Mydvd/windows Movie Maker - De Lancie Professional Writing

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Windows Movie Maker 2 and MyDVD: A Powerful Pair If you’re a Windows® XP user, you may already be aware that comprehensive support for media such as video, audio, and still pictures is built right into your computer’s operating system. In fact, Windows XP even includes a powerful video editing program, Windows Movie Maker, that can transform your media into movies complete with transitions, titles, and effects. Better still, if you’ve got a recordable or rewritable DVD or CD drive, you can use Sonic MyDVD® to burn your Windows Movie Maker movies to DVD-Video, which allows you to store the movies off your hard-drive and share them with others on a standard set-top DVD player. Together, MyDVD and Windows Movie Maker make a complete, seamless solution for bringing your videos to life on DVD. Why use MyDVD for burning your movies to DVD or CD? Because MyDVD is all about making the whole process easy and fun while yielding attractive, professional-looking results. Under the hood, Sonic has packed the power of our sophisticated AuthorScript® authoring engine. But from the driver’s seat, you’ll find that MyDVD’s interface is streamlined and straightforward, helping you capture your vision to disc without requiring any video knowledge or training. Please visit www.mydvd.com to learn more about the features and advantages of MyDVD. MyDVD can either capture video "Direct-to-DVD" or work with files prepared in video editors across a broad spectrum of price points and features. So if you’d like to edit your clips before including them on DVD, MyDVD gives you the flexibility to work with any video editor that matches your needs, preferences, and budget. And that includes Windows Movie Maker, which you’ll find waiting for you under Programs on your Start Menu. With Windows Movie Maker and MyDVD, you’re just a few steps away from seeing your movies on DVD. And to make it even easier to get the most out of this powerful pair, we’ll get you started right here with a combination of "howto" explanations and links that cover everything you’ll need to know: • • • • • Check your versions of Windows Movie Maker and MyDVD Capture source media (video, audio, and pictures) to your computer Use your source media to create movies in Windows Movie Maker Build a MyDVD project with your Windows Movie Maker movies Burn your MyDVD project to disc [top] 2 Check your versions of Windows Movie Maker and MyDVD To get the best performance and take advantage of the latest features, you’ll first want to be sure that you’re running the latest versions of Windows Movie Maker and MyDVD. Check/update Windows Movie Maker • Start Movie Maker (Start > All Programs > Windows Movie Maker). • Open the About Windows Movie Maker dialog (Help > About Windows Movie Maker...) and note the version number of the program (e.g. “Windows Movie Maker Version 2.0.3312.0”), which is given in the fourth line of text. • Check the Windows Movie Maker Web site (www.microsoft.com/windowsXP/moviemaker) for the latest available version of the program. • If the version on the Web site is newer than the version installed on your computer, follow the instructions to download and install the new version. Check/update MyDVD • Start MyDVD (Start > All Programs > Sonic > MyDVD > Create DVD). • Open the About MyDVD dialog (Help > About MyDVD...) and note the version number of the program (e.g. “Version 4.0 or 5.0”), which is given in the first line of text. • Check the MyDVD Upgrade Center on the Sonic eStore Web site (http://estore.sonic.com/mydvd/upgradecenter.asp) for the latest available version of the program. • If the version on the Web site is newer than the version installed on your computer, follow the instructions to purchase, download, and install the upgrade. Now you’re ready to start making movies! [top] 3 Capture source media (video, audio, and pictures) to your computer To edit a movie and burn a DVD with your computer, you’ll need to have on hand the video, audio, and pictures that you want to include in the movie. We’ll learn here what formats those source elements need to be in and how they are made available for use in Windows Movie Maker. Media types for Windows Movie Maker movies Here’s a quick look at the three main media types you may be dealing with in Windows Movie Maker movies: • Video... - may be imported from an existing file or captured directly into Windows Movie Maker; - may be captured from an analog or digital camcorder or VCR, which may be connected via analog video inputs or digitally with FireWire (sometimes called “IEEE 1394” or “iLink”); - if imported into Windows Movie Maker, video files must be in one of the following supported formats: .asf, .avi, .m1v, .mp2, .mp2v, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2, .wm, .wmv. • Audio... - is imported into Windows Movie Maker from an existing file; - files may originate from a digital transfer (e.g. an audio track on a CD), or may be recorded from an analog source, such as sound that you record through the microphone or line input on your computer’s