Can I make a DVD with multiple slide shows?

Question

I am making a project for my son's school. Each classroom (7 or 8 rooms) has their own photo show that I am making. The school wants me to put all of the photoshows on one DVD and separate classrooms into different titles, so families can skip to their child's classroom. So, in theory, I would have one DVD and about 7 or 8 chapters on it. Each chapter would be a different photo show. Can this be done? Is there a tutorial that would be able to help me with this? I have made a photo show and have burned it onto a DVD, but I haven't done anything that requires separate headers/titles. Thoughts? Tia.

Answer 1

Here's a few useful tips when preparing the slideshow/s for an iDvd ...
First suggestion is not to exceed 6 buttons per menu (although some themes allow for up to 12 buttons per menu).
Secondly, don't exceed 99 images per slideshow if the objective is to present the slideshow on a typical set top dvd player or TV. Disregard this rule if you will use your mac / computer to present the dvd slideshow. Here's why:
iDVD '08: After 99 images in a slideshow, set-top DVD player will reset to chapter 1
In iDVD '08, your slideshows are no longer limited to 99 images. You can now have up to 9,801 images in a slideshow. When you are playing a slideshow on your DVD player, it will number the slides (which are chapters) from 1 to 99 and then start numbering over again at number 1 (on the one-hundredth slide). This is normal and not something you can control when you author your DVD. It is a specification that applies to all DVD players.
Related documents
Article 302962: Slideshow audio playback drops out after 99 images
Thirdly, the following are articles to be aware of when making a slideshow/s with iDvd:
Preparing images for iDVD slideshows
You can use photos, movies, presentation slides (created in a program such as Keynote), or other image files in a slideshow created in iDVD. iDVD works with any image file that is supported by QuickTime (including PICT, JPEG, TIFF, and PDF.) You can also use photos directly from your iPhoto library.
Images and movies in a slideshow are scaled to fit the standard DVD window size, but the aspect ratio is preserved. For example, a picture taken vertically (also known as “portrait format”) may have black bands on either side of it to fill out the screen. If you want an image to fit the DVD window exactly, use an image-editing application to resize the image before bringing it into iDVD. (It is not possible to resize movies.) Resize to these dimensions:
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720 x 540 pixels for standard video in NTSC format
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854 x 480 pixels for widescreen in NTSC format
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768 x 576 pixels for standard video in PAL format
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1024 x 576 pixels for widescreen in PAL format
You can also make sure images in iDVD are always scaled to a size that will fit within the area visible on most TV screens, or the “TV safe area.”
o fit slides into the TV safe area:
Choose iDVD > Preferences.
Click Slideshow.
Select the checkbox labeled “Always scale slides to TV Safe Area.”
Adding menus to an iDVD project
Depending on which theme you choose, the menus in your iDVD project can hold either 6 or 12 buttons. If you need more buttons on a menu than your theme allows, or if you need additional menus to organize the content of your DVD, you can create submenus.
Submenus give you flexibility in organizing your DVD. For example, perhaps you have several slideshows in your project. You can create a button on your main menu that links to a slideshow submenu that includes links to each of your slideshows. You can also create submenus for additional movies, extra features, and so on.
To add a submenu:
Make sure the menu to which you want to add a submenu is showing in the iDVD window.
Click the Add button (shown below), and choose Add Submenu from the pop-up menu.
A placeholder button labeled My Submenu appears on the menu. It has the default button style for the theme, so you may need to change it to match other buttons on the menu.
Click the placeholder label for the new button once to highlight it, and type a new name for the button.
When you click the label to highlight it, a light blue background appears behind the text.
Using the pop-up menus in the in-place control that appears (shown below), change the typeface, font style, and font size of the button name if you want.
To open the new submenu, double-click the newly added button. Notice that iDVD automatically applies the Extras menu style from your project’s theme to the submenu. Also, a Back button that returns to the previous menu appears on the submenu. You can now edit this menu just as you edit any other menu, changing its theme if you want. You can even use the Add button to create buttons that navigate to sub-submenus.
For more information about creating submenus, see Related Topics below.
And lastly, keep in mind you can also use iPhoto (as well as third party apps) for making a slideshow/s for use within iDvd.
Using iPhoto slideshows in iDVD
You can easily create slideshows in iDVD using images or albums from your iPhoto library.
You can also add slideshows created in iPhoto to your iDVD project. These slideshows are imported into iDVD as movies, which retain the effects and sounds you created in iPhoto. As a result, you can’t edit or change these slideshows in iDVD, and viewers can’t manually click through the slideshow using the DVD player remote control.
To import an iPhoto slideshow:
Make sure the DVD menu from which you want to access the slideshow is open in the iDVD window.
For example, if you want the slideshow to be accessible from the main menu of the DVD, the main menu should be showing in the iDVD window.
Open iPhoto and select a slideshow.
Choose Share > “Send to iDVD.”
After several minutes, a button for the slideshow appears on the menu. The button has the same name as the slideshow.
The slideshow also appears in the Movies section of the Media pane, so you can use it in other iDVD projects as well.
You can change the name of the button by clicking the button twice to highlight the text and typing a new name.
If iDVD is not open when you send your iPhoto slideshow to iDVD, iDVD opens to a new project automatically when iPhoto finishes processing the slideshow. A DVD menu, with a default theme, is displayed in the iDVD window, and it has a button for the iPhoto slideshow. In this case, if you want to add the sideshow to an existing iDVD project instead, choose File > Open, click Don’t Save, and then choose an existing project. When the project is open, you can click the Media button, then Movies, and drag the slideshow to any menu.
If your version of iPhoto does not support exporting directly to iDVD, you must export the slideshow from iPhoto as a QuickTime movie, and then import the QuickTime movie into your iDVD project.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser