# iMovie 3 isn't all i hoped for!!!



## pwharff (Feb 1, 2003)

Man I'm having more problems with iMovie 3 than good things.  Here's my main problems:

CONS:

1. iMovie now FORCES me to use the Ken Burns effect (in the "Photos" section). I'm sure without a doubt that I don't want to use this feature on every photo!!! So I figure, "no problem, I'll just import my photos" and it still does the Ken Burns effect.  I know that I can do this in iDVD now, but I don't have iDVD or a DVD burner.

2. Ken Burns effect is choppy! Is anyone else seeing this?  I've used other plug-ins before this feature came to iMovie and they were not choppy!

3. Some of my 3rd-party plug-ins do not work. I'm sure that the 3rd-party developers will come out with updates (I hope). 

PROS:

1. Scrolling is much better and more responsive.  iMovie overall feels more responsive (G4 466). If you feel iMovie being slow or sluggish, I bet you it's because you have some Ken Burns effects rendering on some photos.

2. Timeline.  WOW, this is greatly improved than before, although it's no FCP! 

3. Intergration. Well intergrated with the other iApps.

Overall, I feel like I want my old iMovie back, but I really do like all the new features.  

What are your feelings?


----------



## pwharff (Feb 1, 2003)

I found out that when you drag photos to the timeline, they do automatically start the Ken Burns effect, however you can stop the rendering of that photo or many by pressing Escape (esc key).  Use with caution, I tried this on 114 photos and then pressed escape and it took 6 minutes for iMovie to respond. It did work quickly with like only 10 photos.


----------



## jove (Feb 1, 2003)

_Overall, I feel like I want my old iMovie back, but I really do like all the new features._ 

Be careful what you wish for. iMovie 2 had sooo many UI and crashing problems.

Cons
* Forced Ken Burns (KBE) on all pictures
* No easy way to start a KBE where the previous one left off.
* Although the sound adjustment is handy, navigating around the still active position arrows is a pain.
* Clip library still fixed 3 by n in size
* Expected more new transitions 
* Some fonts still do not center correctly.
* Still limited font attributes

Pros
* It is more responsive than the old.
* The UI is tighter and easier to navigate.
* You can now import movie files.
* The number of effects and sounds is great.
* The integration makes life easier.
* I haven't had a corrupt thumbnail or crash yet.
* The first-frame-flicker appears to be gone.
* Moveable window

Overall I do NOT want the old iMovie back!


----------



## Decado (Feb 1, 2003)

pwharff wrote:
>2. Ken Burns effect is choppy!

I thought the choppyness of the Ken Burns effect was what made it "Ken Burns".


----------



## pwharff (Feb 1, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Decado _
> *pwharff wrote:
> >2. Ken Burns effect is choppy!
> 
> I thought the choppyness of the Ken Burns effect was what made it "Ken Burns". *



Well if that's true, I don't want to use the effect unless I'm doing a project on some OLD OLD stuff. Has anyone figured out how to get the KBE from not automatically rendering besides using the escape key.


----------



## Trip (Feb 1, 2003)

iMovie sucks for one reason and one reason only: people with resolution 800x600 (like myself) cannot run it, period.

Apple really bites on this one.


----------



## jove (Feb 1, 2003)

Trip,

I ran iMovie on my old clamshell iBook DV up until November when I purchased the Powerbook.

What do you mean you cannot run it?


----------



## jove (Feb 1, 2003)

Oh and the Undo menu item does not say what it is undoing! Bad iMovie.


----------



## pwharff (Feb 4, 2003)

You can see my hint on the topic of KBE and iMovie 3 on Mac OS X Hints website:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20030204065235938

If you look at the comments you can find out how to disable the Auto KBE. Finally, I'm very happy now!


----------



## jove (Feb 4, 2003)

And now that iMovie is a non-modal window, I expected to be able to drag files into the clip panel or story board.

I purchased "Photo to Movie". Great program.


----------



## karavite (Feb 8, 2003)

By jove Jove, you are right on about Photo to Movie - I use it all the time and it is THE Ken Burns effect program. I posted this message on another thread:



> The Ken Burns effect for stills is so so and just doesn't live up to the name! Since Apple blew it, let me tell you about a little $19 app (it was $10 when I got it) that simply blows away anything in iMovie or Final Cut for zooming and panning stills. Photo to Movie (http://lqgraphics.com/software/) lets you easily create pans and/or zooms of any length and save them as Quicktime or DV. It is the first time I have seen someone do this right - it is so easy and if you use the advanced options you have all the power I think anyone could need.
> 
> P.S. Even though I sound like a commercial, I have no affiliation with LQ Graphics - it is simply a great little program that I use all the time to work with stills. I mainly use FCP, but it's own still panning features are simply too much hassle.



Trip, can I ask why you use 800 x 600? The reason I ask is people who have a visual impairment often use 800 x 600 and if iMovie doesn't support it, Apple should really think about this. I'm going to check out my machine at 800 x 600 after I post this.


----------



## jove (Feb 8, 2003)

karavite,

It was your commercial on the other thread that convinced me to try it out. You should get a commission


----------



## karavite (Feb 9, 2003)

> It was your commercial on the other thread that convinced me to try it out. You should get a commission



Nahhh, you keep it!  Seriously though, isn't it a great program? I love these kind of little apps - they do one thing and do it very well. I gripe about spending over $100 for any application, but I always buy the little apps - my Mac is loaded with them. I enjoy supporting the "little guys."


----------



## julguribye (Feb 12, 2003)

My iMovie 3 is soo /&%=(& laggy!!
Everything on the interface lags 

NOT more responsive than before!

When I try to playback my movie it lags every 2 seconds or something.

What can I do about this??


----------



## jove (Feb 12, 2003)

Hello

I was wrong with the drag and drop problem. I noticed if certain item(s) are selected in the story-board you cannot drag a new item down or over. This gets rather annoying when deselecting an item can take several seconds (adjusting the play-head).

julguribye-

I have noticed the lag more and more. I guess I was so pleased to be able to do the processor intensive task of navigating list boxes without lag and quirks!

As far as suggestions, I have none.


----------

