Background movie and drop zones?

Hello everyone, I'm Dion (David's son), and I'm trying to make an iDVD theme which has a custom moving background and drop zones.
I'm modifying the theme "Sliding Panes", which has seven drop zones. When I drag my custom movie either to the background of the theme or to the Background well in the Settings pane, the background movie is applied, but the drop zones disappear. I've tried everything I can think of (which isn't much, I'm not an iDVD veteran) to avoid this, which includes opening the Drop Zone Editor and then trying to drag the movie to the Background well, which, obviously, doesn't work.
I would sincerely appreciate any advice or answer anyone has - even if it doesn't work.

If you replace the theme background with anything you're going to remove the drop zones that are designed to play within that theme's background. I guess it has "holes" in the background where the drop zones play. You would have to have transparent spots in your movie so the drop zones would play thru. Even then I'm not sure replacing the theme background wouldn't remove the drop zones from use.
You could try the following. Select the sliding panes theme and make it a favorite. The in your User/Library/iDVD/favorites folder find that theme, go into the them package, locate the Contents/Resurces folder in there and substitute your movie for the backgroundmoive that's in there. You'll have to rename your movie accordingly. That may do it. Be sure to do it on a favorite copy so in case it doesn't work you can just remove that them from that folder.
Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.
OT

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Plain backgrounds, arrow icons, and drop zones

Plain backgrounds
Is there a quick way to have a simple, plain color background within iDVD, or do I have to create colored layered in Photoshop and import that? I'd like a plain black background, no drop zones.
Arrow icons
Some themes include arrow icons that act as "Return to main menu" buttons in the submenus. How do I change or delete these? I am able to move them, but I can't find the different shapes listed in the Buttons menu, and I can't select them to delete them. One click hits the button and brings me back to the main menu.
Drop Zones
Is there a way to completely delete a drop zone from a theme or background? I see how to modify and edit the drop zones, but don't see an option to delete it completely.
I'm more accustomed to using DVD Studio Pro, but this project is already made in iDVD and won't import into DVD SP.

You will need to create a black jpg image and drop it into the well in the upper left hand corner of the menu pane. That will give you a black menu background.
I think you are stuck with the arrows.
I am not aware of any way to completely delete a drop zone.

Multiple movies in drop zones

Can drop zones accept more than one movie clip? Everytime I try, I get the message, "Action not supported in iDVD".
iMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Hi dodger48,
Welcome to the Discussions.
Can drop zones accept more than one movie clip?No. You can put the clips together into one with iMovie and use that.

Exact Frames for movie in drop zone

I am trying to get some exact frames for a movie in one of my drop zones. Looks like the slider only moves in 30 second increments. I know this correlates to the length of the loop for my menu. However, I would like to know if there's a way to move the slider more precisely. There is a certain frame I would like it start on and I just can't seem to get the slider to stop on it.

Well, I have my Leopard disks, but have not installed it on this computer.....tried it out on my son's Mac mini first. Not sure I am ready for it yet. Maybe after reading that all the initial problems with it have been resolved......mayber after the 5th revision !
I do use the 7 themes in iDVD and have not had freezing issues, just the slider inexactness.

Insert Movie into drop zone?

When I drop my movie in which is a logo animation I made in Lightwave the logo goes way beyond the edges in height and width. If I scale the drop zone To the size of the movie (320x240), it just scales the movie up along with it. What gives?

How are you making the drop zone?
If you drag the movie from the bin to the menu, you can scale to any size in inspector
If you are setting it into a pre-made shape such as with borders) you can still adjust in inspector but the movie is part of the inspector
(Also note that you should be careful about posting the same issue a few times in a short period of time, people will answer, just give it some time)

Movement of drop zones appears jerky on preview

Hi,
I am using the Reflection Black theme in iDVD 6. I put an individual photo into each drop zone but on preview, the movement of the panels is really jerky and does not appear smooth at all. Is it supposed to be like that ?
Also, how do you add several photos to each drop zone. I know it is possible to do this but each time I try to move several photos, it just replaces one and does not allow more.
Any suggestions ?

I used that theme and it was jerky every time I launched iDVD and in Preview. The DVD is fine.
Also, how do you add several photos to each drop zone...it just replaces one and does not allow more.
I think you can only have one image in each drop zone. Some previous drop zones allowed multiple images.

Shapes and drop zones

I am trying to use RectMedWindowDesaturate.pox for the shape on a Drop Zone but I need it to be in color not desaturated. How do I do this?

