Section 17.4. Changing Backgrounds


17.4. Changing Backgrounds

The menu-screen background sets the tone by providing the look and atmosphere that defines the entire screen. As a result, choosing a new background can add a unique twist to an existing theme.

17.4.1. Background Still Images

Using a graphics file as a backdrop is a lot easier than using a video as a backdrop. You don't have to think about timing and loops , and you don't have to worry about how the motion will interact with your buttons and drop zones.

17.4.1.1 Adding a background image 1: Preserving drop zones

It's incredibly easy to change the backdrop for a particular menu screen: Just drag any graphics file directly onto the existing background. (Your only challenge: To avoid dropping it onto a button or a drop zone.) You can drag a JPEG file, for example, right out of the Finder, out of iPhoto if it's open , or out of the Photos pane of the Customize drawer . iDVD instantly sets the image as your new menu background.

17.4.1.2 Adding a background image 2: Overwriting drop zones

If you'd rather cover up any existing drop zones, replacing the background with a single image, drag a graphics file into the Background well, identified in Figure 17-2.


Tip: Both of the preceding techniques change only the currently displayed menu screen. To apply the change to all menu screens, choose Advanced Apply Theme To Project.

Figure 17-2. In the Customize drawer, click the Settings button. Drag a graphics file into the Background well (from the Finder or from iPhoto, for example). iDVD installs the graphic as the new background. In earlier versions of iDVD, this covered up drop zones but no longer. iDVD 5 fixed this annoying bug and everything now works the way you'd expect it to.


17.4.1.3 Replacing background images

If you want to try out a different picture in the background, just repeat the steps above. You can drop new graphics as many times as you want; iDVD displays only the most recent one.

17.4.1.4 Removing background images

If you decide that the original theme's background was superior to your own graphics after all, it's easy enough to restore the original image. On the Settings pane of the Customize drawer, just drag the graphic icon out of the Background well. iDVD deletes it, displaying the increasingly familiar puff-of-smoke animation. The original theme's background returns.

17.4.2. Background Video

Instead of a photo background, you can also create moving, animated, video backgrounds, just like the ones you find on many commercial Hollywood DVDs. It's far easier to customize your background video than, say, to administer anesthesia to yourself and then extract your own teeth.


Note: In all, iDVD provides three different places to install movies onto your menu screens. The following instructions pertain to only full-screen background videos. Don't confuse video backgrounds with drop zone videos or button videos .

Before you delve into this exciting new career, keep these points in mind:

  • Your video will loop. Your background video file will play, then restart and play again as long as your audience leaves the menu on the TV screen. There's no way to make a video play just once.

  • iDVD adds both video and sound. When your imported background video contains a soundtrack, that sound becomes the new soundtrack for the menu screen. It wipes out whatever music came with the theme.

  • iDVD handles timing. iDVD automatically adjusts the Duration slider (at the top of the Settings pane) to match the length of your movie.

POWER USERS' CLINIC
Designing Video Loops in iMovie

Background videos don't have to jump between the end of one play-through and the beginning of the next . If you're willing to take a little time in iMovie, you can eliminate sudden visual changes that create unpleasant jumps . Consider these techniques:

Fade or Wash In and Out: Create a smooth fade out at the end of the movie clip, and a smooth fade in at the beginning, using the Fade In and Fade Out transition styles described in Chapter 6 (or, if you're partial to white, Wash In and Wash Out).

Use Cross Dissolve: If you prefer, you can design your movie so that the end cross- dissolves into the beginning each time it loops.

Move the playhead to 4:02 seconds before the end of your movie. Choose Edit Split Video at Playhead to break off that 4-second segment into a clip of its own.

Now drag this 4:02-second clip to the front of your movie, add a 4-second cross-dissolve between the transposed clip and the start of your movie, and save your work.

You can choose a different length for the crossfade ; just make sure that the transposed clip lasts at least two frames longer than the desired transition time. This method works particularly well on stock footage, such as wind-swept grass, fish in an aquarium, and so forth.

You may discover a couple of drawbacks to this method. First, the start and end audio and video will overlap, and you may not like the results. Second, the background video will, unfortunately , start with the crossfade. There's no way yet to make it start playing from an un-crossfaded spot-iDVD 6, perhaps?



Tip: If you try to drag the Duration slider longer than the length of your movie, weird things happen. Suppose, for example, that you have a 15-second movie, a 20-second bit of audio, and you set the slider to 20 seconds. iDVD plays your movie once, plays 5 seconds more of the start of your movie, and then loops to start your movie again. It's an effect worth avoiding.
17.4.2.1 Background video selection

Choosing background video can be harder than selecting a still image, for two important reasons :

  • Video moves. Make sure that the video doesn't hide or overwhelm your titles, buttons, and drop zones. "Audition" your videos and make sure they work with your menus before you burn. In particular, watch for moving objects and scenes that are too bright or too dark.


    Tip: You can create a simple washed-out background video by applying iMovie HD's Fog effect. Leave the Wind slider at its factory setting. Drag the Fog slider to "more" and Color to "white," and then click Apply. This effect lightens your video, providing a more suitable backdrop for a DVD menu. Not light enough? Apply it a second time!
  • Motion menus loop. Unless you take special care when creating your video, menu looping will create sudden, sharp, sometimes distracting transitions between the end and start of your video.

17.4.2.2 Adding background video 1: Preserving drop zones

iDVD offers two ways to add background video to a menu screen, as shown in Figure 17-2. (Once again, remember that each of them changes only the currently displayed menu screen. To apply the change to all menu screens, choose Advanced Apply Theme To Project after following the steps here.)

This first method ensures that you won't wind up covering any drop zones that are part of your chosen theme.

  1. Bring up the menu screen you want to change.

    Make sure that the Customize drawer is open.

  2. Switch to the Finder and locate the movie file you want to use as a background.

    It can be a finished QuickTime movie, the .mov reference movie in one of your iMovie project folders (page 112), or a new iMovie HD movie project file.

  3. While pressing the Option key, drag the video file onto the menu screen.

    Avoid all drop zones and buttons. Make sure that the entire menu screen is highlighted (a colored rectangle appears around the edges) before you drop the video.

    Let go of the Option key when the new video appears in the menu background. (The Option key tells iDVD: "I'm installing this movie as a background, not as a movie of its own, represented by its own button on the menu.")

17.4.2.3 Adding background video 2: Covering up drop zones

To replace the background with a single, full-width video that covers up any drop zones, press the key as you drag a movie file out of the Finder and into the Background well or the background of your iDVD menu. (As usual, avoid drop zones and buttons.) iDVD installs the video (and its audio) as the new background, hiding any drop zones in the process.

17.4.2.4 Removing background video

If you decide to restore the original background video and audio to your theme, drag the icons out of both the Background well and the Audio well. You'll get an animated puff of smoke with each drag, confirming that you've successfully removed both the audio and video that you had previously installed onto this menu screen.



iMovie HD & iDVD 5. The Missing Manual
iMovie HD & iDVD 5: The Missing Manual
ISBN: 0596100337
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 209
Authors: David Pogue

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