................................. 14—16
Disc/Tape Writing Problems ...................................................................14—16
Syzygy Player Issues ............................................................................ 14—17
SCSI Issues ............................................................................... 14—18
SpruceUp’s User’s Guide xiii
xiv SpruceUp User’s Guide
Chapter 1: Introduction
About This Manual
Using SpruceUp’s Help
SpruceUp Support
Welcome
SpruceUp Introduction
Minimum System Requirements
SpruceUp User’s Guide 1—1
Welcome to SpruceUp!
Welcome to SpruceUp! We trust you will find SpruceUp an easy to use but powerful tool for
creating DVD titles.
Suggested places to go from here are:
• To learn how to get the best from SpruceUp's help, see the Using This Help topic.
• See the Introduction topic for general information about SpruceUp.
• See the Main Window topic for an overview of the GUI.
• For a quick run-through of SpruceUp, see the Quickstart topic.
• The Tutorial topic provides a detailed tour of SpruceUp, walking you through the
process of creating a title.
• The Creating Menus topic covers the details of building menus.
• The Assets topic covers the asset types that SpruceUp supports and how to import
them.
• If you are new to DVDs, then the What is a DVD Title and the Creating a DVD Title
Overview topics would be useful.
SpruceUp User Forum
It is also highly recommended you take the time to visit the SpruceUp User Forum at:
www.spruceuserforums.com/SpruceUp
You will need to register to get a password, but it is worth it (and it is free). You can post
suggestions and questions and look over other posts. There are also a lot of links there to
download additional SpruceUp assets and other goodies.
SpruceUp's ReadMe
We recommend you take some time and go through the ReadMe file included with this
release. It contains late-breaking information and issues relating to specific configurations.
Open the ReadMe from SpruceUp's folder on the Start menu (Start – Programs – Spruce
Technologies – SpruceUp – ReadMe).
About This Manual
This manual is based on the SpruceUp help file - they each contain virtually the same
content. Certain areas are organized a bit differently in an effort to make the manual flow a
bit better. You will also notice a lot of references to “topics” throughout this manual. These
equate to sections in this manual.
When possible, we strongly encourage you to use SpruceUp’s help. It is structured with links
to provide quick access to the information you are looking for. As a note, the help file
(SpruceUp.chm) can be run as a standalone file, without the SpruceUp application.
1—2 SpruceUp User’s Guide
Using SpruceUp’s Help
SpruceUp's help provides you with easy access to topics covering all aspects of using
SpruceUp. It is in the familiar HTML help style, providing navigation and search features for
locating the desired information. Feel free to reposition and resize the help window – any
changes you make are saved for the next time you use SpruceUp's help.
There are a number of places within SpruceUp where you can launch help, either by clicking
on the "?" or the word "Help", depending on the menu you are in. Most are context sensitive
and display the topic relating to your current mode. You can also launch help using the
toolbar's Help pull down menu or by pressing the F1 keyboard button.
Embedded in the text are links to related topics and popup windows. Simply click on any
underlined words to use its link. Click on the help dialog's Back button to return to the page
you jumped from.
You will also find links embedded in some of the graphics. The cursor changes from its
default arrow to a hand when passing over a link - clicking at that time follows the link.
You have four choices when deciding how to navigate through help:
• Contents – This is the default mode, providing the help topics in a table-of-contents
style. A question mark icon indicates an actual topic – click the question mark or the
topic's name to view the topic. A book icon indicates a chapter containing multiple
topics. Click the "+" in front to open the chapter and display the topics. Alternatively,
double-click the chapter's name to open it.
• Index – The index is built of the common names that you might want to search on. As
you type the word(s), help scrolls to the closest match. Double-click the index entry
that best fits what you are after – the appropriate topic then opens.
• Search – Use this to find which topics contain a specific word or phrase. This is
particularly handy when you are unable to find what you want with the Index. Simply
type in the word or phrase and click on List Topics. All topics containing the phrase
display in the lower window. Double-click a topic's name to view it. The word or
phrase you searched for is highlighted, making it easier to locate.
• Favorites – Use this to keep a list of topics you find yourself going back to often. The
current topic's name displays at the bottom – click Add to add it to the favorites list.
Printing Help
You can print help topics by clicking on the Print icon of the help window's toolbar.
Updating Help
Updated help is periodically available at:
http://www.spruceuserforums.com/SpruceUp
SpruceUp User’s Guide 1—3
SpruceUp Support
There are several options should you require information beyond what is covered in this
manual, SpruceUp's help, or the ReadMe file.
24/7 Support Resources (free to trial version and full version users)
SpruceUp Support Web Site – Please visit our support web site for up to date technical
information about SpruceUp. Here you'll find:
• Technical bulletins covering the latest known problems and solutions.
• FAQ's covering the most frequently asked questions about SpruceUp.
