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Apple Updates iMovie 09

Roberto Baldwin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:29:21 -0500

Fire up Software Update, Apple has released a brand-spanking new update for iMovie '09.

The new update has arrived and promises to improve some compatibility issues. This is what Apple has to say about the their latest update:

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.

Woohoo iFrame support. Happy updating everyone.

You can download the update directly from Apple's site here.

iMovie Updated to 8.0.4, Fixes iPhone 3GS Video Issue

Cory Bohon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:19:08 -0500

Apple has just released an update for iMovie, fixing three bugs including one regarding video from the iPhone 3GS. Apple notes that iMovie 8.0.4 "Improves overall stability and fixes a number of other minor issues," including:

-Fixed a problem with incorrect rotation when working with video created by iPhone 3GS

-Resolved instability when adding multiple beat markers in some languages

-Corrected an issue where iMovie could become unresponsive after using fine-tuning controls beyond the stabilized portions of a clip

You can get the iMovie update by opening Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update), or by downloading the installer package from the Apple website.

iPhone - Future Film Editing Studio in the Palm of your Hand?

Christine Chan — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:17:54 -0500

The buzz about the next-gen iPhone hardware seems to be reaching all-time highs, and that's expected with WWDC just a month away. Since Apple released the iPhone 3.0 beta software to developers, people have unveiled hidden video capture features in the software, despite no official announcement from Apple. Now there are rumors going around the Internet that speculate that the 3.0 software will include video editing software as well. Possibly, a pocket version of iMovie.

If the barrage of videos hitting YouTube everyday is any indication, it seems everyone would like to share video online. At the moment, there isn't a simple, mobile way, of doing this yet. As of now, one would have to have a separate device to shoot video with. Then, to add effects and trim down the video, the user would import raw footage into iMovie or some other video editing software. Finally, the last step is publishing the video online to whatever site you choose. This can be tedious process, which is possibly one factor in preventing some users from publishing their videos online.

But what if one could do all of this, from the iPhone?

If Apple does include a video recording feature in the next iPhone OS, why would they simply stop there? Having a mobile iMovie app in the iPhone would break down the hurdles of instant video-uploading gratification. Users would shoot, edit and upload their video in a matter of minutes. All without being tethered to a computer.

With Apple's habit of revolutionizing industries and how users interact with their devices, if anyone could bring a video editing to a mobile device, and make it work, it would be them.

Via BusinessWeek

iMovie '09

Helmut Kobler — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:16:47 -0500

When Apple introduced iMovie ‘08, it created a schism in the Mac video-editing world. On one hand, the new version introduced an entirely new interface that made editing quick, casual movies far easier than before. On the other hand, Apple was so busy implementing this new model that it didn’t have time to reimplement all the features of previous iterations, leaving a lot of iMovie users believing the new version was really a step backward. Now, Apple has updated iMovie for ’09, and this time around, it’s bound to please almost everyone.

iMovie '09 piles on the features without cluttering up its intuitive interface.

For starters, iMovie ‘09 offers most of the features found in previous versions. One of these sorely missed features is Themes, which lets you incorporate snazzy, broadcast-quality motion graphics into your projects (there are six customizable themes to choose from--fewer than previous versions, but more polished). Video effects have returned as well, including effects like Aged Film, Film Grain, Glow, Dream, and Vignette. You can also now speed up, slow down, and freeze-frame your clips, as well as separate audio from video within a clip. More importantly, iMovie now acknowledges the existence of iDVD. iDVD is apparently the black sheep of Apple’s iLife family, but iMovie nonetheless is deigned to let you embed chapter markers into your projects and export projects directly to iDVD.

But not only does iMovie ‘09 finally catch up on features from older editions, it also breaks entirely new ground…lots of new ground, in fact. A prime example is the new image-stabilization feature, which helps take the jitter and bounce out of your handheld shots. Of course, many video cameras today already offer image stabilization, and some models--those using optical stabilization--do a pretty impressive job. But iMovie can help even more.