sound card (for further information on recording audio to your hard drive, refer to the documentation provided with your computer or sound card); - to be imported, audio files must be in one of the following formats supported by Windows Movie Maker: .aif, .aifc, .aiff .asf, .au, .mp2, .mp3, .mpa, .snd, .wav, .wma. • Pictures... - are imported into Windows Movie Maker from an existing file; - files may be downloaded to your computer from a digital camera via an interface such as USB or FireWire, digitized from prints or slides with a scanner, or created digitally in a graphics program such as Paint (for further information on downloading or scanning images, refer to the documentation provided with your digital camera or scanner); - to be imported, picture files must be in one of the following formats supported by Windows Movie Maker: .bmp, .dib, .emf, .gif, .jfif, .jpe, .jpeg, .jpg, .png, .tif, .tiff, .wmf. 4 Bringing media into Windows Movie Maker Windows Movie Maker gives you two ways to bring media into the program: • Import existing video, audio, or picture files: - If the Task Pane is visible in the Windows Movie Maker interface (View > Task Pane), you can select one of the following from the Capture Video section: Import video, Import pictures, or Import audio or music. Or you can choose “Import” from the File menu. Either way, the Import File dialog will appear. - Use the dialog to browse for the file to import. Rename it if desired, then click Import. - If you are importing video, the file will be imported into it’s own Collection in the Collections pane (View > Collections). An audio or picture file, meanwhile, will be imported into whichever collection was selected in the Collections pane when the import operation was initiated. - After import, the newly-imported file will be selected in the Content pane (just to the right of the Collections pane), and its contents (still image or first frame of video) will appear in the monitor pane (far right of Windows Movie Maker window). To play a selected video or audio file, press the Play button at the bottom left of the monitor pane. • Capture video directly: - Make sure that the video source (camcorder or VCR) is physically connected to your computer’s video capture device (FireWire port or analog video input). The following illustration shows a typical connection from a DV camera to a computer’s FireWire (IEEE 1394) port: The following illustration shows a typical connection from a VCR to a computer’s analog audio and video inputs: 5 • For further information on connecting the source to the computer, refer to the documentation that came with the source device and the capture device or computer. - If the Task Pane is visible in the Windows Movie Maker interface (View > Task Pane), you can select Capture from video device from the Capture Video section. Or you can choose File > Capture Video. Either way, the Video Capture Wizard will appear. - The first page of the Wizard is Video Capture Device. (If a single DV device connected to a FireWire port is the only video capture device found by the computer, the Wizard will skip this page.) Select the video capture device and check the audio and video settings. (For greater control over camera and video settings, click the Configure button). - Click Next to advance to the Captured Video File page, and set the name and location of the new video file. - Advance to the Video Setting page. Choose the Best quality for playback from my computer (recommended) option. - Click Next and you’ll be at the Capture Video page, ready to capture your video. If you’d like your video automatically broken up into smaller clips, click the Create clips when wizard finishes check box. Cue the video source to the start of the scene you wish to capture, then click the Start Capture button. Click Stop Capture when you wish to end the recording. Repeat the process to capture other scenes. - To end the capture session, click Finish. The captured video will appear in the Collections, Content, and monitor panes as described in the file import section above. For further information on getting video, audio, and pictures onto your computer for editing in Windows Movie Maker: • in the Windows Movie Maker online help (Help > Help Topics), look for the following sections on the Contents tab: - Capturing Video - Importing existing digital media files - Organizing collections and clips • on the Windows Movie Maker Web site: - Connecting Your Camera to Your Computer (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/getstarted/cameratopc.asp) - Download Video to Your Computer (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/moviemaker/getstarted/downloadvideo.asp) [top] 6 Use your source media to create movies in Windows Movie Maker With your source media imported or captured into your project’s Collections folder, you’re ready to start editing together a movie in Windows Movie Maker. A movie is essentially a series of one or more clips joined together with transitions such as crossfades or page turns. The clips may be video or pictures, either of which may be accompanied by audio (dialog, music or sound