5.3. Customizing the Menu
To customize the appearance of the DVD menu, click
the Customize menu toolbar button. Curiously, you can change some font
properties here again, duplicating the functionality of the menu text
options described in the previous section. However, the rest of the
disc menu options shown here are unique, as shown in Figure 11.
You can change the videos that display in the foreground and background
(the layout and appearance of which vary according to menu style), the
audio that plays over the menu (you can't make it silent, however; it
will default to the audio in the selected video clip if no audio file
is chosen), and the style of the menu links, or buttons.
NOTE
The video and audio used in the DVD menu don't
even have to be related to the media files you chose for inclusion in
the DVD movie itself. For example, you could select two movies and a
photo slide show for the DVD itself, and separate third and fourth
movies for the title if you want.
If you make enough changes, or want to reuse the
customizations you made, you can actually save them as a brand-new
style. When you do this, a new entry called Custom Styles is added to
the drop-down menu above the list of menu styles in the right of the
application window. Then you can choose between Menu Styles and Custom
Styles.
5.4. Configuring the Photo Slide Show
If you've included a photo slide show in your DVD
movie, you can customize it by clicking the Slide show button in the
DVD Maker toolbar while in the Ready to burn DVD phase of the wizard.
In the Change your slide show settings window, shown in Figure 12,
you can add one or more songs (music files) to the slide show, alter
the length of time each photo displays, choose a transition type (cross
fade is the default), and decide whether to use pan and zoom effects,
which provide a welcome bit of animation to the slide show.
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Adding music and animation effects to a photo slide
show dramatically improves its effectiveness, so spend some time
playing around with these options.
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6. Writing the Movie to Disc
When you're satisfied with the DVD movie, it's time to burn it to disc. Click the Burn button to proceed.
If there is no writeable DVD in the drive, Windows
DVD Maker will prompt you to insert one. You should use the lowest
capacity disc possible (4.7GB for one hour or less of video), as
single-layer discs tend to be less expensive than the dual-layer
versions. That said, a dual-layer (DL) disc will work just fine if
that's all you have.
If your PC does not have a DVD burner, Windows DVD
Maker will tell you that a DVD burner is required and recommend that
you connect one before continuing. Optionally, you could save the
project instead and install a DVD burner later.
NOTE
What you can't do easily is copy the DVD Maker
project to a different PC with a DVD burner and then create the DVD
there. That's because the project looks for the content needed to
create the DVD in file paths relative to where they were on the
original PC. In order to make this work, you would have to copy the
content for the project to the same locations on the second PC as they
were on the first. That's probably a nonstarter for most people.
After you've inserted a blank recordable DVD in the
drive, DVD Maker will begin the creation process. This can be an
extremely lengthy process, depending on the amount of content you've
included. While DVD Maker is creating the DVD, the application window
closes and a small Burning dialog appears in the lower-right corner of
your screen, charting its progress.
When the DVD is completed, Windows DVD
Maker ejects the DVD so you can go try it in a DVD player. You're also
prompted to create another copy of the disc if you'd like. Click Close
to cancel that option and return to the main DVD Maker application.
