IDVD quits using drop zones

My iDVD'08 automatically shuts down when ever I click on the Media button or the 'edit drop zones' button. It is very frustrating. I've resorted to dragging photos in from the photo browser. I would really like it to work the way it is supposed to. Any ideas please?

what have you tried so far? did you already Repair Permissions? did you drag the plist for iDvd to the trash and Restart the mac?
com.apple.iDvd.plist
tell us more about the mac you are working with. As in available HD space on the startup volume and the amount of ram, etc. The more we know, the sooner we'll be able to help troubleshoot.

Similar Messages

How does one use 'drop zones' in DVD menus?

Hi
I have Premiere Elements 4.0. How does one use 'drop zones' in DVD menus?
Thanks
NBK

There are a number of ways, but the easiest is to swap in your video the way you swap in a DVD background -- i.e., select a menu with a drop zone and, in the DVD menus area, click on the background of the menu in the Disc Layout monitor. This will open up a screen that will allow you to browse to the video or still you want.
Once it's in place, hold down the Shift key and, grabbing a corner handle on the Disc Layout monitor, size the image and drag it to position it in the drop zone.

RANT! : still no resize option when using drop zones!

Picture this: you drop a photo into a drop zone. But it's a little too big, and doesn't fit well. So, in a perfect world, you right-mouse-click, say resize, and some handles come up and you can resize on the fly.
I really don't understand why this option isn't in yet. It seems so obvious and usefull.
Really... sometimes the software is too simple for it's own good!!! grrr...

There is a way around this.
In iPhoto, crop the image to a more suitable width, but make the crop higher than it is wider (keep the full height).
Now, when you drop the cropped photo on a drop zone you can at least move it up or down.
I do it all the time, or I deliberately take and/or use vertical photos.
Regards
Santa

Using drop zones

I have a template from motion that I exported to generators in fcp x. When I drag to the timeline I can't seem to drop my videos into the drop zones. I used to be able to select the drop zone in the inspector but for some reason I can't find that option anymore. Did I somehow disable the dropzones? or am I looking in the wrong place?
please help,
Brian

Koen
That worked well for me, once I found the menu. It is an auto hide menu to the right of the "To" button in the Image tab. Once you have published a zone, you can also "Unpublish" is as you can see from the screen grab.
One other thing. You can select Layers, and then the top layer "Project", and in the inspector, it will show you everything that you have published.
Thanks for sorting that one out for me Koen, saved me lots of re work
G

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

Drop zone movie play

i have a movie playing in the drop zone, which is about 1hour in actual length. is there a way to specify the start and end points of what is played in the menu/drop zone.
at the moment it only plays from the start of the movie, but i want it to playback footage at a certain point in the movie?? eg not from 0 sec - 30 sec, but 45sec - 1min
thanks

You have a one hour movie in a drop zone?? Um ...why?? You know that is not the place to be playing your movie, right? And you know iDVD has a maximum length capacity of 2 hours using Best Quality?
Most people use Drop Zones to show little teaser/highlights of the main movie
To that end, you will have to use an editing app like iMovie or FCE to create a separate little movie to play in the drop zone. I just go back to my original movie and cut out the segment that I want to high lite, give it a new name, an ddrop it into iDVD

Drop Zone Animation

Is there a way to make a drop zone slide across and off screen in DVD Pro, or is this something you must do in motion?

Why is it that idvd has animated drop zones, and DVD Pro does not?
DVD SP does have animated Drop zones, simply drag an m2v from the bin to the menu and a pop up provides choices, and the drop zone is animated, but you asked about something different.
As mentioned iDVD and DVD SP are different
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2767014&#2767014
You may be better off with iDVD for the short term unless you need the features of DVD SP.
Opening an iDVD project is something that many users who use DVD SP probably would not think is high on the "hit parade" of things Apple should change, things higher up include proper HD & blu-ray authoring, clearing out/cleaning up the abstraction layer, etc.
Remember iDVD is more of a consumer app (and I do like it alot and use it for kicks), but DVD SP is geared to be more "pro". It is actually very easy to use and incredibly powerful, do not be disappointed, you should not be. Use each tool for what it is and what it is designed to accomplish

Deleting Drop Zones

If a theme in IDVD has 4 drop zones and I want to use two, is there a way to delete the two unused zones?

