Applying Effects

Editing effects is similar to editing transitions and titles, but the way effects are added to your movie is slightly different. Instead of dragging the effect's name to the Timeline, you use the Effects pane's Apply button.

To apply an effect:

1. Select the clip you want to modify.

2. Select the effect you want to apply, and adjust its settings to your liking.

3. Click the Apply button in the Effects pane. The clip begins rendering with the effect applied. In the Clip Viewer, clips with effects are marked with a checkerboard icon (Figure 13.5).

   Figure 13.5. Clips with effects applied show up in the Clip Viewer with a checkerboard icon.

   

Tips

• You can reverse steps 1 and 2. Sometimes I select a clip first, sometimes I tinker with effects settings without any clip selected.

• Effects cannot be applied to clips on the Shelf. However, you can add an effect to a clip in the Timeline and then drag it to the Shelf for use later.

• To cancel rendering, press Command-period (.) or choose Undo from the Edit menu.

• If you apply some types of effects to a still image, the image needs to be converted to a regular clip. Don't worry, iMovie warns you if this is the case, and gives you the option to cancel (Figure 13.6). (See Chapter 9 for more on using still images.)

  Figure 13.6. Some effects require that still images be converted to regular clips.

  

• After you've applied an effect, you can still add transitions or titles to that clip.

• If you apply multiple effects to a clip, a number next to the effects icon tells you how many there are (Figure 13.7).

  Figure 13.7. The number next to the effects icon indicates how many effects have been applied to the clip.