Unlocking iMovie: Update

Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts

iMovie '11 Announced!

Posted by Aaron at 10:31 AM | Labels: iMovie '11, Update

Apple's iMovie team has been hard at work! iMovie '11, available today, has some really nice new features. My three favorites, in order:

New audio editing tools. It took some time, but it looks well worth the wait. The audio editing tools look easy to use but also seem to get out of the way when you don't need them. And audio effects that make my kids sound like Darth Vadar? Can't wait.
People finder. If it works as advertised, it will some projects, like birthday tribute videos for my kids, that much easier. I love Faces in iPhoto.
One-step effects. I've used the flash and hold effect a lot on past projects. I'm so excited to be able to do it seamlessly with one click.

Of course, there's still the movie trailers, new themes, and all kinds of new publishing options. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

iMovie Software Update Out: Version 8.0.5

Posted by Aaron at 3:22 PM | Labels: Update

A new version of iMovie hit your Software Update recently, this one being version 8.0.5. According to Apple:

This update improves compatibility with a number of devices and fixes other minor issues, including:

* Improved compatibility with camcorders using the iFrame video format
* Improved compatibility with importing video captured on the iPod nano
* Fixed problems with resizing the iMovie window during playback
The update is recommended for all users of iMovie ’09.

The update is only 36.9MB, so it's a pretty small one. As always, tell us about your experiences in the comments!

iMovie v.8.0.3: More than meets the eye

Posted by Aaron at 3:41 PM | Labels: Update

We all know how secretive Apple is about unreleased products, but it's especially striking how quiet they can be with released products. As noted by myself, and others, iMovie updates often have a lot more to them than Apple lets on.

Since the update went out yesterday, I've learned about a huge new list of fixes and features in this version. Here is the detailed rundown:

Ken Burns now works with video clips.
How cool is this? Instead of simply zooming in on part of a clip, you can now dynamically pan and zoom within a clip while it plays. Of course, because of the way the feature works, you can only move the effect in one direction within a clip. If you want to move in then out, just split the clip into two pieces and apply a different Ken Burns effect on the second bit. Whatever you do with it, this will make your pans and zooms look like you did them with professional film equipment. Here's a little sample.

Manual audio fades can now last up to 5 seconds long.
This is a huge deal because the previous limit was only two seconds.

Editing to the beat works with automatic transitions.
Again, a really big deal. Because of the way beat markers worked (a.k.a. didn't work) with transitions, editing a project to the beat meant you had to either go without transitions or spend forever adjusting your timings. Now iMovie can add automatic transitions and keep the cuts to the beat. Because of the way that transitions shorten clips, if you plan on removing automatically added transitions, keep an eye on the effect it has on your cut timings.

One other oddity about this feature is that with automatic transitions turned on, selecting too much footage will cause iMovie to skip over beat markers. It appears that you need to be sure to select less footage than there is time between beats. This is not the case with automatic transitions turned off. In that case, any size selection will downsize to the next beat marker.

You can optimize processor-intensive video clips.
Scrubbing video clips in processor-heavy formats like h.264 can really bog down your Mac, defeating the purpose of scrubbing altogether. (Flip HD cameras shoot in just such a format.) Now you can optimize these video clips with a new menu option (File->Optimize Video). Choosing this prompts iMovie to convert the selected clip(s) into Apple Intermediate Codec, which makes for bigger files, but ones that scrub and preview more smoothly. You can optimize either in full quality, preserving HD resolutions, or downgrade optimized clips to Apple's favorite HD alternative, 960x540.

Turning off automatic transitions maintains project duration.
This fixes a bug that otherwise wreaked havoc on your clip timings.

Overall stability and speed have improved.
You'll probably find improvements in theme and map rendering times, playback, and app launching time.

My understanding that other bugs have been squashed like screen sleep messing things up and free space estimates being incorrect. Altogether, this is a very impressive X.x.x update.

iMovie Software Update: Version 8.0.3

Posted by Aaron at 2:40 PM | Labels: Update

Check your Software Update and you'll find a lot of iLife goodies, not least of which is the newest iMovie update. Version 8.0.3 brings a few handy fixes:

* Support for 720p AVCHD Lite cameras and camcorders. (For those of you buying any of the newer cameras that use AVCHD Lite, like the Panasonic Lumix TS1, iMovie will now properly support the format. There had been speed/sync issues before. I was looking into a post on workarounds when this update fixed it.)
* Deleting a beat marker no longer modifies the project duration
* Video Effects palette now uses the correct thumbnail for still images.

As usual, please let us know in the comments if you notice any other performance or feature changes with this update.

iMovie Software Update: Version 8.0.2

Posted by Aaron at 4:11 PM | Labels: Update

If you haven't seen it already, check your Software Update (found in the Apple menu at the top left). iMovie's been updated to version 8.0.2. Apple tells us:

This Software Update fixes an issue with projects having a size of 0 KB. Attempting to open these projects would cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly at launch.

This Software Update also addresses a problem where full-screen mode could not be accessed on some systems.

This time, it looks like that's all there is to this update. No hidden features this time.

iMovie Software Update: Version 8.0.1

Posted by Aaron at 8:02 PM | Labels: Update

Apple has updated iMovie '09, and true to form, they are gushing with details about the update:

This update improves overall application stability as well as addressing minor issues related to usability.

For those who are still curious, here are some of the more notable changes:

As you may have noticed in the screen shot, you can now easily export to 720p HD. It works for the Media Browser, the regular Export option, and even YouTube! (This last option became a really big deal when YouTube started supporting HD.)
Related to this, Apple has fixed the interlacing export issue plaguing 1080i footage. It now de-interlaces properly.
You can enter decimal coordinates directly into a travel map, giving a custom name. This replaces the need to create a custom entry in the WorldLocations.txt file. (Step-by-step post coming tomorrow.)

Of course, if you've noticed other changes please take a moment to tell us all about them in the comments.