iDVD 6 Hot Tips

Customizing Buttons

Want to change default buttons in a theme? Is the button not big enough? Want to use a different shape? No worries. You can customize the shape, size, and position of a button in any menu. You can even create buttons without a text label or buttons that consist only of text. And with iDVD 6, each button can be unique.

To add a button that links to a submenu, movie, slideshow, text, or a title menu, choose your desired item from the Project menu.

Alternatively, you can click the plus sign (+) button in the lower-left corner of the iDVD window and choose Add Submenu, Add Movie, or Add Slideshow from the pop-up menu to add a button that links to your chosen item.

To customize a button, click the Buttons button to display the Buttons pane. Then select the button you want to change. To change its shape, select a shape from the top part of the pane. Select "From Theme" for a shape that fits the theme or select the letter T if you want a text button.

To increase the size of a button, drag the Size slider to the right. To decrease the size, drag the slider to the left. Select "Snap buttons to grid" to place the buttons in predefined positions or select "Free positioning" if you want to arrange the buttons yourself.

Your changes apply only to the buttons you've selected in the menu since iDVD 6 gives you the freedom to make each button unique. To apply your changes to other menus in your project, choose Apply Theme To Project or Apply Theme to Submenus from the Advanced menu.

You can change the image on a button to another still image or you can drag a completely different movie or slideshow to the button and it will play within the menu (you don't need to click the button to watch it play). Just drag an image or movie file from the Finder (or from the Media pane) to any type of button. iDVD automatically resizes the image to fit the button.

Using Smart Delete to Keep Assets Connected

In Map view you can rearrange your project by simply dragging and dropping the icons. You can also change a bunch of elements all at once (aka batch editing) by selecting multiple items and applying a change. And if you want to delete an entire section or menu within your DVD project, iDVD 6 will automatically reconnect the remaining assets if you use Smart Delete:

1. Select the menu or section that you'd like to delete.
2. Control-click the selection to display a contextual menu.
3. Choose Smart Delete from the menu.

Adding Audio to Menus & Slideshows

To add a song or playlist from your iTunes library or GarageBand to your DVD menu, click the Media button to display the Media pane, then click the Audio button. Select GarageBand or iTunes from the top part of the pane, select the song or playlist you’d like to use in the Name list below it, and then click Apply. You can also drag an audio file directly from the Name list to your iDVD menu.

You can add background music to a slideshow the same way you add audio to a menu—just select and apply or drag and drop. iDVD, by default, adjusts the slideshow to fit the length of the selected iTunes playlist or individual song. Double-click a slideshow button in your menu and from there you can adjust the pacing of your slides with the Slide Duration pop-up menu. You can choose Fit To Audio and iDVD will adjust the slide duration to fit your audio, or you can time the slides at 1-, 3-, 5-, or 10-second intervals.

To remove audio, drag the song or playlist icon out of the Audio well.

Creating Music DVDs

Entertain frequently? Don’t have time to play DJ, changing songs or CDs every couple of minutes? Then create a music DVD that contains background music complete with visuals. Just start a New Project in iDVD and then add your photos and iTunes playlist as you would for a slideshow. Double-click your slideshow in the menu to display its editing pane, click Settings, and then be sure to select the Loop Slideshow checkbox in the dialog so that your pictures will replay continuously.

Looking to throw a theme party? Maybe a jazzy dinner affair, romantic dinner for two, a “raise the roof” house party, Hawaiian luau, Saturday night disco fever, or over-the-hill birthday bash? No matter what the party is or who drops by unexpectedly, you can easily set the right mood if you've got custom music DVDs on hand for every occasion.

You can set the DVD to play immediately when inserted in a DVD player and loop continuously. Before you start a slideshow or menu in your project, just click the Map button (see the image above) and drag all of the photos you want to use in your slideshow onto the first icon box on the left (the one that says "Drag content here..."

It’s a perfect option if you want to use more than one DVD at one party—and you've got more important things to handle at your party than the DVD remote.

Backing Up High-Resolution Photos

If you take high-resolution digital photos, you may want to consider storing them or archiving them for back up on DVDs. To add files to the DVD-ROM part of your disc, choose Edit DVD-ROM Contents from the Advanced menu. In the new window, click Add Files, select the files you want to back up, and then click Open, or drag the files from the Finder to the DVD-ROM Contents window. Keep an eye on the DVD Capacity meter in the Project Info window (from the Project menu, choose Project Info to display it) to check how many gigabytes of disc space are available.

Don’t delete any files on your hard drive that you've added to the DVD-ROM portion of the disc until you burn the disc; your iDVD project only contains a reference to the location of the file on your hard drive.

Adding Files from the Media Pane

You can quickly add files from iTunes, GarageBand, iPhoto, and iMovie to your iDVD project without opening the applications using the Media Pane. To display the Media pane, click the Media button and then click the Audio, Photos, or Movies button at the top of the pane.

• To use an image as a menu background, a button graphic, or a picture in a drop zone, click Photos and drag a single thumbnail from the Photos pane onto the desired item.
• To create a slideshow or add a slideshow to a drop zone, click Photos and drag multiple images or an iPhoto album onto a designated drop zone.
• To create a motion button or add video to a drop zone, click Movies and drag a single movie file to a menu or a drop zone.
• To set the audio for a slideshow or set the background audio for a menu, click Audio, select GarageBand or iTunes, and then drag a song or iTunes playlist to the DVD menu or double-click your slideshow and drag the song onto the audio well (the speaker icon).