I think unused drop zones go away when you burn your project. Although I could be mistaken on that.
Patrick

Motion 5 / FCP X - Frustrating Drop Zones

I've been (trying) to use Drop Zones lately on a number of projects and while I've been able to kludge things here and there to get them to work properly, they sure have frustrated me. The projects I'm working on need snippets of properly timed video floating around the screen, usually within the opening sequence for the video. The trouble is I've never been able to really figure out the timing for these things.
1) Initially, the logical thought was (for me, at least) to set at least an in point for the video before dropping it into the Drop Zone in FCP X. That certainly didn't work because it appeared as though FCP X totally ignored my clip's in point. I wanted that clip video to start exactly at the beginning of that drop zone.
2) Since that didn't work I did some Internet research and someone posted that Drop Zones ignore clip in points. They said that when selecting the clip for the drop zone to place the cursor on the exact frame where you want the video to start before applying it to the Drop Zone. Well, that works to an extent.
Here's what I found after doing some experimentation in both Motion 5 and FCP X (latest versions of each). First, I created a video with timecode in it so that I could accurately track where the video really started on the first frame of the individual Drop Zone. The video starts with 10 seconds of color bars followed by 5 minutes of burned in timecode, then another 10 seconds of color bars. I created a simple Motion Generator with four Drop Zones - upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right. Each Drop Zone was placed exactly 10 seconds apart. So, for example:
For the first test I placed each Drop Zone within one Group in Motion. Drop Zones start at the following timecode for each location as follows:
UL: 00:00:00:00
LL: 00:00:10:00
UR: 00:00:20:00
LR: 00:00:30:00
After publishing the project, I loaded it into FCP X. I used the same timecode video for each Drop Zone starting it at timecode value 00:01:00:00. Now, one would think that each drop zone window, having been placed exactly 10 seconds apart, would show timecode values for the inserted videos also each 10 seconds apart. But they don't! All four Drop Zones show exactly the same timecode value. They are acting as if all four were placed within the Motion 5 timeline starting at 00:00:00:00. But they weren't.
So, I thought, what would happen if I placed each Drop Zone in Motion in a separate Group? I created four Groups, each one holding only one Drop Zone. It didn't make a difference. The timecode videos in each window were still in sync with one another.
The only way I can get this to work properly is to offset the beginning of each clip by -10 seconds. Unfortunately, if there's not enough "preroll" in the clip to do that, I'm out of luck.
But it gets stranger! Further experimentation leads me to believe that all of the Drop Zones within a project reference themselves to the very first Drop Zone within the project. I picked a new point within the timecode video - in this case, the 2 minute point (00:02:00:00) and dropped it into the UL drop zone. I did the same then for the other three and now they all track based on that 00:02:00:00 point within the video!
But it gets even stranger!!! I tried one more experiment, this time loading the Drop Zones in reverse order. That seemed to work. But still, why should I have to mess around like this trying to sync drop zones in some of weird order?
The question is, why do Drop Zones work this way and what can be done to fix this problem? However I select the first frame of video for a particular drop zone should be what that drop zone references when rendering. Ideally it would be great to be able to use an in point on the clip, but I'm also happy with just moving the clip's cursor to the first frame. It's easy enough to do. Hopefully the software team working on these apps can come up with a solution that makes sense. Thanks.
John

I've had this too and the fix then was to delete my project render files (FCP that is).
Russ

Drop Zone referencing time code 00:00:00:00

FCPX drop zone is referencing timecode 00:00:00:00 in my Motion template. How can I use drop zone footage with a different timecode?

