Section 32.3. Starting Up and Importing


32.3. Starting Up and Importing

Trouble getting going? Here's some advice.

32.3.1. "Some stray files were found" Message

This message is, fortunately, going the way of floppy disks; it occurs very rarely in iMovie HD projects. Even so, it may still pop up occasionally when you're opening older iMovie projects. Here's the explanation.

You're never supposed to move, delete, rename, or fiddle with any of the icons in your project folder's Media folder (Section 13.7.1.1). iMovie itself is supposed to manage those clips, behind the scenes.

But if you put a clip into the Media folder yourself a much more difficult proposition in iMovie HDthen the next time you open the project, you get the message shown in Figure 32-1. iMovie doesn't recognize some of the clips it found there, and has moved them to the iMovie HD Trash. It invites you to (a) view the Trash contents, or (b) not.

That's the theory, anyway. In the real world, you'll probably get the "stray files" message from time to time, even when you haven't been anywhere near the Media folder. Sometimes iMovie just gets confused , as may be the case when the program bombs , or when you force quit it.

Figure 32-1. Movie has discovered clips that it doesn't remember being part of your project. Maybe you put them in the project folder (deliberately or not); maybe the clips were always part of the project, but iMovie somehow forgot .


There's no real trouble to shoot here; click the option you prefer and get on with your life.

32.3.2. "Camera not connected"

If you get this message in the Monitor window when you click the Camera button, it probably means one of these things:

  • Your camcorder isn't plugged into the Mac with a FireWire cable.

  • The camcorder isn't turned on.

  • You're using a camcorder whose FireWire circuitry isn't completely compatible with the Macintosh. (Some older JVC camcorderscirca 19992000fall into this category.)

If you get the "Camera not connected" message the very first time you try to connect a new camcorder to your Mac, and you've checked to make sure that the cable is connected properly and the camera is turned on, then you probably need to replace either the camera or the FireWire cable. (The occasional iMovie owner has become frustrated that a new camcorder doesn't work, but upon exchanging it for another of the same model, finds that it works beautifully.)

32.3.3. Import from Camera Stops After 23 Seconds

FileVault, a feature of Mac OS X 10.3 and later, encrypts files in your Home folder so that ne'er-do-wells in the neighborhood can't break in when you're not at your desk. If you save an iMovie HD project into your Home folder, the Mac will try to encrypt the video you're importing from the camcorder in real timeand it can't be done.

Either turn off FileVault, or save your iMovie HD project someplace outside your Home folder.

32.3.4. Dropouts in the Video

A dropout is a glitch in the picture. DV dropouts are always square or rectangular. They may be a blotch of the wrong color , or may be multicolored. They may appear every time you play a particular scene, or may appear at random. In severe circumstances, you may get lots of them, such as when you try to capture video to an old FireWire hard drive that's too slow. Such a configuration may also cause tearing of the video picture.

Fortunately, dropouts are fairly rare in digital video. If you get one, it's probably in one of these three circumstances:

  • You're using a very old cassette. Remember that even DV cassettes don't last forever. You may begin to see dropouts after rerecording the tape 50 times or so.

  • You're playing back a cassette that was recorded in LP (long play) mode. If the cassette was recorded on a different camcorder, dropouts are especially likely.

  • It's time to clean the heads on your camcorderthe electrical components that actually make contact with the tape and, over time, can become dirty. Your local electronics store sells head-cleaning kits for just this purpose.

UP TO SPEED
Nondestructive Editing: Pros and Cons

Two of the most dramatic changes to iMovie HD involve the Trash and something called nondestructive editing: the ability to restore a clip or adjust the way you've chopped it up, even years after making the movie.

But this overhaul has introduced both blessings and cursesand demands a good deal of new understanding.

The good news:

  • You can revert an audio or video clip to its original state at any time, even after you've emptied the project Trash. And even when you shorten or split or crop a clip, iMovie never shortens the original, full-length video file.

  • You can even restore or revert clips you've pasted into another project.

  • You can pull a clip out of the Trash at any time until the Trash is emptied.