effects). Windows Movie Maker also lets you add titles (static or animated text) before, during, or after the main body of a movie, and to add a variety of effects to your video clips to change their appearance. In this section, we’ll look at some of the commonly-used features Windows Movie Maker offers to pull the pieces together into a finished movie. The topics covered here include: • • • • • • • Project views: storyboard and timeline Modifying clips Working with transitions Adding effects to clips Adding titles and credits to a movie Working with audio Outputting your finished movie Project views: storyboard and timeline Windows Movie Maker offers two complementary views of a project in progress: the storyboard and the timeline. You can toggle between the two views at any time; they appear alternately in a pane that stretches horizontally along the bottom of the Windows Movie Maker window. Each view is optimized to help you accomplish certain aspects of the editing process. • The storyboard... - displays the project as a series of “thumbnails” (small pictures) in sequence, each representing a clip; - allows you to drag in clips, transitions, and effects from the Content pane; - shows the transition (if any) between each consecutive pair of clips; - shows the effects (if any) applied to each clip; - allows you to reorder clips and transitions already in the storyboard. 7 The following image shows a storyboard with transitions between clips 1-2 and 3-4, with effects shown in the lower left corner of clips 2 and 3: • The timeline... - displays the project as a series of clips in sequence against a timeline (in hours:minutes:seconds.hundreths) that shows their durations; - shows other components of the project (transitions, audio for video, audio/music, title overlays) as “tracks” paralleling the main video/picture track (the timeline must be expanded to see the transition and audio-fromvideo tracks); - shows the overlap (if any) between each consecutive pair of clips, which defines the duration of transitions - allows you to adjust the duration of transitions by dragging clips along the timeline; - allows you to set start and end trim points to control what portion of a clip actually appears in the movie; - allows you to drag in clips, transitions, and effects from the Content pane. The following image shows the same project as in the storyboard above, but in timeline view, with the 2nd clip selected: For further information on timeline display options and working with material in the timeline, look for the “About the timeline” section on the Contents tab in the Windows Movie Maker online help (Help > Help Topics). 8 Modifying clips You don’t have to use a clip exactly as it was imported or captured into your project. Windows Movie Maker includes several operations that let you modify the duration of a clip to suit your movie: • Trim: - Trimming the start of a clip means that the portion of the clip that actually appears in the finished movie does not start with the first frame of the imported or captured video. Trimming the end means that the portion of the clip that appears in the movie will end before the last frame of the imported or captured video. - Trimming does not affect the imported or captured video source. You can clear a clip’s trim points at any time to return the clip to its original length. - A clip in the timeline is trimmed by selecting it (click), moving the cursor over the boundaries of the clip, and then dragging left or right when the red trim arrows appear. • Split: - You can split a video clip to use portions of it in different parts of your movie or to insert a picture or video transition at any desired point. - Play the clip in the monitor window by selecting it on the timeline or in the Contents pane and clicking the Play button in the monitor control panel (or by pressing the Space bar on the computer keyboard). Pause the movie when it is near the desired split point. If needed, adjust your location with the Previous Frame and Next Frame buttons. At the right spot, click the Split button (second from right in the monitor control panel), or choose Clip > Split (Ctrl+L). • Combine: - You can combine multiple clips into one clip to make it easier to work with as a complete segment of video. The clips you combine must be contiguous, meaning that the end time of one clip is the same as the start time of the next clip. (Contiguous clips occur when the Create clips when wizard finishes check box is checked during video capture with Windows Movie Maker.) - In the either the Contents pane or the storyboard/timeline, shift-click to select the range of contiguous clips that you’d like to combine into a single clip. Then choose Clip > Combine (Ctrl + M). Working with transitions Transitions define the way each clip (video, picture, or title) leads into the next. If a transition is used between two clips, the incoming clip will begin before the outgoing clip is finished. The type of transition will determine what is seen as the first clip’s image is replaced with the other clip during this overlap. 