iPhoto '08: The Missing Manual

chapter 13: idvd slideshows 327

iDVD switches into Preview mode, which simulates how your disc will behave

when inserted into a DVD player. This is a great chance to put your DVD-

in-waiting through its paces before wasting an expensive blank disc.

2.UsetheiDVDremotecontroltoclickyourmenubuttons,stop,pause,orrewind

theshowinprogress(Figure13-7).

3.ClicktheExitbuttononthe“remote”whenyou’refinished.

When everything in the DVD looks good, you’re ready to master your disc. Insert

a blank disc in your SuperDrive and click the Burn button (just to the right of

the volume slider).

Extra Credit: Self-Playing Slideshows

As you work on your DVD menu structure, iDVD builds a handy map behind

the scenes. You can use it to add or delete DVD elements, and you can double-

click one of the icons to open the corresponding menu, movie, or slideshow.

To view the map, just click the Map button at the bottom of the main iDVD window

(Figure 13-8). The element you were working on appears with colored highlighting.

(Click the Map button again to return to the menu screen you were working on.)

But the map is more than just a pretty navigational aid. It also makes possible a self-

playing slideshow, one that plays automatically when the DVD is inserted, before your

viewers even touch their remote controls.

The iDVD Slideshow

Figure 13-8:

The Map view is most

useful when you’re creat-

ing a complex DVD with

nested menu screens, like

one you might rent from

Blockbuster.

But for slideshow purposes,

its most useful feature is

the AutoPlay icon. Any pic-

tures or albums you drag

onto this tile begin to play

automatically when you

insert the DVD into a DVD

player—no remote-control

fussing required.

Map buttonAutoPlay icon

328 iphoto ’08: the missing manual

Once you’ve got the Photos list open in the Media pane, as shown in Figure 13-8,

you can also drag an entire iPhoto album onto the AutoPlay icon. Alternatively, in

the Customize panel, you can click and c-click just the photos you want, and then

drag them en masse onto the AutoPlay icon. In fact, you can even drag photos—as a

group or in a folder—right out of the Finder and onto this icon.

To control how long your still image remains on the screen, or how quickly your

autoplay slideshow plays, double-click the AutoPlay tile. You arrive at the slideshow

editor shown in Figure 13-6, where you can adjust the timing, transition, and even

the audio that plays behind the pictures.

If you decide to replace your autoplay material, just drag new stuff right onto it. Or,

to eliminate the autoplay segment, drag it right off the AutoPlay tile. It disappears in

a little puff of Mac OS X cartoon smoke.

You can design a project that way for the benefit of, for example, technophobic DVD

novices whose pupils dilate just contemplating using a remote control. They can just

insert your autoplay-only DVD and sit back on the couch as the pictures flash by

automatically.

It’s even possible to create a DVD that consists only of autoplay material, a slideshow

that repeats endlessly during, say, your cocktail reception—no menu screen ever ap-

pears. Just highlight the autoplay tile and then choose AdvancedÆLoop Slideshow.

You’ve got yourself a self-running, self-repeating slideshow of digital photos that plays

on a TV at a party or wedding reception. The DVD will loop endlessly—or at least

until it occurs to someone in your audience to press the Menu or Title button on

the remote. The Menu button redisplays the previous menu screen; the Title button

causes a return to the main menu.

Extra Credit: Self-

Playing Slideshows