We tested the feature with a number of shots--for instance, in one test, we walked down a long path while keeping the camera focused straight ahead, and in another test, we stood still while zooming in all the way on a distant object (the zoom magnifies any movement in your hands and arms). For iMovie to work its stabilization magic, it has to analyze y our clips first, which takes time--a 15 second clip took about 5 minutes on a 2.8GHz iMac.

Results weren’t miraculous, but in most cases made an appreciable improvement to our original footage. One downside, however, is that stabilized footage significantly loses sharpness. However, iMovie lets you control the level of stabilization (and by extension sharpness loss) with a slider, and fortunately, you can tweak that setting on the fly. But in general, k eep in mind that what you gain in a steady picture, you lose in resolution.

The Precision Editor lets you quickly and precisely change the start and end frames of two adjoining clips.

Another big addition to iMovie ’09 is the Precision Editor, which lets you fine-tune the precise frame your edited clips begin and end on.

Why the need for such precision? Say you want to cut from a close-up of a batter hitting a ball to a wide shot of the same action, but you need the two shots to end and then begin exactly when the bat makes contact with the ball. In iMovie ’08, this kind of control was possible, but time-consuming. Now, you can roughly edit two clips together in iMovie’s project window, and then open the Precision Editor. Here, you’ll see a magnified view showing the edited and unused frames of the two clips, and can then drag the bar to quickly change both the end and start frames of just one or both of the two clips (Final Cut users know these as Ripple and Roll edits). You can also edit the start and end points of a clip’s audio, letting audio from one clip spillover into the next. If you’re quickly throwing together clips for casual home movies, you may never need the Precision Editor, but if you’re a perfectionist, you’ll definitely appreciate the control.

iMovie also makes it easier to wrangle all the media files you may be keeping on multiple hard drives. A new Consolidate Project feature will copy or move that media to whichever drive your project file is saved on, so all the files related to a project reside on one drive. We wish it offered a few more options for how to copy and move files around, and that it was also more intuitive to use--we actually had to look it up in the Help system, which is rare with Apple software. But we’re glad it’s there.

You can apply multiple effects to a clip--timing effects, filter effects, and images stabilization--via one simple palette.

There are tons more useful new features in iMovie ’09. For instance, you can play a music track, and press the M key to place a marker on every beat of the music. Now, you can drag clips or photos to the music, and iMovie will start each element on a new beat. Another nice touch: If you’re shooting Star Wars fan movies or other special-effects extravaganzas that involve green screen footage, iMovie can key out the green from your shots. There’s also a unique map animation you can customize for travel videos. You can place an animated dot on a major city around the globe, and draw stylized lines between cities as well, creating a nice visual opener when your video moves to a new city.

Apple clearly spent a lot of time on small details in iMovie ’09--making one missing feature all the more strange. It’s not possible to change audio volume within a clip over time (earlier iMovie versions called this Rubberbanding). You can fade audio at the beginning and end of clips, but if you want to raise and lower volume selectively throughout the clip, you have to manually cut it up into small segments, and then give each segment a different volume setting. This is a pretty clunky solution given all the other elegance found under iMovie’s hood. Still, it’s by no means a deal breaker for the vast majority of projects you’re likely to tackle with the app.

20 Helpful iLife '09 Tips and Tricks

Roberto Baldwin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:07:14 -0600

Every year Apple rolls out another version of iLife. While iPhoto and GarageBand got major updates, some apps, like iWeb and iDVD, ended up being nearly forgotten about. Still, with updates come new features to figure out and a navigation that's changed ever so slightly.

We dived right into the new suite and came up with 20 tips and tricks that we hope will help you enjoy all the features the new iLife '09 has to offer.

iPhoto

1. Add geo-tagging info to your uploaded photos - By default, iPhoto doesn't upload photos with location information to online sites. To share your location with the world, open the iPhoto preferences, choose Web and click on "include location information for published photos."

2. See only photos that haven't been imported - If you store images on your iPhone, but want them to be imported into iPhoto, you can show only the photos that need to be imported by checking the "Hide photos already imported box."

3. The more you tag, the smarter iPhoto gets - Find a group of images with a certain person. As you tag the images, iPhoto will learn their face and will eventually ask if if they are the person you're looking for. No word if iPhoto will help you find the droids you are looking for.