9 Windows Movie Maker offers a big array of transitions, ranging from straightforward cross-fades, wipes, and dissolves to more elaborate page-turns, shatters, and shapes. These transitions are located in the Transitions folder in the Collections pane. When the folder is selected, the available transitions are shown in the Contents pane. The following are some common transition-related operations: • Preview: - To preview a transition in the monitor, select it in the Contents pane, then press Play. • Set the default duration: - Choose Tools > Options... to open the Options dialog. In the Default durations section on the Advanced tab, set Transition duration, which will apply to all transitions added to the movie from then on. • Add to storyboard: - Drag the transition from the Contents pane into the transition box between the two clips between which you want the transition applied. • Add/adjust in timeline: - Drag the transition from the Contents pane into the timeline. As you move the cursor over boundaries between clips in the timeline, a vertical blue line will appear linking the video and transition tracks. Drop the transition at the boundary of the clips between which you want it applied. - To adjust the duration of the transition, the timeline must be in expanded view (transition track visible). Select the transition, then move the cursor over its starting boundary so that the red trim arrows appear. Drag left to increase the duration, or right to decrease it. 10 Adding effects to clips Windows Movie Maker offers a wide range of effects that you can apply to change the appearance of clips (effects do not affect the imported or captured video source; you can clear a clip’s effects at any time to return the clip to its original appearance): • Fade In/Out: - A fade either brings the display of the clip in from black over time or fades it out over time to black. - In the storyboard/timeline, select (click) the clip you’d like to fade in or out, then choose Clip > Video > Fade In or Clip > Video > Fade Out (or right-click the clip and choose Fade In or Fade Out from the popup menu). • Other effects: - The Video Effects folder in the Collections pane contains a wide range of video effects — from Blur to Watercolor — that can be applied to the entire duration of a clip (video, picture, or title). When the folder is selected in the Collections pane, the available effects are shown in the Contents pane. - To preview an effect in the monitor, select it in the Contents pane, then click the Play button. - To add an effect to a clip, drag the effect onto the clip the storyboard/timeline. The effect icon at the lower left corner of the thumbnail (storyboard view) will change from gray to blue. - Multiple effects may be applied to the same clip. To change a clip’s effects and the order in which they are applied (which affects the actual appearance of the effects during playback), select the clip in the storyboard/timeline, then choose Clip > Video > Video Effects to open the Add or Remove Video Effects dialog (or right-click the clip and choose Video Effects... from the popup menu). 11 Adding titles and credits to a movie Titles and credits are text-based information that you can add at the start or end of your movie, and also overlay (superimpose) during clips. The basic procedure for adding titles is as follows: • Open the title pane: - Choose Tools > Titles and Credits... to open the pane. • Specify a title location: - beginning of movie; - before during or after the selected clip; - end of movie (credits). • Enter the text. • Define the font and color: - Click on Change the font text and color, then choose the font from the dropdown menu, and select Bold, Italic, or Underline if desired. - Choose the desired color and transparency (0% = opaque; 100% = invisible). - Choose the text size and position (alignment). • Specify animation: - Click on Change the title animation to see the list of animation styles for oneline titles, two-line titles, and credits. Click on any animation style in the list to see it previewed in the monitor. For no animation (text appears with no motion or fade), choose Basic Title. • Click Done. - The title will be added at the specified location in the movie. Working with audio Windows Movie Maker categorizes a project’s audio into two basic types: • Audio (audio for video) is sound — usually recorded at the time the video was shot — that accompanies video clips that have been captured or imported into Windows Movie Maker. • Audio/Music is sound such as music or narration that you add in Windows Movie Maker. The following are some common audio-related operations: • Record narration: - Open the Narrate Timeline pane: click on the Narrate Timeline button (microphone icon at upper left of storyboard/timeline pane) or choose Tools > Narrate Timeline... - Click on Show more options, then set the audio device (if more than one audio capture device is available) and the audio input source (typically microphone). If you are recording narration with a microphone, you may need to check the Mute speakers checkbox to avoid feedback. 