HomePage 2 of 4: Creating the slideshow
Step 2: Creating the slideshow
Start DVD slideshow GUI. From the "Options" menu, select "Presets" (or press "F7"). This opens the Presets window, which allows you to configure the properties of your slideshow.
We will now go through the preset settings:
- PAL/NTSC: This option allows you to specify the system setting for your project (PAL => UK, Australia, most of Europe, China; NTSC => US, Canada, Japan), and also whether the project is widescreen (16:9) of full-frame (4:3).
- Safe area: This indicates the overscan setting. Older TVs have overscan, which means they will deliberately zoom in on the video so that the border is cut off, so as to not show any black border around the video. The safe area is marked by dotted red lines in the preview area - it is also best to ensure your slide and subtitles are within this area.
- Border: This adds a white border around the photo
- Subtitles: Each of your slides can have a subtitle, which is just a text description/commentary for the slide. Enable this option to enable the subtitle, and then click on the "Font" button to change the font of the subtitle. The subtitle will be displayed like any other subtitles on DVDs, and can be turned off.
- Music: You can use this button to load in a music file for your slideshow in MP3 or WAV format. If the length of the music/audio is shorter than the length of the slideshow, the audio will be repeat itself over, and you will get silence for the rest of the slideshow.
- Import Settings: This allow you to set the default transition settings for imported photos. Exposition is the number of frames the photo will show before it transitions into the next photo. Duration is the length, again in frames, of the transition itself. For PAL @ 25 FPS, 100 frames => 4 seconds ; NTSC @ 29.976 FPS, 100 frames => 3 seconds.
Now we will import the photos into the DVD slideshow GUI. From the "File" menu, select "Import" (or press CTRL-I, or use the "Import" button) to open the image importer. Here, you can load your photos or even video files. I prefer to first copy all the photos I want to make the slideshow from into a new folder, this way the import is done easily. Press the "change dir" button to go to the directory that has your photos. Use your mouse to drag, or hold CTRL or SHIFT and the mouse pointer to group select the photos you want to import (holding CTRL and clicking the mouse will select individual photos, while holding SHIFT and clicking will select groups of photos). Press "OK" and all the selected photos will be loaded into DVD slideshow GUI.
Back to the main DVD slideshow GUI interface, all your photos should now be loaded. From the "File" menu, select "Save as" to save your project - you should periodically save your project as you make changes, to prevent you from losing all your work.
You can use the Up and Down arrows to change the ordering of the slides. Just like during importing, you can use your mouse to drag and select the slides, or hold CTRL or SHIFT to group select. You can then right click on the selected slide(s) and it will open the transition the Slide Settings window. Here, you can enter the subtitle for the selected slide(s), set the transition effect and exposition/duration setting for each slide.
A fast way to configure all the slides at once is to use the "Select all slides" button on the main DVD slideshow GUI interface (
or press CTRL-A) and then clicking on the "Slide settings" button (
). Use the "Random" transition setting and random effects will be used.
Similar to the way you apply slide settings, you can also apply animation to each slide. Select the slide you want to add animation to and then click on the "Animation" button (
). This opens the animation window.
You can use one of the pre-defined presets to apply animation to the current slide, or you can create your own. The slider shows you the entire length of the animation (dependent on your "Exposition" setting for this slide), with the frame number being shown. To create your own animation, you will have to define several points to indicate what the animated slide would look like at this point (this is referred to as setting a keyframe), and then the software will automatically transform the image from one point to the other using animation. For example, if you drag the slider to the end and then flip the photo 90 degrees, the animation generated will flip the photo at a speed where by the end it will have flipped the photo by 90 degrees. You can also apply zoom and movement to the animation. Use your left mouse button to re-position the image, the right mouse button to zoom in and out and the middle mouse button (wheel button) to flip the slide. And then click on the "Set Key" button to set a keyframe (use the "Remove Key" button to remove the keyframe and start again). For example:
- Drag the slider to the middle (frame 50)
- Use the left, right and wheel button to manipulate the photo
- Click on the "Set Key" button (
) to set the keyframe
- Drag the slider to the end (frame 100)
- Click on the "Set Key" button again to make the slide stay the same between frame 50 and 100, or you can apply more transformations
- Click on the "Preview Animation" button (
) to preview the animation
You can now select the "Preview" option from the "Options" menu (or press the "Preview" button 
) to preview the entire slideshow - it might take a few minutes or longer (depending on how many slides you have) to generate the preview.
Once you are completely satisfied with your slideshow, select "Export" from the File menu (or click on the "Export" button - 
). There are many export options - for making a DVD, the most obvious options are exporting to an ISO file or a DVD folder ready for burning with ImgBurn. A chapter stop will be created at the start of each new slide, for your convenience.
If you choose to export to an ISO file, you can then burn the resulting ISO file using ImgBurn - instructions here. If you want to test your creation before burning, you might have to mount the ISO using a image tool like DAEMON Tools and then play through your normal software DVD player.
If you choose to export to a DVD folder, you can then burn the DVD folder using ImgBurn as well - instructions here. You can test your creation before burning by using a DVD player capable of playing DVD folders, for example PowerDVD.
If you choose the above two options, then this guide is finished for you. Otherwise, continue on.
If you want to put multiple slideshows on one single DVD, which is a good idea since a slideshow of about 20 photos with music (at the default exposition and durations) will only occupy about 70 MB, then read on to the next page (Step 3: Multiple slideshows on a single DVD). If you want to put your slideshow on the web, then skip the next page too and go to "Step 4: Exporting your slideshow to the web".
