iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual, Fourth Edition

Extra Credit: Self-Playing Slideshows

As you work on your DVD menu structure, iDVD builds a handy map behind the scenes. You can’t add to it or drag or delete any elements you see there, but you can doubleclick 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 (see Figure 12-9). 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.

Once you’ve got the Photos list open in the Customize drawer, as shown in Figure 12-9, you can also drag an entire iPhoto album onto the AutoPlay icon. Alternatively, in the Customize panel, you can click and ⌘-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.

Figure 12-9. The Map view is most useful when you’re creating 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 pictures or albums you drag onto this tile begin ...