Hi Little Squirrel - The simple answer is that you can't, I'm afraid. The template items exist as part of the DVDSP application. Some can be edited, and some can't - you can find them by control clicking on the name in your assets tab and selecting 'Reveal in Finder', and you'll see that you get to a folder deep in your library. Pox files are not editable by us mortals - you need to be using software known only to the developers.
As an alternative, you can usually create a similar looking effect using FCP or Motion. You'll then need to import the result into DVDSP and drop it in to a menu.

CHOPPY VIDEO ON MENU AND DROP ZONES

I am ready to burn the DVD but the video on a menu page is very choppy. The drop zone is rotating slowly, etc.
Any ideas on why this is happening? Any ideas on how to fix it?
Thanks.

Steve:
As good practice save the project as a disk image (File->Save as Disk Image menu option) instead of burning directly to disk. This allows you to play the disk image in DVD Player to verify that the encoding of the project was good. If the project plays OK in DVD Player you can then burn that disk image to disk with Disk Utility at the slowest speed available. If there is any problems with the disk playing it can then be narrowed down to the burn process. Also use the top grade media. Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden or Maxell -R are the most recommended brands in this forum.

Graphics Card and Drop Zones

I have been trying to resolve the issue of no video showing up in drop zones either during simulator mode or in the burn . . several other video related menu items as well.
Just reliazed that I do not have ag graphics card that supports Quartz Extreme- could this be causing this type of problem?

That is why I said switch from hardware to software
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4602145#4602145
Some graphics cards cause issues. The Mac Pro you have should work, but the G4 could have the problem of the graphic card

Foreground and background movies playing simultaneously

Can Acrobat 9 Pro allow a smaller, foreground movie to playing simultaneously on top of a larger background movie?
Here are my slide design criteria. I need to have a single slide show with a movie that takes up the full size of the slide. It will start automatically and loop continuous when opened. I need to have additional movies appear on top of the large background movie, and start only when clicked. These smaller sized movies would be invisible till clicked; they are zoomed in versions of certain areas of the larger background. I think of them as Hotspots.
Once the Hotspot movie is done playing, I need it to become invisible again. I will need to have 6-8 of these Hotspots; they will not overlap each other, but certainly will lay on top of the larger background movie.
1.What’s the best way to insert these Hotspot movies?
2.How can I get them to be invisible before and after play?
3.Can I make them available if the presenter wanted to show the hotspot movie more than once?
4.How can I make them use separate movie player player sessions?
5. How can I keep the background movie playing behind the hotspot playing in the foreground?
The goal is to keep the audience focused on the single slide and view these zoomed-in, closeup movies as the presenter chooses during the presentation.
If there is any way to do this, i'd be keenly interested in the details.
thanks!

It can't be done using separate rich media annotations, but you could make the entire thing as a single SWF file using Flash Pro, and embed that full-page in your PDF document.

Adding pictures to a theme, but not in the drop zones...

I don't know if this is a really noob ou really tricky question, but here it goes : )
I'd like to add a/some picture(s) to a iDVD theme, but not in the drop zones. I'd like my pictures to appear as layers, choose whoch one goes in front, and so on...
Is there any way to do that?
Thx, and happy new year ; )
iMac 24' 2,16GHz CodeDuo2 GeForce 7300 GT 1Gh DDR Mac OS X (10.4.8)

In that case you would need to prepare the background as a QT movie exactly the way you want to display it as a background movie and then drag and drop that prepared QT file to iDVD.
I've never done this type of movie in iLife apps alone but I have with FCP & DVD SP which offers these additional video editing options for sizing pip and frames in an existing movie / menu.
Also check the help Menu for iDVD6 (and iMovie) if you haven't already. I did a search for you and here's what I came up with:
Changing the background image of a DVD menu
You can replace the background image in a menu with your own image. Images in menu backgrounds are cropped to fit the standard DVD window size, but the aspect ratio of the original image is preserved. If you want your image to fit the DVD window exactly, first use an image-editing application to resize the image to 640 x 480 for standard video and 854 x 480 for widescreen.
When you replace a background image, you can also choose to keep the drop zones or remove them completely.
Here are ways to change the background image:
Drag a picture file from the Finder or the Media pane to a DVD menu background, outside a drop zone. Before you drop the picture, press the Command key and choose "Replace background" or "Replace background and drop zones" from the contextual menu that appears (shown above). Then release the mouse button.
Click the Menu button and drag a picture file from the Finder to the background well in the Menu pane. If your theme has drop zones, the drop zones disappear.
Click the Media button, then click Photos. Drag a photo from your iPhoto library or another folder to your DVD menu. If your theme has drop zones, the drop zones are retained.
Choose File > Import > Image, locate and select an image, and click Import. If your theme has drop zones, the drop zones are retained.
To remove a background image and return to the default image for the theme, click the Menu button and drag the image out of the background well (shown above).
Hope this answers your question/s.
SDMacuser