12 - Test your input level by speaking at about the same volume you will speak at when narrating. In the wizard, adjust the input level fader so that the input level meter shows mostly bright green, with the horizontal blue levelbar near (but not at) the top of the meter during the loudest passages. - Use the monitor pane controls to navigate to the point in the timeline where you would like to start recording narration. - If the Audio/Music track already contains audio clips, and you do not want the newly recorded material to move those existing clips in the timeline, check the Limit narration to available free space checkbox. The time available indicator will appear, showing the maximum duration of the audio segment that you can add in this location. - Click the Start Narration button. The project will begin playing. Start your narration. - To stop recording, click the Stop Narration button. A Save Windows Media File dialog will appear. Enter a name and location for the newly-created audio clip. - When the dialog is closed, the new audio clip will automatically be imported into the project (in the current collection) and appear in the timeline starting at the point where the recording was started. You can record additional narration or click Close to exit the wizard. • Add and position music: - Import the desired music into the project (see Bringing media into Windows Movie Maker in the Capture source media (video, audio, and pictures) to your computer section above). - Drag the music clip from the Contents pane onto a thumbnail in the storyboard, or into the Audio/Music track of the timeline at the desired point. 13 - To reposition the music clip, drag it in the timeline. - To change the clip’s duration, trim it in the timeline (move the cursor to the boundary at the start or end of the clip; when the red trim arrows appear, drag left or right). • Adjust clip volumes and fades: - In the timeline, select (click) a clip in the Audio or Audio/Music track. - To adjust the clip’s playback volume, choose Clip > Audio > Volume (Ctrl+U), or right-click the clip and choose Volume from the popup menu. - To set a fade, choose Clip > Audio > Fade In or Clip > Audio > Fade Out, or right-click the clip and choose Fade In or Fade Out from the popup menu. The clip will fade in from or out to silence. - To mute the clip, choose Clip > Audio > Mute, or right-click the clip and choose Mute from the popup menu. • Balance the Audio and Audio/Music tracks: - Choose Tools > Audio Levels to open the audio levels dialog. Move the slider left to give greater relative weight to the movie’s Audio for video track, and right to give greater relative weight to the Audio/Music track. - The balance set between the tracks applies across the entire duration of the movie. Outputting your finished movie Once you’ve got your movie edited just the way you want it to play back, you’re ready to output it so that you can bring it into MyDVD: • Open the Save Movie wizard: - Choose File > Save Movie File (Ctrl+P). The Save Movie wizard opens with the Movie Location page. • Choose the type of save operation: - Select My computer from the list of movie location options, then advance to the Saved Movie File page. • Specify the file name and destination folder. - After entering the information, advance to the Movie Setting page. • Specify the movie setting: - Choose Best quality for playback on my computer, then advance to the Saving Movie page. - Windows Movie Maker will automatically begin processing the project into a movie file. A progress bar will indicate the estimated amount of time required to complete the movie. • Finish the save: - When movie processing is complete, the wizard advances to the Completing the Save Movie Wizard page, which confirms that the save was successful. The movie file will be available in the specified location. Click Finish to close the wizard. [top] 14 Build a MyDVD project with your Windows Movie Maker movies Now that we’ve learned how to use Windows Movie Maker to capture and edit video into a finished movie, we’re ready look at how to transform movies into DVDs using MyDVD. Creating a new DVD or VCD project The process starts with creating a new MyDVD project, which brings together all the video, audio, and pictures that will go onto a DVD or VCD disc. Since we’re dealing with video that already resides on your system’s hard-drive, we’ll be authoring a DVD rather than using MyDVD’s Direct-to-DVD feature, which lets you capture to DVD directly from a video source such as a camcorder or VCR. There are several ways to start a new project, depending on whether or not MyDVD is already running on your computer. • If MyDVD is not already running: - Launch MyDVD from Window’s Start menu by choosing Programs > Sonic > MyDVD > Create DVD. • If MyDVD is already running: - Click on the New Project icon, which appears in the toolbar at the top of the MyDVD window. From the drop-down list, choose New DVD Project. ...or... - Choose File > New > DVD Project. - NOTE: If you are already working on a project with unsaved changes, MyDVD will ask if you want to save the changes. Click Yes to save the current project, click No to close the project without saving the changes, or click Cancel to stop creating the new project. Once the new project is started, MyDVD's main window will appear, displaying a menu background. This is the "Title" (or "Home") menu, which will appear automatically when the disc is inserted into a player. 