Setting Up Your DVD Theme

Use iDVD themes to quickly and easily give your DVD menus a Hollywood-sytle look. iDVD 6 includes new themes for standard (4:3) and widescreen (16:9) menus, and each new menu theme has a family of three menus (a Main, Chapters and Extras menu) that give a coordinated look to all the menus in your DVD. With the Apple-designed themes that come with iDVD, you can make your DVDs look like they were produced in a Hollywood studio.

iDVD 6 lets you choose from many themes. Most themes include an area with the label “Drop Zone.” Add your own photos or movies to these drop zones, and they’re integrated into the menu design. A menu may include one or more photo or video drop zones, a drop zone for audio, or even a background drop zone, giving your DVD a professional appearance with a personal touch.

Tips

Adding a group of photos to a drop zone

You can add multiple photos to any of your menu drop zones and the menu will display each of the photos in turn. To add a group of photos, simply select several photos and drag them to the drop zone. You can also drag an album to a drop zone. Drop zones with groups of photos show the number of photos included under their thumbnail image.

Changing a menu aspect ratio

You can change the aspect ratio of your project at any time. If your project is 16:9, select Switch to Standard (4:3) from the Project menu. If your project is in 4:3, select Switch to Widescreen (16:9). If you change your menu theme to one whose aspect ratio differs from your original theme, you will see a dialog asking you to keep or change your current aspect ratio setting.

Dragging an item directly to a drop zone

There may be times when you want to quickly change the contents of a drop zone. Instead of opening the Drop Zone Editor you can drag a photo, group of photos, or movie, from the iLife Media Browser (or directly from iMovie HD or iPhoto) to a drop zone in a menu.

Using Autofill Drop Zones

To quickly add movies and photos from your DVD to menu drop zones, you can use the Autofill feature. Autofill will automatically assign movies and photos from your DVD to the drop zones available in your selected DVD menu. To use Autofill, either select Autofill Drop Zones from the Project menu or click Menu, then click the Autofill button.

Identifying themes with motion

As you browse through the available themes, you’ll notice that some themes display images that change, while others play music. Themes with motion are known as “motion menus” and display the small motion icon in their lower-right corner.

Manually moving around in a motion theme

There may be times when you want to temporarily turn off the motion in your theme so you can review a part of it. You can turn the motion on and off by clicking the Motion button in the iDVD window. You can also "scrub" back and forth using the motion playhead at the bottom of the theme.

Turning the theme intro off and on

With some motion themes you’ll see a checkbox to the left of the motion playhead. You may also notice a small divider line in the motion playhead timeline. The portion to the left of the divider line is the introductory segment of the menu that only plays immediately after the menu is activated. The portion to the right of the divider line is the looping segment of the menu. The checkbox determines whether or not the introductory segment is shown when the menu is activated.

Make sure to look at all of the iDVD themes

iDVD 6 comes with ten new 6.0 themes, as well as themes from previous versions of iDVD. Open the pop-up menu above the list of themes to see the variety of theme sets available. Each 6.0 theme includes a family of Main, Chapters and Extras menus. Click on a disclosure triangle next to a theme to reveal the choices available in a theme family. In addition to the themes that come with iDVD, other companies create themes for iDVD.

Steps

Select a theme for your DVD and add your own pictures and movies to the menu

In iDVD, click the Themes button.
Scroll through the list of 6.0 Themes. Click on different themes in the list until you find the one best suited to your project.
From the Project menu choose Edit Drop Zones. The Drop Zone Editor will open and display the drop zone options for your chosen theme. Each 6.0 theme includes a background well, an audio well, and one or more photo or video drop zones.
To add a photo to a drop zone, click Media, then click Photos. Select a photo from your iPhoto library and drag it to an empty drop zone.
To add a movie to a drop zone, click Media, then click Movies. Select a movie and drag it to an empty drop zone.
To add your own background to a menu, drag a movie or photo to the background well.
To add music to your menu, click Media, then click Audio. Drag a song from your iTunes library or GarageBand to the drop zone area labeled Audio.
Once set, the Drop Zone Editor will change to show a thumbnail icon of your photos, movies, or music file.
Repeat these steps until all of the drop zones are filled.
As you add media to your drop zones, the menu will update to reflect your choices.