Making a DVD with slideshow(s)

This page will introduce the slideshow options in todisc (' tovid disc ') introduced in tovid 0.32.

Sorry, this page is yet to be written as a proper article - any volunteers?

In the meantime here are some excerpts from the manpage:

Slideshows

You can also use todisc to make slideshows.

This can either be a single slideshow, or multiple slideshows on the same menu. (for SVCD only single slideshow is supported). Remember to use -slides rather than -files for passing in the images. Images can be any filetype that imagemagick supports: for example JPEG, PNG, GIF, TGA BMP etc. For a single slideshow do not use -titles: use -menu-title to set the slideshow title.

For a single slideshow the default is an animated menu that transitions from slide to slide. The default transition type is ’crossfade’, which fades each slide into the next and loops back to the first slide at the end. If instead you use -static, then a static ’polaroid stack’ menu of all the slides is created, with a single button for navigating with the enter key. You may have to experiment to find out which DVD remote button advances the slides, on my player it is different for DVD and SVCD. Try the ’next chapter’ (skip ?) button and the play or enter buttons.

If you want to limit the number of slides in the menu to a subset of all files entered with -slides, then use -menu-slide-total INT. Be sure to use a long enough audio file for -bgaudio or set -menu-length so the menu is long enough to support the slides plus transitions.

You can also put multiple slideshows on one menu. To do this, use -slides IMAGES for each slideshow desired. You can even mix videos with slideshows by using -files -slides -titles multiple times.

      Example of a single slideshow with an animated menu with transitions:

      $ todisc -menu-title "Autumn in Toronto" -slides images/*.jpg \
        -menu-slide-total 20 -slide-transition crossfade -bgaudio slideshow.wav \
        -out myslideshow

      Example of multiple slideshows on one menu:

      $ todisc -menu-title "Autumn in Toronto" \
        -slides photos/september/*.jpg \
        -slides photos/october/*.jpg \
        -slides photos/november/*.jpg \
        -tile3x1 -rotate -5 5 -5 -align center \
        -bgaudio background.wav \
        -out myslideshow

      Example of mixed videos and slideshows:

      $ todisc -menu-title "Autumn in Toronto" \
        -files fall_fair.mov \
        -slides  photos/september/*.jpg \
        -files harvest.mpg \
        -slides photos/october/*.jpg \
        -titles "Fall Fair" "September" "Harvest" "October" \
        -background autumn.png \
        -bgaudio bg.mp3 \
        -out myslideshow

      See the other slideshow options in the Slideshow options'
      section of the manpage.

    Slideshow options

      -slides IMAGES
             Use  -slides IMAGES to pass in images for a slideshow.  The 
             default is to make an animated menu of the slides,
             moving from one slide to the next. If you use -static, a 
             ’polaroid stack’ montage is created.  This composites
             the  slides onto the background in ’random’ locations with 
             random rotations.  -slides  IMAGES can be used multiple times
             if you wish to make a menu with multiple slideshows (DVD only).  
                 You can also make a menu of mixed videos and slideshows by using
             -slides IMAGES, and -files VIDEOS multiple times.  For such a
             menu, the number of -titles needs to match the number of -files
             passed in plus the number of slideshows.  (Each  time  you  use
             -slides  counts  as one title.)  To use a transition between the 
             slides, use -slide-transition crossfade|fade.
                  See -slide-transition -menu-slide-total

      -menu-slide-total INT
             Use INT number of the slides that were passed in with -slides to 
             make the animated or static slide menu.   The
             length of the menu is determined by 1) -menu-length NUM if 
             given,  and by 2) the length of the audio from
             -bgaudio.  For submenu slideshows, it is determined by 1) 
             -submenu-length NUM if given,  and by 2) the  length
             of the audio from -submenu-audio FILE(S).

      -submenu-slide-total INT
             This option is the same as -menu-slide-total except that it is 
             for submenu slideshows.

