IDVD with chapters

Question

Are there real clear instructions somewhere to create an iDVD project using a Final Cut Express movie with chapter markers? I is easy with iMovie, but not sure how to do it with a Final Cut Express. I think I need the instructions to start from how to put chapter markers in Final Cut and all the way through iDVD.

Answer 1

Here's how I do it, and I've been getting good results every time:
TO GET A FINAL CUT EXPRESS PROJECT READY FOR iDVD:
Make sure the Easy Setup has DV-NTSC chosen (or PAL if that's your format), not NTSC DV Converter or anything else. Otherwise, the movie that you export and drop into iDVD won't work--it won't have its chapter markers, or the buttons won't work, or both.
TO ADD CHAPTER (SCENE) MARKERS FOR iDVD:
Don't put a Chapter Marker at the start of the FCE movie--iDVD does that for you. Anywhere else, put the playhead where you want the chapter marker to be and hit the M key twice. On the box that appears, click Add Chapter Marker. FCE will then put <Chapter> into the comment box. Leave it exactly that way, or it won't work. Give the marker a name (you can change it later in iDVD) in the Name box. Click OK. You can have 99 chapter markers.
EXPORTING YOUR FCE PROJECT FOR iDVD:
Before exporting your FCE project, in the Timeline, first Select All, then choose Sequence > Render All > Both. Next Sequence > Render Only > Mixdown, which merges all the audio. Now you're ready to export the project as a QuickTime Movie: File > Export > Quicktime Movie (and NOT a self-contained movie, unless you have good reason to do so), and at the options, choose Audio-and-Visual and Chapter Markers. After FCE exports, drop the resulting Quicktime movie into iDVD (not into a drop zone, into the background of whatever "Theme" you choose). Your FCE project's title should then appear in the iDVD theme along with a Scene Selection button for your Chapter Markers. That button will lead to other Scene Selection screens (six scenes per screen).
CUSTOMIZING YOUR PROJECT IN iDVD:
Any digital photo or other image file (Tiffs preferred) that you drop into an iDVD Theme's background will become the new background image, and you can also replace a theme's music with a music of your own. In this way you can customize and personalize any iDVD theme.
BURNING YOUR iDVD PROJECT TO A DVD
After you get everything looking and working the way you want it in iDVD, I advise burning it as a disk image first, so you can examine and test it with DVD Player before burning it to a DVD. If you're satisfied with it, you can use Toast in its Copy mode to burn the disk image to a DVD.
Tom B.