Creating Photo Slideshows in DVD Studio Pro

Shane Burley
Categories : Video ,Multimedia
Tags : Multimedia video topics software tutorials

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The DVD Experience

When putting together a DVD you tend to want to add more media to it than just the main video. This can be things like production photos, family pictures, or a different collage of media. If you do want to display a number of photos you can do it as a slideshow in DVD Studio Pro and can leave the editing program behind entirely.

Making the Slideshow

Doing a photo slideshow is one of the easiest functions in DVD Studio Pro. First you must create a base menu to link to the slideshow. The best way to do this is to link to the slideshow’s specific menu from the opening menu. This can be in the form of a Special Features selection, or simply one that says Photos. Here you construct a menu that is correlative to the photo slideshow and then set a button that will play the slideshow just as a video and audio track would. Go up to the action bar directly below the task bar where it has a number of possible things you can do, such as Import Asset and Add Track. There is an option for Add Slideshow, which you click. One will appear in the graphical view along with all of the other DVD components like your menus and video tracks. Open up this and you will be given a special display down below where the timeline is when you are dealing with a video track. Here you are now able to drag pictures from the asset browser on the upper left hand side into the area, where they are now numbered in order of when they will appear. After you put the pictures in the order you would like them to appear you can select what, if any, type of transition effect you would like to come between them. On the far right of the slideshow display you are able to select exactly how long you want each picture to stay on the screen and whether or not you would like some type of pause. The standard time for the photos is five seconds, and that is its default setting. The far right detail menu will allow you to change a number of settings for the slideshow, including how you want it displayed on the screen and if you want any audio playing in the background. Once you are done putting it together you set it to return to its menu once it is finished and double check all of the button connections as you would with any other DVD component.

Simple But Important

This may seem like a simple thing to put on a DVD, but it can be key to making your project have more of a lasting significance. Especially if you are trying to sell your film it is important to pack as much onto the DVD as possible to show people as much as you can about the production.

This post is part of the series: DVD Studio Pro

Learn about Apple’s DVD authoring program.