      -slide-transition crossfade|fade [crossfade]
             The type of fade transition between slides in a animated slide 
             menu.  Be sure the menu length is long enough
             to support the 1 second transitions between the slides.  The 
             length is determined by  1) the length of the
             -bgaudio  AUDIO   2)  the  length given with -menu-length NUM.  
             For submenu slideshows, it is determined by 1)
             -submenu-length NUM if given,  and by 2) the length of the audio 
             from -submenu-audio FILE(S).
                  The ’crossfade’ transition fades from one slide to another.  
             The ’fade’ transition fades in and out from  and
             to black.  If you don’t use this option, the default is to use 
             a ’crossfade’ transition.
             See -menu-slide-total , -bgaudio , -menu-length , 
             -submenu-length, and -submenu-audio.

      -slideshow-menu-thumbs FILES
             Use the FILES instead of the 1st image in each slideshow as the 
             thumb that shows on the menu.  This option is
             for multiple slideshows or mixed slideshow/video menus only.

      -slides-to-bin FILES
             FILES will be resized to 640x480 using a ’box’ filter - this 
             is called ’binning’.  It will reduce the  ’signal
             to  noise’ ratio for the image in the animated slide menu.  Use 
             this if you get some unwanted effects for certain images, such
             as pixels shifting in  what should be a static  image.   See also
            -slides-to-blur and -slide-border

      -slides-to-blur FILES
             FILES  will  be  blurred a small amount - which will help on 
             slides that still have noise even after ’binning’
             with -slides-to-bin.  The default blur is 0x0.2 - you can  
             increase this with -slide-blur  ARG.   See also
             -slides-to-bin and -slide-border.

      -slide-blur VALUE or LIST of VALUES [0x0.2]
             The  argument to use for blurring files.  It will be passed to 
             imagemagick: convert -blur ARG.  The format of
             the arg is {radius}x{sigma} and the default is 0x0.2. Using 
             values between 0x0.1 and  0x0.9 is probably the
             best range.   Use a single value for all,  or a list to 
             have a different blur for each file passed with
             -slides-to-blur.  You must pass in -files-to-blur FILES to use 
             this option.  Blurring can help with video ’noise’ problems.  See
             also -slides-to-bin and -slide-border

      -slide-border WIDTH [100]
             Pad the slides with a border for the animated slide menu.  
             The default without using an argument is 100.
             Using this option can also solve some noise/ringing effects if 
             used alone or in conjunction  with  ’binning’
             (-slides-to-bin) or blurring (-slides-to-blur).

      -slide-frame WIDTH [12]
             Frame  the  slides for the animated slideshow menu.  The default 
             width with no argument is 12.  See also -slide-frame-color

      -slide-frame-color | -slide-frame-colour
             The color of the slide frame if passing -slide-frame.   The  
             default  if  you  don’t  use  this  option  is  a
             color-safe white: rgb(235,235,235).

      -showcase-slideshow
             If  doing  multiple slideshows or mixed videos and slideshow(s), 
             then use the animated slideshow as a showcase
             video.  It will be composed of slides from each slideshow in the 
             menu.  The thumb for  each  slideshow  button
             will  be  static.   If you used with a mixed menu of videos and 
             slideshows, then the video thumbs WILL be ani‐
             mated, so you may wish to use -static or -textmenu with the 
             option in that case.

      -background-slideshow
             If doing multiple slideshows or mixed videos and slideshow(s), 
             then use the animated slideshow as a background
             video.  See -showcase-slideshow for additional details.

      -no-confirm-backup
             todisc  is  alpha  software,  so  for  your  protection todisc 
             prompts you to back up your files first.  It is
             unlikely that todisc will destroy or overwrite your photos, but 
             as with  any  largely  untested  software  you should back up
             first.   If  you  have already backed up and do not want to be
             prompted every time, use this option.

      -use-dvd-slideshow CONFIG (FILE)
             If you pass this option without an argument, todisc will use the 
             dvd-slideshow program to create the animated
             slide menu, assuming you have this program installed.   The 
             optional argument is the dvd-slideshow configuration file  - if
             you don’t use this argument todisc will create it for you.  If
             you want  to  use  the ’Ken  Burns  effect’  -  then  the
             configuration file argument is required.  Note: the configuration
             file will override many of the above options for slideshows.