|
--How
to author a DVD using DVD X Maker
|
This guide will help you author a DVD
using 321 Studio's tool DVD X Maker. This DVD Author program,
it's great. You can do almost everything and you can create
a disc which looks exactly as the hollywood movies you have.
This is no joke!
Unfortunately 321Studios was closed, so this software is no
longer available. For those that have a version in their hands
the guide is here! |
|
|
|
When the program starts the New DVD Project window
comes up. Close it because we have to check some setttings first
that we cannot change after a new project is created.
Then from the menus select Tools -> Default DVD Settings
|
|
Here is the settings window. Change
the Language code and country code as you wish and also set
a Parental Level if you have to :-). I suggest you use All Regions
option. At Video Format select PAL or NTSC according to the
system your television uses. Usually it's PAL for Europe and
NTSC for the USA. Leave the rest options as you see them here
and click OK.
Back to the main window. It's now time for a new project.
Click the new icon in the toolbar or from the menus select
File -> New Project.
|
|
In this dialog select Blank Project and click Open. |
|
Your new project is now loaded. It's time we
load a movie.
From the menu go Project -> Add Movie
At the new window that comes up select the From File tab.
Here ew are going to select the files. The files must be MPEG1
or MPEG2 DVD video files. Click the button the arrow shows
to select the video file you want and the same to select the
audio file (it may be the same file, ex a mpg file that contains
audio.
The program may re-encode some files, and if you have a file
that contains both audio and video you will have to wait for
while so that DVD X Maker joins the video with the audio.
For creating a DVD video file I suggest you use TMPEGEnc
Plus and read our guide here.
|
|
OK back to the guide. When you load the files
you will probably see this screen which shoes that DVD X Maker
is making a GVP file which will be used to join the audio with
the video. Wait for it to finish, it should no take more than
10-15 minutes.
Finally when everything is OK you should see a screen like
the one on your left. Just click Add to import the movie in
your project.
|
|
Now we are going to add an Overture to our DVD.
What is overture? It is the small videos that you see when you
play a commercial DVD, like the copyright warnings and the companies
logo.
Of course you don't have to add an overture to your DVD. We
are just going to show how you can add one, in case you want
to use it.
So here it is: Go Project -> Add Overture from the menu.
Then from the window that comes up you can select the video
you want to add as an overture. You can add one video of yours
using the "From File" tab. Here we are going to add
a ready overture that DVD X Maker includes, so we select MP2
Audio Overture (PAL) from the list and after we click add. That's
it.
You can also add extra material, like video clips etc. Just
go Project -> Add Special Feature (you can see it at the
picture above) and add the video you want.
Now you are back to the main window. Let's see how we can add
some chapters to our movie. |
 |
Chapters are very important because they let
you move forwards and backwards in the movie quickly. Let's
create some. At the Project Workspace window you can see at
the left side of DVD X Maker's main window find and select your
main movie.
Now have a look at the toolbar that comes up below the video
preview window and which part you can see here.
See that button with the two plus signs? (with yellow in
the picture. Click this.
|
This message may come up, click Yes.
In the next window we are going to decide the number of chapters
that we want our movie to have. Generally use a value between
10-20, but you can use even bigger for long movie. I have selected
15 chapter. Then click Auto-Generate.
If everything is OK you should see something like the picture
below after the chapters are created, which means that we are
ready to go at the next step which is...
|
|
... generating some menus! Menus will let us select the chapter
we want to see, or select some of the special features. Of
course you don't have to create menus, so that is another
optional step.
In the next window what you should do is pretty simple. Just
select a theme for your menu and some music in the background
and click OK.
DVD X Maker generates your menus and adds them to your project!
Now we can finally create the CD!
Note: As you should have noticed DVD X Maker can also create
the DVD labels for you! (See the Auto Generate Labels fuction
in the menu above). We are not going to show every single
function of this program here, you are can find them all yourself.
|
|
OK let's create our DVD. Once again we open the
Project menu and we select Build DVD. |
Let's see: we are going to select (1) if you want to keep the
DVD in your hard disk for later burning and not delete after
the burn. With (2) you say to the program to burn the DVD after
the build, use it if you want, but you can also burn the DVD
with another program. Personally I prefer DVD X Maker to do
all the job. (3) Let's you to simulate the burn (will not burn
anything). Use it only if you have problems and you can't find
the problem!
Finally click (4) to start the burn. Wait about 45-90 mins and
your DVD is ready! Well done! Remember to thank us! :-) |