15 MyDVD's main window gives you convenient access to all the main functions you’ll need when creating a MyDVD project: • Project playback area — this is the main area where you work on menus and see the project played back. • Toolbar — above the project playback area, you’ll find buttons allowing you to start a New project, or to Open or Save an existing one, as well as to Edit a style (see below) and to open MyDVD’s extensive online Help. • Task icons — to the left of the project playback area, there are icons for several of the main project creation tasks in MyDVD: Capture, Get Movies, Add Slideshow, and Add Sub-menu. • Playback controls — functioning like the keys on a DVD player remote control, these buttons allow you to preview your project in its current state at any time. For further information of the main window, see MyDVD’s Main Window in the MyDVD’s windows section of MyDVD’s online Help (Help > MyDVD Help). 16 With the main window open, you’re ready to begin defining your project, including: • Adding video clips • Creating menus • Customizing menus Adding video clips Video clips are generally the heart of a DVD project. When you add video clips to a project, MyDVD builds the project around your clips, automatically adding buttons on your menus that link directly to your video. MyDVD gives you several ways to add your Windows Movie Maker movie files to a project: • Drag and drop: - Drag video files from the desktop or from Windows Explorer onto the current menu in the main MyDVD window. • The Add Movies to Menu window: - Click the Get Movies icon at the left of the main window, choose Tools > Get Movies, or press Ctrl+G. The Add Movies to Menu dialog appears and shows the contents of the "My Videos" folder, which is the default folder where MyDVD stores captured clips and Windows Movie Maker stores movies. - If the movies you made in Windows Movie Maker are stored in a different folder, locate the movies by navigating to that folder. - Select your Windows Movie Maker movie files that you wish to import into the project. - Click Open to import the files and close the dialog. For each Windows Movie Maker movie you add, MyDVD creates a single button linking to the imported clip from the current menu. The clip's file name is used to create the button label. MyDVD also calculates size of the clip and updates 17 the disc space indicator at the lower left of the main window. Once a movie is added to a project, you have further options for how it will actually be presented in your DVD: • Trim video — Double-clicking a clip’s button will open a Trimming window allowing you to define a portion the clip to appear in the DVD rather than the entire clip (see Trimming Video Clips in the Authoring DVDs and VCDs section of MyDVD’s online Help). • Add or replace soundtrack — Drag an audio file from the desktop or Windows Explorer onto the button for the movie whose soundtrack you want to change (see Adding and replacing audio in the Authoring DVDs and VCDs section of MyDVD’s online Help). Creating menus In addition to its main (“Title”) menu, a project may involve additional submenus, which may be created either automatically or manually. To give you greater control over your DVD’s navigation, you can add sub-menus manually by simply clicking on the Add Sub-menu icon. The newly-created submenu may be given a new and different title from that of the menu that is current when the new sub-menu is created. When you create a sub-menu, MyDVD adds buttons to both the current menu and the new sub-menu to make it possible to navigate between them (when MyDVD is not in preview mode, these buttons function by double-clicking): • Home — a special navigation button that will be added to any menu other than the project’s main menu; links directly to the main menu. • Return — a special navigation button that will be added to each newly- created sub-menu; links back to the menu that was current when the new sub-menu was created. 18 • Sub-menu button — a regular button (placed and functions like a video clip button) added to the menu that is current when a sub-menu is created; links to the newly-created sub-menu. To keep menus from getting too crowded, MyDVD also adds sub-menus automatically. Automatic sub-menu creation is triggered whenever importing a video clip or adding a sub-menu would increase the number of buttons on an existing menu to more than six. The newly-created sub-menu is an extension of the existing menu onto an additional “page” (screen), and will have the same title as the menu that was current when it was created. When MyDVD automatically creates a sub-menu, it adds the following buttons to the project: • Home — a special navigation button added to any menu other than the project’s main (“Title”) menu; links directly to the main menu. • Previous — a special navigation button added to each newly-created sub- menu; links back to the menu that was current when the new