I appreciate the post Fox and the link to your fine video on using the Comparator Generator; however, what I'm finding is that when multiple drop zones appear in a project clip they seem to reference the first drop zone. (Your example uses only one drop zone. I've never had a problem syncing video with only one drop zone.) My post, that I referenced above, didn't specify using this procedure, but that is exactly what I did. Just to review a portion of that post:
For the first test I placed each Drop Zone within one Group in Motion. Drop Zones start at the following timecode for each location as follows:
UL: 00:00:00:00
LL: 00:00:10:00
UR: 00:00:20:00
LR: 00:00:30:00
After publishing the project, I loaded it into FCP X. I used the same timecode video for each Drop Zone starting it at timecode value 00:01:00:00. Now, one would think that each drop zone window, having been placed exactly 10 seconds apart, would show timecode values for the inserted videos also each 10 seconds apart. But they don't! All four Drop Zones show exactly the same timecode value. They are acting as if all four were placed within the Motion 5 timeline starting at 00:00:00:00. But they weren't.
I perfectly aligned the start point for each timecode clip segment for it's appropriate drop zone, (first one at 00:00:00:00; second at 00:00:10:00; third at 00:00:20:00 and fourth at 00:00:30:00) but found that FCP X ignored the clip's cursor location for all but the first drop zone. Each of the other three referenced that first drop zone and when playing the project back, the timecode readout in each window precisely matched when they should have been 10 seconds apart.
However, I also found that if I loaded the drop zones in reverse, starting with the last and moving to the first, using the exact same procedure, then all four drop zones synced perfectly. Honestly, it's got me scratching my head. I'm now working on a project that uses 12 drop zones and I'm seriously considering creating each drop zone video clip separately, exporting them from FCP X, importing them into Motion directly, then export the Motion project as a video which I can then import into FCP X. I shouldn't have to do that, but at least that seems to work.
John

Loss of quality in drop zone video

I am creating a DVD project where I've created a drop zone that is approximately half the size of the screen, split vertically (446 x 480 pixels). I have a video asset I wish to use in this drop zone, but no matter how I export the video (from Motion), it loses quality in the drop zone. It is not a matter of bad compression settings. It almost appears as if the footage has been scaled up from a smaller image.
Is there a limit to the resolution of a drop zone? If I scale down the image, the video looks crisp again... of course then my original layout is no longer intact.
Any idea of a workaround for this? Hopefully I am not missing something obvious.
thanks,
ak

You really don't have to use drop zones at all, just make everything part of the background. you might have to combine your motion workflow with some editing in FCP. I would suggest not using Uncompressed Animation, but simply using the DV-NTSC project preset.
You have the option to either import the .motn file directly into DVDSP, exporting your motion project as a quicktime movie, or a quick edit in FCP and export as a quicktime movie. I would suggest whichever route you take, export it as a quicktime movie and use compressor to encode to MPEG2 before importing your asset into DVDSP. This will give your greater flexibilty and control on the quailty of your final video.

FCP X / Motion 5 Drop Zone Video Freeze Frames Only!

Hmmm, well, I've followed the other discussions here regarding what appears to be an on-going issue with videos not playing (freeze frame only - usually the first frame of the clip) in a Drop Zone. I'm using the latest versions of both FCP X (10.1.1) and Motion 5 (5.1). I created a video generator in Motion with 15 drop zones for use in an open for a project I just started on. These drop zones are sliding left and right in three bands across the canvas. I can't get any of them to display moving video. I've used drop zones before and had some success with getting video clips to play in them, but in this case I'm batting zero.
Has anyone found a way around this problem? I may just import the videos into Motion and render them there since this open more than likely won't ever be used for any other project; nevertheless, I'd like to be able to use the Motion 5 template as it was designed to be used.
Thanks.

The good news, Russ, is that I've made some progress! To say that using Drop Zones can be a bit quirky is an understatement! Nevertheless, your Pro Res hint seems to have fixed my issue. I've been recutting the clips from the master archived files and saving them as Pro Res 422. The file size is considerably larger that the H.264 files, but since it works I guess I won't argue that point! :-)
I need to do a bit more investigation of this next point, but it also seems as if I need to move a frame or three into the clip before inserting it into the drop zone. I had just been taking the clip and dumping it in as is. When doing that I noticed that in some cases the clip either didn't play (freeze frame) or it started at some random (or at least what seemed to be random) location within the clip. However, since I moved the start point in 2 or 3 frames (end point doesn't seem to matter) so far, at least, the clip plays every time and starts from the proper point.
I don't know if this mattered or not, but I completely deleted the library with the project and event that I was originally trying to edit to. Since it wasn't working anyway there is nothing lost and I felt it was worth starting the project "fresh", so to speak.
So far I've only re-clipped and inserted 5 of the 15 drop zone videos but for now, at least, they are all working!
Thanks again for your help and suggestions.
John

