Section 16.4. Submenus (


16.4. Submenus ("Folders")

Depending on the theme you've chosen , iDVD may impose a limit of six or twelve buttons on a menu screen. Fortunately, that doesn't mean you're limited to twelve scenes in a movie, or twelve movies per DVD. You, or iDVD, can accommodate more movies by creating submenus additional menu screens that branch off from the main menuand even sub- submenus (Figure 16-8).

You may have seen this effect already, in fact, if you've tried to create an iMovie DVD containing more than a handful of chapter markers.

You can also create this effect manually. Whenever you choose Add Submenu from the + pop-up menu at the lower-left corner of the screen, iDVD adds a submenu button to the current menu screen. In some themes, especially those that began life in previous versions of iDVD, this button looks like an actual folder; in most, it's simply a new text button.

Behind the scenes, this button represents a second menu screen, a blank canvas with room for yet another six or twelve buttons.

16.4.1. Navigating Submenus

Navigating iDVD Folders while building your project is pretty easy, once you master these tips:

  • Open by double-clicking . Double-click any folder or submenu button to "open" itthat is, to bring up the menu screen it represents.

    WORKAROUND WORKSHOP
    Temporary Buttons

    When you try to add more buttons to a menu screen than iDVD can handle, the program gracefully announces that you've added too many buttons.

    If you click OK, iDVD eliminates the new button you tried to add. If you click Temporarily Allowoften a more convenient choiceiDVD permits you to add those extra buttons to your menus for now, so that you have the convenience of (for example) cutting and pasting them to other menu screens.

    But with great power comes great responsibility. iDVD wants you to understand that you can't actually burn a DVD with too many buttons on a menu screen. If you forget to dispose of the extra buttons before clicking the Burn button, another warning message appears, and your burning efforts come to a grinding halt.

    Avoid over-buttoned menus by creating generous and well-thought-out submenus.


  • Return by clicking the arrow . Each submenu screen contains a Back arrow. Click this arrow to return to the "parent" menu.

    Figure 16-8. An iDVD menu screen can't hold more than six or twelve buttons. If you try to place any more, you'll have to branch off into submenu screens, or even sub-submenu screens.
    This DVD has two movies, each of which has chapters within. When your audience clicks a movie's name (with the remote control), they go to a submenu screen with a Play button (to play the whole movie) and a Scene Selection button (to open yet another menu screen, this one showing your chapter markers so that the audience can choose a point to begin playback). These submenus create extra room for navigation through your project. As your projects grow more complex, you must use folders (submenus) to add enough space to showcase all your pictures and movies.

    Tip: As you work with your menu and submenu screens, navigating folders may seem painfully slow unless you turn off iDVD's background encoding feature. (Its purpose is to quietly preprocess your video while you're working, so that burning the DVD will take less time.) To do that, choose iDVD Preferences, click the General button, and then turn off "Enable background encoding."
    Apply Theme to Project. Want to apply a theme to just the submenus below the currently displayed menu? Choose Advanced Apply Theme to Submenus instead.
  • Mind your minutes . The more folders and more themes you add to your project, the closer you come to iDVD's video menu limit of 7.5 minutes.

    Reaching that limit isn't such a remote possibility, either; one-minute video loops on seven menu screens will take up nearly all your available space, even if you use the same background video on every menu.


Note: When you try to add a new menu that takes up too much space, you'll see a message that says, " Total menu duration exceeds 7:30 minutes." Click Cancel to eliminate the new menu you tried to add. Click Ignore to add the menu despite the warning, with the understanding that you'll have to solve the space issue manually before you burn the DVD. Or click Fix to make iDVD shorten the menu's loop so that it fits within the remaining video menu space on your disc.Meanwhile, you can always keep track of your current overall menu duration of your project by opening the Project Project Info ( -I) window. You'll see the total motion menu duration used by your project.



iMovie 6 & iDVD
iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual
ISBN: B003R4ZK42
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 203
Authors: David Pogue

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