• Tutorials explaining how to use various aspects of SpruceUp.
• The latest revision of the SpruceUp manual, help file, and other documentation.
User forums – The SpruceUp User Forum is the place to go to hear from other SpruceUp
users, exchange information, problems, solutions, feedback, and find the latest tips & tricks.
This is a free service provided by Spruce, and is moderated regularly by Spruce support
staff. The site is at:
http://www.spruceuserforums.com/SpruceUp
Other Video & DVD resources site – We have put together a collection of web sites,
1—4 SpruceUp User’s Guide
Introduction
Congratulations on getting your hands on SpruceUp™, a powerful, intuitive, and exciting
DVD authoring application. SpruceUp makes creating DVD titles easy while still providing
powerful tools, including the ability to have thousands of custom menus and up to 99
movies within a title. You can create everything from a simple looping single movie title to a
complex title with nested menus and Internet interactivity.
SpruceUp is a software program designed to run on systems with the Microsoft's Windows
98 SE, Millennium (ME), NT 4.0, and 2000 operating systems. It imports MPEG video and
audio files from third party equipment such as video capture applications and non-linear
editors. SpruceUp provides the tools to design a DVD title by allowing you to add menus and
chapter points, and finally to compile the project into a finished title suitable for playback on
set-top DVD players and the DVD-ROM and CD-ROM players in personal computers.
Spruce Technologies pioneered putting DVD titles on standard CD-R media using our
DVDonCD™ technology. Spruce also has a royalty-free DVD player called Syzygy™ that,
when included with a title, allows it to be played back on systems otherwise not able to play
video titles. Taking it a step further, SpruceUp users can take advantage of Spruce
Technologies’ Convergence™ technology that allows you to place URLs within your title,
enabling them to open a web browser to a related site, perhaps to provide up-to-date
information or e-commerce opportunities.
All of this is included with SpruceUp – there is nothing else to buy! Spruce Technologies
pioneered intuitive yet powerful DVD authoring. We have a complete line of DVD authoring
solutions suitable for everything from Hollywood titles to industrial applications to creating
easily distributable home videos.
SpruceUp Trial Version
A freely distributable trial version of SpruceUp is available. You may choose to include a
copy of it when you export your titles. The trial version on SpruceUp is full featured with the
following exceptions:
• There is a two export limit (including Test Write).
• Cannot simulate AC-3 audio.
• All menus have a "SpruceUp Trial" watermark.
See the Registering SpruceUp topic for details on upgrading to a full version.
Learning to Use SpruceUp
SpruceUp provides a number of opportunities for you to learn how to use it, including:
• A Tutorial guiding you step-by-step through the process of creating a DVD title.
Assets, including a movie, can be downloaded for use with the tutorial.
• Extensive on-line help allowing you to quickly find the answers you need. See the
Using This Help topic for information.
• An on-line version of the SpruceUp manual in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
• The resources of the SpruceUp User Forum web site
(www.SpruceUserForums.com/SpruceUp) providing FAQs and up-to-date information.
SpruceUp User’s Guide 1—5
Minimum System Requirements
SpruceUp
There are a number of factors that determine whether SpruceUp will run on your system. It
is difficult to define an exact set of minimum requirements due to the huge variety of
devices available. Following is a description of the various components used in a typical
system and their suggested minimum configurations.
Operating System
SpruceUp supports Windows' 98SE, Millennium (ME), NT 4.0, and 2000 operating systems.
Please ensure that you have the latest Service Pack for your corresponding OS.
A current version of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator is required to view SpruceUp's
Help. An Internet connection is not required, but recommended to ease upgrading and
accessing additional information.
CPU
Suggested minimum CPUs are the Intel Pentium II 300Mhz, Intel Celeron 333Mhz (with L2
cache), and AMD K6. Faster CPUs (Intel Pentium IIIs for example) provide for faster
refreshing when working with lots of menus. They also help when using a software MPEG
decoder (such as the one supplied with SpruceUp), providing smoother playback.
System RAM
While 64MB RAM is minimum, 128MB is much more realistic, and more than that is even
better. The more complicated the title you are creating, the more you will notice
performance improvements with additional RAM.
Video Card
A video card with a minimum of 8MB of RAM is required. Using AGP slot cards with more
memory is suggested. The display size must be a minimum of 1024 by 768 pixels using a
minimum of 65,536 colors (16-bit). Please ensure that the card is Direct X 6 or later
compatible, and make sure you are using the WHCL certified driver for your card. Video
cards that support hardware overlay are recommended.
DVD Player issues (stuttering and skipping) occur when the display size or number of colors
is higher than can be refreshed in real-time. Try lowering these settings to the minimum
settings mentioned above or increasing the video card's RAM.