How to add more drop zones or movies in an idvd menu

I was building a dvd in idvd and ran out of drop zones to fill but I couldn't figure out how to add more drop zones.
I tried different templates but I could find none that had more than 12 drop zones.
Then I was adding movies to the main menu and idvd refused to allow more movies added when I reached 10 movies. It said that the template did not accept more movies.
I tried a few other templates and could not get it to accept more.
I don't want to add submenus because the movies being used do not lend themselves to being put into different submenus.
Is there some way to add more than the default drop zones in an idvd template and to add more movies in a menu without having to use submenus?
Thanks for any advice.

I couldn't figure out how to add more drop zones
Sorry, the templates 'are what they are'.
I don't want to add submenus because the movies being used do not lend themselves to being put into different submenus.
You need to figure out how to work with what is available.
If you want more freedom, buy Apple's Final Cut Studio and learn to use DVD Studio Pro.

How do you resize a photo in an iDVD drop zone?

The themes in iDVD are virtually useless if you can't easily drag a photo into a drop zone and move and resize as necessary. Using the method described in iDVD is ridiculously cumbersome but what's worse is that it doesn't work.
Does anyone have a suggestion for making this task easier? Does anyone know of better software that would replace iDVD?
This problem has been around for years. It's unbelievable that Apple allows the problem to continue.
Thanks for any help.

Thanks for the reply - I've just gotten around to playing with this some more and as you mentioned, I'm now creating a new image in Photoshop that repositions the image so that it places well in the iDVD template (soft frame in this case). Extra work, and it appears to be effective in the iDVD interface, but when I burned a test DVD the images were scaled differently in the final render to disk.
I'm not trying to do anything out of the ordinary here - just want to burn a DVD of my baby boy for the grandparents. This is precisely the type of use iLife is aimed at... But something as simple as putting a picture of my son on the DVD menu took the extra step of composing in Photoshop in order to have his head not cropped ridiculously. Now even that extra work is altered on the DVD.
I'm new to iDVD and might just need to work with it some more, but so far it just seems wrong and inconsistent with the rest of iLife to not have this flexibility.

Drop Zone Image Adjustment in iDVD '08

I use iDVD 6 for making slideshow DVDs of family functions to send out to my other family members. One of the features that I used in every one of my projects was the ability to drag around any image that you place in the Drop Zone that has been automatically cropped, so that you can pick which part of the image you want to be visible.
In iDVD '08, however, this feature has been removed. What's worse, some of the new themes (Modern, for instance) crop the majority of the images you place into the Drop Zone. I find virtually every new theme in iDVD '08 unusable because of the removal of this feature.
I tried using an old theme from iDVD 6, but I was also unable to adjust the location of my images in relation to the drop zone.
Am I just doing something wrong? In both the toturial vid and the manual, Apple makes no mention of adjusting an image once it's inside the Drop Zone.
In the meantime, I am reverting to iDVD 6. I don't understand why they would remove a feature that was so useful.

*Here's the whole explanation from iDVD Help:*
Repositioning an image or movie in a drop zone
When you drag a picture or movie into a drop zone, the aspect ratio of the image is preserved, but it is scaled larger or smaller to fill the drop zone. As a result, sometimes part of the image is cut off and does not appear in the drop zone. In this case, you can move the image to choose which portion is visible in the drop zone.
_To reposition an image or movie in a drop zone:_
1.) From the drop zone on the menu (not in the drop zone editor), click the image or movie and press Command.
2.) Drag the image until the part you want is visible in the drop zone.
Keep these things in mind as you position an image:
If you drag a narrow image to a drop zone, the image is scaled vertically, and you can move the image up or down only.
If you drag a wide image to a drop zone, the image is scaled horizontally, and you can move the image side to side only.
If you accidentally drag the image too far, you will remove it from the drop zone. (The cursor changes from a hand to a puff of smoke.) Choose Edit > Undo to restore the image to the drop zone.
Repositioning a movie in a drop zone is different from selecting which part of a movie shows in a drop zone (which allows you to select which frame of the movie is displayed in a drop zone). For more information, see Related Topics below.

IDVD quits using drop zones

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