MAY 15, 2002
DVD Studio Pro 1.5
Upgrade now OS X native
 by Stephen Schleicher
Page 2 of 2

How to do it. Enhanced chapter marker support in Final Cut Pro 3.0.2*
  1. In the timeline, place the playhead exactly where you want to place a marker.

  2. Hit the M key twice and open the Edit Marker box.


  3. Create a name for the maker.

  4. Click on the Add Chapter Marker button to place the marker in the MPEG-2 stream.

  5. Click OK.

  6. If you need to add additional makers, DVD Studio Pro 1.5 and Final Cut Pro 3, allow for 99 chapters to be added to a project.

  7. Export the finished project. Select Final Cut Pro Movie from the File>Export menu and select MPEG-2 as the export format.

  8. Import the MPEG-2 asset into DVD Studio Pro 1.5, and the chapter markers are automatically embedded.

*Okay, here is the bad news. In order to get this to work, you need to have Final Cut Pro 3.0.2, which isn’t available yet. I’ve been told by Apple that it will be out "any day now".
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So far I have been pointing out some of the benefits of DVD Studio Pro 1.5 that iDVD doesn’t offer, but when it comes to creating motion menus, DVD Studio Pro might want to think about borrowing from it’s little brother. In iDVD if you want to create a motion menu, you simply drag a motion background to the background layer. If you want to have motion video icons, you can add those directly from the clip you are going to link to. iDVD even allows you to set the start frame and length of these motion icons. While iDVD doesn’t allow you to set a specific shape and size it is a very easy way to create a motion menu. In DVD Studio Pro 1.5 you have to create your motion menu in a different application like Final Cut Pro 3. In FCP 3 you would have a layer for the background, which may be a still image created in Adobe Photoshop, or a moving clip. On other layers you would add and shape your motion icons, text, and navigation items. You then have to export this as an independent movie, and use this clip as your motion menu in DVD Studio Pro. While it can take some time to set up and gives the user greater control over the motion menu, it means you have to be very certain of what the menu will be and hope the client doesn’t want to make changes or minor tweaks.

As I mentioned before, I am very impressed with this release of DVD Studio Pro. I only wish that while doing the review I had more complex and demanding projects that could have taken full use of all of the features that DVD Studio Pro offers. I highly recommend DVD Studio Pro 1.5 for those needing to create professional DVDs. Even if you don’t think you have an immediate need, and believe iDVD meets your needs, I say go ahead and invest the $999 now, chances are all you will need is one paid project to offset the cost.

System Requirements
Power Mac 64 with AGP graphics and DVD-R, DVD-RAM, or DVD-ROM drive, Mac OS X version 10.1.3 or Mac 9.2.2 or higher, QuickTime 5.0.5, 128MB of RAM, and 12GB hard drive.

DVD Studio Pro 1.5 is available now from Apple for $999. Registered DVD Studio Pro users can upgrade for $199. Visit www.apple.com/dvdstudiopro for more information.

Click here to find the best prices for DVD Studio Pro from Digital media Shopper.

Stephen Schleicher is the producer for www.digitalanimators.com and www.digitalwebcast.com. When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products he can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at stephens@digitalmedianet.com

Source: Digital Media Online, Inc.
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