Images disappear from drop zones

I'm using the "Bands" template, and I'm adding a photo to 3 different drop zones: the first one (the animated one) works fine. But when I add a photo for background on either the menu or "extras" page, it goes in fine, turns black and white and has the shading around the top edge, but when I click on another page in the DVD and back to these two pages, the image is gone and it again says "Drag Photos or Movies Here". Any ideas? I'm using 7.0.4, don't have any compelling reason to upgrade to 7.1 unless this bug is fixed there...

Hi George
Sorry to hear you are having issues with iDvd regarding background and drop zones not staying with the images or photos you picked. I just tried the very same thing you described above running iDvd 7.0.4 on a Dual G5 2.0 Ghz and I cannot duplicate this issue. Mine runs fine and exactly as expected. All choices remain in place. So I'm not exactly sure what's going on with your own particular configuration. But like you I don't recommend updating unless this issue is first addressed in the next update. My feeling is that it won't be. What you may want to do if you haven't already is dispose of the plist for iDvd. Go to your HOME folder > Library > Preferences >
com.apple.iDvd.plist
Drag and drop this file to the trash or to the desktop and relaunch iDvd.
Come on back if this fails to help. Please also let us know exactly how much available hard drive space is remaining on the boot volume (your main HDD). You may also want to repair permissions at this time from apple's disk utility.
Good luck!
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

Drop Zone with Audio

Is it possible to create a video Drop Zone for a template in FCP that plays with audio. I am doing a 16_9 Background with 4_3 Drop Zone, but when I use it in FCP and drop the video it plays without audio. Am I missing some preference or is it just not possible to create this?
Thanks

That's a real shame: having to edit the audio separately beat the convenience of the drop zones in templates.
Thanks Andy.
Enrique

Drop zone adjustment

When bringing Imovie6 project into IDVD6, I bring in the project and then select "autofill" for the drop zones. This lets the movie play in the drop zones which is easy and looks kind of cool and I am happy with it. I also notice that when I click on each individual drop zone a slider appears that gives the impression of being able to choose which part and how much of the video plays in each drop zone. However, when I move the slider, it moves, but then returns as soon as I let go of it, making no changes.
1) How do I adjust how much and which part of the video plays in each drop zone?
2) If each drop zone is playing the entire video, is this increasing my rendering time?
Thanks

I have had the same problem. I find it difficult to get the start and stop points set up as I would like them. Here's a solution that I am currently using:
1. Find a segment of your movie that you would like to appear in the drop zone, make it the length you want, and export as a separate clip. I used MPEG Streamclip but any editor should work.
2. Drop that shortened clip into the drop zone. You might need to open the inspector and set a loop duration.
3. Find your full movie and drop it onto the menu placing it anywhere other than the drop zone.
4. A button will appear where you dropped the movie. By adjusting the font size and number of returns you can create a square the same size as the drop zone.
5. Drag the button that you created over the drop zone. The short clip plays under the "invisible" button. Clicking the drop zone causes the entire movie to play.

Drop zone inquiry

I used drop zone 1 and drop zone 2 for two presentations in iDVD.
What settings or what do I do to make the zone 1 play and then go immediatly into the zone 2 presentation?

Hi
Not really sure that You uses the name "Drop Zone" right. As I understands it it's not the real way to play movies in iDVD but only as menu trailers.
So they are only meant as buttons to play the real content.
So I do
• Never in iMovie use "Share to iDVD" - But Share to Media Browser and as Large - then in iDVD I import from it's Media Browser.
Then I figure on Your note - to play one after the other. There is no Play All button in iDVD - but has to be worked around.
a. One can put several movies into a SlideShow project - this works as a Play All function - ONE ONLY also has to un-check "Scale Picture" here else one get a big black frame on all sides when played
b. I rather do this - I make one more movie - containing all of the others and with Chapter Marks - this I also add to iDVD project.
This will take x2 space on DVD but is easy to be done and to understand.
Yours Beng W

Background movie and drop zones?

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