Feel like experimenting? Taken advantage of the iDVD Themes in a different way, this is a simple work-around very basic but fun and if you use Snapz Pro X for your screenshots then why don’t you try the Movie capture option, this option can give you some very cool results, it is fast and easy to use.
I only used a couple of Themes but in iDVD you have so many to choose from…try experimenting and you find there are a lot of cool things you can do. The Titles are: The Commercial - Our Marine Life - Tropical destination
Please note: You might have to refresh your Browser to see the new Video Clips. Click the link or the image below and View the three (3) 15 and 30 sec. Clips., or go to Music/Video Podcast

© Gunther Deichmann - Composite, Mumbai India April 2008

How to do it…open iDVD choose a Theme go to your Media Browser and here you have your Aperture 2 library.
Pick a couple of images drop them into your iDVD Theme and you almost there, if you using Snapz Pro X choose the Movie option and record your iDVD theme.
Make sure you have the Drop Boxes enabled otherwise they become part of your recording.
The rest is pretty much automatic, once Snapz Pro X has finished the recording (depends on the lengths of the clip) it prepared also a QT file for you, I usually save them on my desktop easy to find later. (This file can be from 50MB plus in size)
The only thing left to do is drag the Movie clip into iMovie open your Media Browser for the Music and pick anything you have created on to the timeline.
Fine-tune and make your soundtrack fit, add a fade in and fade out, or what ever you like (lots to choose from) now you can export everything to many different file formats.
You have different options for exporting your Movie file, there is also Share available. If you have Quick Time Pro even better there you have all the conversions you ever going to need, plus you can do some editing too, but you have to have QT Pro.
How long does this take…not very long at all, I guess the hardest part is the Music, which I created from scratch in GarageBand, but since I had already a good selection of soundtracks the whole operation took only one hour for all three clips.
Of course you can create more than one recording/clip with Snaps Pro X and join them together later in iMovie creating a short presentation or demo, great for the web.
PS. I kept these files very small for easy viewing on the web, however you can leave them in their original size that is good enough for your desktop and TV.
GD

Tags: Snapz Pro X, Video, Apple Mac, iDVD, Quick Time, Capture, Tips, Web , Photo Composite, iMovie

Yes, what about iWorks’08 and Aperture 2.1…remember my recent
article how useful iLife’08 can be…lets see how we go with Keynote’08
for starters…
See below a small presentation created for this article, how long did this take? About half an hour…uploading usually takes a lot longer and depends on your connection.

QUICK TIME MOVIE the Colors of Mumbai

Say, your on the road shooting a resort and your client requests a presentation the day before you leave…launch Keynote, without any doubt my personal favor, pick a Theme from the Theme menu, go to your Media Browser select the images direct from the Aperture 2 Library (iPhoto is also there) add text, some animation and your almost done.
But if you really like to impress your client…go back to your Media Browser and choose some Music, I always have some sound tracks prepared in iTunes, multiple tracks of 30 sec., 45 sec., and 2 min. or create your own in GarageBand.

Now you add the sound track and you have a great show in a few minutes, but it gets a lot better…Keynote gives you some amazing export options,
like Send to: iDVD, iPhoto, iWeb, iTunes, GarageBand and direct to You Tube, yes you have heard right… to You Tube direct.

But Keynote doesn’t stop here, see the screenshots below for all the option you have on the Export Panel and a lot more in Quick Time (QT Pro is required for all the options) I just love Keynote for my presentations, the Web or sending a quick preview to clients via mail.
If that is not integration then I don’t know what is!

Export Panel...

Oh I almost forgot…the Built-in voiceover recording (very cool) and Import from and export to Microsoft PowerPoint and other formats.
You might notice I have not left Keynote, it is the perfect integration on the Mac which makes all of this possible.

In short, you work with Aperture 2, edit your images, make the necessary corrections and impress your friends and clients with a cool Keynote presentation.

Direct to You Tube...

How do I use Pages’08… very simple, start with one of over 100 templates to write letters, reports, business forms, and more. Create newsletters, brochures, flyers and posters with ease. Create a simple layout in Pages using the Media Browser to access your Aperture and iPhoto Library.

Dont underestimate Numbers’08 in iWorks’08 it is an innovative spreadsheet application great for your invoices or other related forms such as travel planners plus a lot more. If you need some images for your Numbers then go to your Media Browser, Aperture 2 and iPhoto is right there.

But my favorite is Keynote’08 an amazing and easy to use application, don’t know what I would do with out it…I just love it and my clients too; Keynote’08 alone is worth every penny spent on iWorks’08.
GD

For the latest images visit Gunther Deichmann's website @ http://www.deichmann-photo.com/newimages.html

Tags: iWorks'08, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, Quick Time, Workflow