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AUTHORING
GUIDES -> DVD Studio Pro (Mac)
DVD Studio Pro (DVDSP) is the Apple update to
what was previous Spruce Up professional authoring software.
It is very advanced authoring software, though it comes with
a very engineering-like interface common to professional
authoring applications (and it should be noted that this
author despises needlessly complex software interfaces!).
There is very little that this software cannot accomplish.
This guide is not a 100% complete DVDSP experience, but it
should get you started with what is an otherwise daunting
piece of software. In fact, this guide may be a bit rough at
times, so be prepared to experiment a bit on your own.
Like the Final Cut Pro capturing guides, the first was
created on a Mac G4 system on OS9 (9.2.2) using DVD Studio
Pro 1.1, and the second guide will be created on the same G4
with another hard drive with OS X (10.3, Panther) and DVD
Studio Pro 3.
DVD Studio
Pro 1.1 on OS 9
Import video/audio files. Goto FILE -> IMPORT to
import the DVD-ready MPEG video files, and audio files (AC3,
DTS, PCM/WAV/AIFF, MP2/MPA), as well as any required image
files for the menu (BMP, PSD, etc). The imported assets will
appear in the assets window. Select (ADD, ADD ALL) the
assets and then press IMPORT to complete the operation.
Optional AC3 encoder, included with DVDSP.
Software layout. DVDSP has a basic setup using four
windows: (1) one for the linking and graphical menu item
access, (2) an information (attention not really needed for
this guide) and advanced area, (3) the assets window, and
(4) the properties menu that houses the options and commands
for menu creation.
Add menus, tracks. Link project. Menus are created
and linked by dragging the menus/tracks to the creation
area. Click ADD MENU to make a new menu. Drag necessary
background image/video assets to the MENU
"folder". Come back to the MENU design later,
continue to import and link assets for now. To add video
clips/movies, either click ADD TRACK or drag a video to the
creation/linking area. The little icons on the folder will
show video, audio tracks (and number of tracks), and
subtitles, etc. Tracks and menus will link to other objects
by default, but this can be changed later on.
Disc, Track Properties managers. There are three
major types of properties (at least for the purpose of this
guide), including MENU, TRACK and DISC. This should be
fairly self-explanatory. Clicking on a MENU, for example,
will bring up the MENU properties. Same for tracks. Click
anywhere on the blank area of the creation area to bring up
the DISC properties.
On the DISC properties, you can name the disc, specify the
blank media properties, and set some menu/remote control
properties. Much of this is already set as default. The
STARTUP ACTION is where you can insert a DVD FIRSTPLAY if
desired, or have it go directly to the main menu.
The track properties includes the track name (useless
outside the authoring program, but useful when you have many
objects to work with), and the kinking commands. As
explained earlier, links can be changed from the defaults
that were created when the tracks were added. The "Jump
When Finished" command, as shown in the example below,
moves from clip A to clip B. Again, much of this is default
settings.
Menu Properties, menu creation. DVDSP is not simple
point-and-click like many modern authoring programs
(especially consumer-level software). Creating the menus
takes a bit of patience and attention to detail. To launch
the menu, double click on the image/video shown on the small
menu "folder" in the linking/creation area. It
will both launch the menu in a new window, and bring up the
MENU PROPERTIES on the properties menu. Continued below
image...
In this example, there is a motion (or still) menu
background, and text that has an additional highlight image.
A single Photoshop PSD is used as a SIMPLE OVERLAY, and the
OVERLAY PICTURE is set to this PSD file. In order to active
the highlights, click and drag boxes on top of the menu,
over the area where the menu item is supposed to be. This
is also how videos/clips/movies are linked to the menu.
Clicking on a button will bring up the BUTTON sub-properties
menu, where the overlay size can be numerically adjusted as
needed, as well as some other options.
Sadly, some of this must be done by trial and error. The
overlay PSD is NOT visible (at least not in THIS VERSION of
DVDSP), so hit the PREVIEW button, found in the
creation/linking window (one of the four main windows of
DVDSP, discussed at beginning of guide).
In the above example, the final menu is on top, and the
Photoshop PSD layer is on bottom. All
of the overlays are in the SAME LAYER. This is
what makes the overlay simple. It is not suggested to allow
highlight boxes to overlap (and in fact, many programs
reject it, and may not supported by the official DVD spec).
For DVDSP, the menu images/videos and overlay PSD should all
be a 720x480 canvas (overall image/resolution size). The
darker the color (or more technically, the closer it is to
an alpha color), the more the of a highlight is will
produce. For example, a gradient image would result in a
gradient highlight, which can make some nice effects.
Burn final DVD. DVDSP comes with it's own burning
engine, or it can author a folder set (which can then be
burned with your preferred DVD burning software). Goto FILE
-> BUILD (or FILE-> BUILD & FORMAT DISC to burn
directly to a DVD). Follow the onscreen instructions. Very
easy.
IMPORTANT NOTES!
(1) Always remember to link the path of buttons/menus.
Always specify the end action, so that the disc does not go
into limbo and crash in the player. This is sometimes called
"orphaned assets".
(2) Save often. Save often. Save often.
(3) Pay close attention to the chapter marks/jumps.
(4) If you do not loop the main menu, it will play once and
then end.
(5) Remember to link the last track back to the main menu as
the end action.
(6) Take advantage of the preview function. WYSIWYG (what
you see is what you get).
(7) Do not try to add CSS or Macrovision, as it will NOT
work without the proper keys and hardware, and if you do not
understand what this means, this message is specifically
made for you.
DVD Studio
Pro
3.0
on OS X
Coming sometime in 2005.
Hopefully real soon,
check back later.
Page Last Updated: May 5th 2005
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