Tip: If you get a black screen when simulating using the WinDVD
preview decoder, check your system's Display Properties. Set your
system's Color Palette setting to 16-bit (65,536 colors), and depending on
your Graphic's card, set your Resolution to 1600x1200 or below.
Dual monitors are supported as long as they meet the following requirements. Problems
show up when playing a movie in the Clip Properties or Simulation modes, and when using
the Syzygy player to play a title.
• The Video Card used for dual monitor supports overlay.
• Typically, the overlay is with primary window. Thus, the user must move SpruceUp to
the primary window - the overlay is required to play movie clips.
• Make sure to download the latest video drivers.
Hard Drive Size
The SpruceUp application requires approximately 20MB to 50MB of drive space, depending
1—6 SpruceUp User’s Guide
on styles and examples loaded.
The real issue is with the movies you will be using – these will be large files. The following
explains how they end up being used while creating a DVD title.
Let's say you want to create a DVDonCD title using a 600MB MPEG movie. (Note that the
movie most likely did not start out as MPEG, so you may have AVI or other format version
files of the movie also present.) When the title is finished and you export it to your CDR/RW drive, SpruceUp needs to first compile the MPEG file into the DVD format. This
compiled file (the video title set) will be roughly the same size as the original movie, with
additional files supporting the menus you have added. This must be written to your hard
drive prior to the title actually being written to the CD-R/RW disc. In this case you should
allow about 650MB of additional drive space.
Our project has now used 1.25GB of drive space. Larger projects using DVD-RAM or DVD-R
drives require much more drive space (a 4.7GB title requires at least 10GB free drive
space).
It is a good idea to have two large hard drives – one to hold the assets and a different one
to compile to. This allows simultaneous read/writes, speeding up the compile process.
Archiving these files should be a consideration as well - your hard drive will quickly fill up if
you intend to leave older projects on it.
Removable Media Drives
SpruceUp can directly export to most CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RAM/RW drives. You are also
able to manually copy the compiled DVD video title to the drive. See the DVD Basics topic
for more information.
Syzygy DVD Player
There are a lot of factors that determine whether a PC will be able to play a title using the
Syzygy player. Following is a list of general requirements:
• Windows' 98SE, Millennium (ME), NT 4.0, and 2000 operating systems
• Intel CPU with MMX, or AMD CPU with 3Dnow!
• 8X (read) CD-ROM or faster
– or –
• 2nd Generation or Newer DVD-ROM Drive
• AGP Graphics Card (PCI may perform up to 30% slower) with Hardware Overlay
Support
• 32 MB System Memory minimum
• 20 MB Available Hard Drive Space
• Audio Subsystem that supports up to 48Khz stereo playback (PCI desirable)
SpruceUp User’s Guide 1—7
Blank Page
(mostly)
1—8 SpruceUp User’s Guide
Chapter 2: Creating DVDs
What is a DVD Title?
What Else is Needed to Make a DVD?
Ulead Media Studio Pro 6.0
Creating a DVD Title Overview
SpruceUp User’s Guide 2—1
What is a DVD Title?
Simply put, a DVD (not really an acronym though several are mentioned occasionally) title
is one or more video/audio movies with menus that the viewer uses to customize what they
see. DVD titles take advantage of the high storage capacity of DVD discs and the high
quality compression that the MPEG standard provides. It also provides for instant scene
access, as opposed to the linear experience you get with VHS and other tape formats.
A DVD title is most recognizable as a disc you play on a set-top DVD player. The definition
of a DVD title is broadening though. PCs with DVD-ROM drives can take advantage of other
material on the disc, such as text and other files. A DVD title can have web site URLs
embedded so that while watching a title on a PC, the viewer can be presented with
additional or updated information from a related web site. See the SpruceUp's "URL" Entry
topic for more information.
Additionally, you can put DVD information onto a CD-R disc, allowing you to make low cost
specialized titles that play on almost all PCs with a CD-ROM drive. New storage media is
constantly being developed that may also be used to distribute a DVD title.
There are three general types of DVD titles:
• Simple titles with a single movie that automatically plays when inserted into the
player. These titles typically loop back to the beginning when they reach the end (such
as at a sales kiosk), providing continuous playback.
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2—2 SpruceUp User’s Guide
What Else is Needed to Make a DVD?
SpruceUp plays a crucial role is the DVD title creation process, but it can't do it alone. What
other bits you need depends on the types of titles you intend to create, as well as the
sources you will use.
Note: The equipment listed below is not by any means complete – it
is intended to provide examples of products that have been successfully
used with SpruceUp.
Movie Sources
The typical reason for making a DVD title is to present one or more movies, typically
containing both video and audio. These may come from a VCR, camcorder, or a live feed
from elsewhere. It is important that the source provides the video and audio in formats that
the video capture card is designed to handle.