4. Multiple people in Faces - You can tag multiple people in a photo. Click on Faces and iPhoto will attempt to find all the faces. You can tag faces already found, then click on "add missing face" to create new face boxes. Adjust the size of the box, click done and add the name.

5. Hide photos - Got photos you want to keep, but they might be NSFW, or you have photos are just cluttering up an event. Use the Hide feature to make those photos disappear without deleting them. Select a photo you want to hide and cick on the red X Hide button. You can show all your hidden photos, select View>Hidden Photos in the menu bar.

6. Zoom in and out - Double left clicking zooms in to the map in iPhoto. Double right clicking zooms out. You can also use the slider in the lower right-hand corner.

7. Use Faces for animals - While not an official feature in iPhoto, we were able to get iPhoto to recognize the differences between two cats and train the app to recognize their faces.

8. Moving Faces on the Corkboard -Be careful when moving faces around on the Corkboard. You can accidentally drop a person onto another person. It will erase your tags you've added to that person. A quick cmd-z will reverse the problem.

9. Change a person's Faces Key Photo - Open a person's images in Faces. Right click on the image you want to be the key photo and choose "Make Key Photo" An easier method, drag your mouse over the key photo in the corkboard view and while the photos are changing, tap the space bar on the photo you would like to be the key photo, violá!

10. Empty the trash - The trash is usually filled with photos you don't want, empty it for more space. Right click and delete those lame photos.

Tips for GarageBand, iMove and iWeb are waiting for you on the next page.

GarageBand

1. Make sure your Mac can hear your Guitar -By default, GarageBand is setup for a guitar to be connected to the program. If you're taking a lesson and need to tune your acoustic guitar, click on Setup>My Input Device> and choose Internal Mic.

2. Screensaver? No problem - If you're concerned about your Screen Saver or Energy Saver preferences messing with your guitar lesson, don't be. GarageBand takes that into account and disables both when you are taking a lesson.

3. Artists got bills to pay - If you plan on purchasing GarageBand so you can be taught by Sting how to play Roxanne, be warned. Artist Lessons will set you back $4.99. It's still cheaper than having Ben Folds show up at your house with a grand piano.

4. Easier Ringtones - GarageBand has ringtone template now. To make a ringtone from an MP3, or unprotected AAC file, choose the oddly named "Example Ringtone" from the iPhone Ringtone selections in the GarageBand splash screen. Delete the jingle Apple has in the time line, click on the media browser and drag your song of choice to the timeline. Adjust the cycle region to your liking, choose Share>Send Ringtone to iTunes from the menu bar and you're ready to rock out with each incoming call.

5. Scoring notes - To write a score with real notes, instead of fumbling around with the keyboard to play virtual instrument, can be a bit confusing at first. Select a virtual instrument track, in the time line cmd-click where you would like to place your notes. Double click on the box you've created an the drawer with the Score Option should appear. Now cmd-click on the score to add notes.

6. Better search - When looking for the perfect song in your iTunes library, the Media Browser helps you narrow you choices down. By clicking on the magnifying glass in the search field you can search by, Artist, Song, Composer, and album.

iMovie

1. Image stabilization takes a long time - Stabilize all your clips when you're done with everything else. That way you can go for a walk or grab quick lunch.

2. Media in other places - Right click the in the Event Library to find videos stored on other drives, or in other parts of your Macs drive.

3. 500 miles and counting - When using the travel globes, try and make the minimum distance at least 500 miles. Anything less looks really lame.

iWeb

1. Facebook notification - Keep your friends in the loop with Facebook notifications that your site has been updated. When you publish your site for the first time after upgrading, you get the option to link your Facebook account.

iLife '09 Video Tour

Roberto Baldwin & Mike DeLano — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:10:37 -0600

The nice folks at the Apple booth gave us a quick run through of iLife '09. They ran us through a few of the new features in GarageBand, iPhoto and iMovie.

The iLife '09 suite will be available at the end of January.

Check out the iLife '09 specs.