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Make Chapter Markers For DVD Studio Pro in Final Cut Pro

March 21st, 2007 · 11 Comments

Here is a quick tutorial on how to make chapter markers in Final Cut Pro so they appear in DVD Studio Pro as chapters. 

First thing to do in your finished film or project is to locate where you want to place your chapter markers.  There is no need to place a marker in the beginning of your project, DVD Studio Pro does that for you.  Great placement for chapters would be at each sequence in your project, not at every scene.  Make sure nothing is selected in your project timeline and find the exact time where you want your chapter marker to begin and hit the “m” key.  You will notice on top of the timeline a small green marker.  Hit the “m” key again to open the “Edit Marker” window.  IMPORTANT: If you have any media selected the marker will appear in the media file and the chapter marker will not work, make sure it appears on top of the timeline.  

Name the chapter what you want and click on the “Add Chapter Marker” button.  In the Comment section you’ll notice that it automatically adds <CHAPTER>.  Click OK and your Chapter Marker is set.  Continue this process throughout your project until you are ready to export.

To export your project with chapter markers goto the top menu–>File, select Export and select QuickTime Movie…

Once the save window opens select where you want to save it.  To keep your project organized, I highly suggest you create a New Folder and name the folder Exports under your project folder, before you save it make sure you select Chapter Markers from the drop down menu on the bottom of the screen.  Now go ahead and save it.

It will save all the information where you placed the chapter markers in Final Cut Pro.  Once you import it into DVD Studio Pro and place it into the track the markers will appear exactly where you placed it earlier.  Success.

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Tags: Apple · DVD · Final Cut Pro · Profession · Tips

11 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Bob // May 1, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    Supposing you have several markers (not chapter markers) in the timeline, is there a way to convert all markers in the timeline into chapter markers at once?

  • 2 Andy Coon // May 3, 2008 at 1:27 am

    Hate to say this but there is not an easy way to convert the markers into chapter markers. You have to do each one individually.

  • 3 Valerie Jones // May 10, 2008 at 11:02 pm

    Hey Andy Just wanted to say Hey
    Valerie & Troy
    Take care

  • 4 JB // May 13, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    Will the chapters still work if I have unchecked the box for “make movie self-contained”

    The file size is outrageous and takes forever to export so I usually don’t make my exports self-contained.

  • 5 Andy Coon // May 13, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    JB-

    Go ahead and give it a try. Just a habit with me when I export from FCP. It should retain all information, including the chapter markers. If you make any changes on the timeline you will need to export the changes again.

    Good Luck

  • 6 Jackie // May 29, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    The chapters are not showing up in DVD Studio Pro. Final Cut 6 export a total of three files and two of them will not import into DVD Studio Pro. What can I do to get the chapters to work.

  • 7 Andy Coon // May 29, 2008 at 9:29 pm

    One way to go is to bring the FCP file into Compressor and encode your footage that way. You can use the template settings in compressor then import the encoded file into DVDSP. If you have no idea what I’m talking about please let me know.

  • 8 Bless // Jul 16, 2008 at 7:58 pm

    I had the same issue as Jackie. My reference file imported in dvdsp did not show the chapter markers. Why is that? What will definitely make it work?

  • 9 aphotog // Jul 24, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    I am wondering how to use compressor. It’s hard to find instructions and most demos just say import to compressor, export to dvd studio, but compressor can be confusing. I would like to keep my fcp video uncompressed, then use compressor to get it into dsp . Supossedly the video won’t be as pixilated and grainy this way. Can you help me?

  • 10 serafin // Sep 2, 2008 at 10:27 am

    I compressed the fcp sequence with added chapters directly in compressor, but the chapters didn’t import in dvd studio pro. is there anything i need to change in dsp for it to recognize the chapters?

  • 11 fcpdaily // Mar 8, 2010 at 1:52 pm

    Markers are an awesome way to instantly make chapters in DVD Studio Pro. I compiled a list of commonly used shortcuts for Markers in Final Cut Pro:
    http://fcpdaily.com/2010/03/fcp-shortcut-of-the-week-shortcuts-for-markers-in-final-cut-pro/

    Hope that’s helpful!

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