sub-menu was created. • Next — a special navigation button added to the menu that is current when a sub-menu is created; links to the newly-created sub-menu. Customizing menus MyDVD makes it easy to get your menus looking (and sounding) the way you want. Starting with a big range of attractive, ready-made presets, you can not only customize the overall “look and feel” of your project, but also modify individual menus. MyDVD comes with a variety of menu templates called “styles.” Each style includes a background image or video, a design for the menu’s buttons, default text for menu titles and button labels, and an optional audio track. Every menu in a given project uses the same style. You can change a project's menu style at any time, and you can also customize an existing style and then save the custom style for use in other projects. To change the menu style: • Open the Edit Style window - Click Edit Style or choose Tools > Edit Style or press Ctrl+L. The Edit Style window appears. 19 • View the available styles - A drop-down list in the upper left corner of the Edit Styles window shows the current style pack (set of available styles). If more than one style pack is installed on your computer, you may click on the list to choose a different style pack. MyDVD's built-in styles are contained in the Default Styles style pack and your customized styles are contained in the Custom style pack. (You can expand the range of ready-made styles available for your projects by purchasing more style packs from the MyDVD Web site. Choose Help > Store > Purchase Styles and follow the instructions that appear in your Web browser.) - A scrollable list of thumbnails at the left of the Edit Styles window shows all the styles in the current style pack. - Click on a style from the list. An example of the selected style will appear in the preview area (top center of the window). • Customize a style - If you wish, you can customize the selected style by changing the default size and typeface for text. You can also add a video or still background, change the appearance of the frame around buttons, or add an audio soundtrack. For details, see Editing the menu style in the Editing Menus section of MyDVD’s online help (Help > MyDVD Help). 20 • Choose a style - Click OK to chose the current style (including any modifications you have made) and exit the Edit Style window. To further personalize your project beyond the characteristics of a given style, MyDVD also lets you define the visual and audio background of each individual menu. For further information, see Customizing individual menus in the Editing Menus section of MyDVD’s online help (Help > MyDVD Help). [top] Burn your MyDVD project to disc Once you’ve got your Windows Movie Maker movies imported into MyDVD, and the appearance and navigation of your menus defined, it’s time to get your MyDVD project onto DVD so you can share it with friends and family. With MyDVD, you can burn the project directly to disc, or you can first create a DVD volume on your hard-disk that you can burn to DVD later (see Creating a DVD or VCD volume folder in the Creating Discs section of MyDVD’s online help). Either way, first be sure to save your work (File > Save or Ctrl+S). To burn your project directly to DVD: • Insert a disc in the recorder. If you are not sure which type or types of recordable/rewritable disc to use (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, etc), refer to the documentation that came with your computer or DVD drive. • Click the Burn button at the lower right of MyDVD’s main window, or choose Tools > Burn DVD... (Ctrl+D). The Make Disc Setup dialog appears. • Review the disc recording options, and make changes as necessary regarding how your computer is equipped: - If there is more than one recorder connected to the PC, choose the correct recorder from the Device list 21 • - If you want to make more than one disc, enter the desired number of Copies (up to 99). After writing each copy, MyDVD will prompt you to insert the next blank disc. • Click OK. MyDVD then processes the video and audio files in the project and records the disc. When MyDVD finishes, it ejects the disc. Congratulations! You’ve learned how Windows Movie Maker and MyDVD work together to get your video onto DVD quickly and easily with high-quality, professional-looking results. You should also know that all discs created with MyDVD are "OpenDVD™compliant," which means that you can “re-open” them later and make changes such as updating video clips, changing text or spellings on menus, or choosing a different menu style. And you can do all this without having access to the original video and picture you used when creating the disc the first time around. Just open the disc as a project in MyDVD (File > Edit DVD/VCD) or other Sonic DVD solution such as DVD Producer, and start editing. And if you are working from a rewritable DVD, you can even write your changes back to the same disc (see Editing an OpenDVD disc in the Editing Discs section of MyDVD’s online help). OpenDVD is just one more reason that MyDVD makes the most powerful DVD partner for Windows Movie Maker. [top] 22