It is also important to get the highest quality possible. Starting with a digital source, for
example a DV camera with an IEEE-1394 ("FireWire") output provides very good results.
Among analog sources, component is preferred over S-Video (Y/C), which is far preferred
over composite.
Avoid generational losses as much as possible – capturing video from a VHS dub will provide
disappointing results. Once video has been converted to digital, avoid converting it back to
analog only to have to digitize it again later. Try to correct any video problems (lighting and
such) at the source.
Video and Audio Capture Cards
Video Capture Cards provide the means of getting a movie source converted into a file and
stored on your hard drive. This device must be able to support the source, preferably at the
highest quality output the source provides.
This is typically a PCI card that plugs into your PC's motherboard, although newer external
versions using IEEE-1394 (also known as FireWire, DV, or i.LINK) or USB interfaces are also
available.
Use care to select one that provides the output formats you need - MPEG outputs are great
if you are going straight into SpruceUp, but there are not many of these and other formats
are required if you are going to use an NLE (Non-Linear Editor) to edit the video before
authoring.
Capturing audio suitable for DVD authoring must also be carefully approached. All DVD
audio must be sampled at 48Khz, not the more common 44.1Khz rate used for audio CDs.
SpruceUp supports uncompressed PCM (WAV and AIFF files), MPEG-1 layer II, and Dolby
Digital AC-3 (2 and 5.1 channel) audio.
Editors
Unless you are making a very simple title or are very efficient when shooting the video, you
will need to edit the video and audio to create the finished movie. This could involve
trimming in and out points, cutting different scenes together, adding dissolves and other
effects, adding credits, and many other things. SpruceUp cannot cut directly from one
movie to a different one or alter the audio. This means each movie must be complete as you
wish it to be seen.
There are a wide variety of non-linear editors available that make it easy to create the final
movie. See the Ulead Media Studio Pro 6.0 topic for information on it.
SpruceUp User’s Guide 2—3
MPEG Encoders
This is a critical part of the DVD creation process – a bad MPEG encode can result in a poor
quality final product or in SpruceUp refusing to accept the movie. What makes it tough is
the wide variety of settings found on typical MPEG encoders (and the cryptic names they are
often given). See the MPEG Settings Summary topic for specifications and the Video Assets
topic for general information.
There are two types of encoders to choose from – real-time hardware encoders and nonreal-time software encoders. Choosing which is appropriate depends on the other
components you use and the types of titles you intend to create.
2—4 SpruceUp User’s Guide
Ulead Media Studio Pro® 6.0
Ulead Systems' Media Studio Pro® 6.0 is a popular video editing program that can provide
DVD compliant video and audio outputs. The following procedure describes how to ensure
your exports will import into SpruceUp.
1 Launch the Video Editor. From the start bar choose Programs/Ulead Media Studio Pro
6.0/Video Editor 6.0.
2 From the File menu choose File/Convert/Video File...
3 In the Select Source Video File dialog box choose All Formats for the Files of
Type option.
4 In the dialog window navigate to the file you wish to convert to a DVD complaint MPEG
file for use with SpruceUp and choose Open.
5 In the Select Video Destination File dialog box choose MPEG Files (*.mpg) for
Save as Type.
SpruceUp User’s Guide 2—5
6 Choose the Options... button to bring up the Video Save Options dialog.
7 In the General tab choose Audio and Video (assuming your video file includes
audio).
8 The Frame rate should be set to 29.97 Frames/Sec for NTSC or 25 Frames/Sec
2—6 SpruceUp User’s Guide
for PAL. See the Video Standards of the World topic if you do not know your standard.
9 Frame size should be 720x480 for NTSC and 720x576 for PAL for full screen
resolution. If you wish to use the half resolution MPEG1 size you will need to set the
frame size to 352x240 for NTSC and 352x288 for PAL.
10 Select the Compression tab.
11 In the Compression tab set Media Type to MPEG2 for full screen video or MPEG1
for half the video resolution, which SpruceUp will scale to full screen.
12 The Video Data Rate should be set high enough to preserve the quality of the
original video. Higher settings result in large files however. Normal full screen DV AVI
files using MPEG-2 encoding should be kept at 4000 kbps or higher. DVD data rates
cannot go above 9800 kbps. MPEG-1 maximum data rate is 1856 kbps, with 1150
kbps as typical.
13 Do not select I frames only as this leads to large files with little of the compression
benefit of MPEG encoding.
14 Set Audio Type to Joint Stereo.
15 Set the Audio bit rate to 192, 224, or 384 kbps. As with the video, higher rates
make better quality with the trade off of larger files. See the Audio Assets topic for
details.
16 The Audio Frequency must
17 Choose
be set at 48000 Hz/Sec.
SpruceUp User’s Guide 2—7
18 Name the MPEG file and choose Save.
2—8 SpruceUp User’s Guide
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