  • When you empty the project Trash, you fling the associated video clip into the Mac's Trash (the one in the Finder). That gives you another safety net for recovering something you deleted by accident .

  • You no longer have to worry about corrupting your project when you empty the iMovie Trash, as you did in previous versions.

The bad news:

  • iMovie deletes a full clip only when you delete the last clip that references it. In other words, if you've used 2 seconds of a 45-minute clip in your movie, iMovie doesn't delete the 45-minute clip or give you back the disk space, even if you empty the project Trash. As a result, large files always stay large.

  • Copying and pasting clips between projects can cause projects to balloon in size . That's because, if you copy that 2-second clip from Project A into Project B, iMovie HD copies the entire, 45-minute underlying source file.

In fact, if you copy two clips ("Laughing" and "Laughing/1") that are both derived from the same original clip, iMovie copies the entire underlying 45-minute source file twice. (Unless you copy both at the same time, that is.)

  • When you drag a clip out of iMovie (to the Finder, to iDVD, or anyplace else), iMovie HD copies the entire source file, not just the clip.

To export only the edited clip instead of the full-size original, export the clip instead of dragging it. That is, highlight the clip, choose File Share, turn on "Share selected clips only," click the QuickTime button, and choose Full Quality from the pop-up menu. (If youre really squeezed for disk space, you can also use this trick to make iMovie "let go" of a full-length original file of which you're using only 2 seconds. Export the 2 seconds, then re-import it; use it to replace the one you exported. Now you can delete the original long one.)

  • To recover disk space after emptying the iMovie Trash, you must also empty the Mac Trash.

  • Because Trash-emptying rules are complicated, the Trash window sometimes conveys misleading information. For example, when you choose to delete a clip from the Trash window, you're never told whether or not other clips refer to the same original source file, and therefore, you never know whether or not you'll actually regain any disk space.


If you spot the glitch at the same moment on the tape every time you play it, then the problem is on the tape itself. If it's there during one playback but gone during the next, the problem more likely lies with the heads in your camcorder.


Tip: Different DV tape manufacturers use different lubricants on their tapes. As a result, mixing tapes from different manufacturers on the same camcorder can increase the likelihood of head clogs. It's a good idea, therefore, to stick with tapes from one manufacturer (Sony, Panasonic, or Maxell, for example) when possible.

32.3.5. Banding

Banding in the video picture is a relative of dropouts, but is much less common. Once again, it may stem from dirt on either the tape itself or the heads in your camcorder. Most of the time, banding results when the tape was jammed or crinkled on an earlier journey through your camcorder. Now, as the tape plays, your camcorder heads encounter a creased portion of the tape, and then, until they can find clean information to display, fill the screen with whatever the last usable video information was.

If the problem is with the tape itself, the banding disappears as soon as clean, smooth tape comes into contact with the playback heads. If you get banding when playing different cassettes, however, it's time to clean the heads of your camcorder.

32.3.6. iSight Titles and Transitions Look Wrong

Sometimes iMovie HD imports video from an iSight camera with the wrong image size. The video looks fine in the iMovie window, but when titles and transitions are added to the video, they appear in the upper-left corner of the Monitor window.

Actually, the titles and transitions are OK; it's the iSight video that's the wrong size.

The trick is to choose Window Show Full Size Resolution before you import the video. Then the iSight video should arrive at the proper size.

32.3.7. Widescreen Video Gets Letterboxed

Some camcorders offer a special shooting mode called 16:9 video (that is, widescreen format). When you import this 16:9 video into a DV Widescreen project, iMovie HD sometimes wants to letterbox it, adding horizontal black bands above and below. (The letterboxing begins as soon as you switch from camera mode to edit mode and click a clip.) Since the video is already 16:9, that's probably not what you want iMovie HD to do.

You may be able to avoid this problem by not switching modes. That is, instead of switching to Edit mode, stay in Camera mode; save the project; quit iMovie; and turn off the camera. When you reopen the project, the video will stay 16:9.




iLife 05. The Missing Manual
iLife 05: The Missing Manual
ISBN: 0596100361
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 314
Authors: David Pogue

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