Section 4.1. iMovie HD: The Application

4.1. iMovie HD: The Application

So far in this book, you've read about nothing but hardware the equipment. In the end, however, the iMovie story is about software, both the footage as it exists on your Mac and the iMovie program itself.

4.1.1. iMovie on a New Mac

If you bought a new Mac since the spring of 2005, iMovie HD is probably already on your hard drive. Open the Macintosh HD icon Applications folder. Inside is the icon for iMovie itself.

If you plan to use iMovie a lot, consider adding its icon to your Dock, if it's not there already. (Just drag its icon there.)

4.1.2. iMovie for an Existing Mac

If your Mac didn't come with iMovie HD, you'll have to buy it as part of the $80 iLife '05 software suite, a DVD containing the latest versions of GarageBand, iMovie, iTunes, iPhoto, and iDVD. (It's available from Apple's Web site, or popular Mac mail-order sites like www.macmall.com and www.macwarehouse.com.)

Apple says that iMovie HD requires a Mac OS X machine (10.3.4 or later) with at least 256 MB of memory; QuickTime 6.5.2 or later; 2 GB of free hard drive space (for all of iLife, or 256 megabytes for just the i-programs), and a screen that can show at least 1024 x 768 pixels. In addition, more memory and a faster processor are always better. (For high-definition video, you need 512 megs of memory and a 1-gigahertz G4 chip or fasterand that's the bare minimum.)

Apple also says that iMovie requires a Mac with FireWire ports, but that part isn't quite true:

• You do need a Mac with FireWire ports if you want to transfer footage from your DV camcorder. Most add-on FireWire cards (for Power Macs and PowerBooks) qualify for this requirement.

• But if you simply want to edit your movies on your Mac, without involving the camcorder, then almost any Mac OS Xcompatible will do. It doesn't have to have FireWire circuitry .

This presumes, of course, that you've got some footage to work on. You can edit still pictures or QuickTime movies (Chapter 9) without even involving a camcorder or FireWire. Or you can work with DV clips that you've copied from a Mac that does have FireWire. Transferring this footage from the FireWire Mac to your non-FireWire Mac is fairly easy once you understand how iMovie organizes its files, as described on page 112.

If you've bought iLife, run its installer and choose which programs you want. When the installer is finished, you'll find an icon called iMovie (not iMovie HD) in your Applications folder.

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Tip: If you've got some previous version of iMovie already on your Mac, the installer automatically upgrades it to the newer version. (iMovie HD can open and edit projects from the older iMovies, too.)If you want to back up your older iMovie copy so that you can return to it if you don't care for the new version, rename your older copy. Call it "iMovie 4," for example. You'll wind up with both programs in your Applications folder: "iMovie 4" and "iMovie" (which is version 5).

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4.1.3. ".0.1" Updates

Like any software company, Apple occasionally releases new versions of iMovie: version 5.0.1, version 5.0.2, and so on. Each free upgrade adds better reliability to the program. In general, they're well worth installing.

You don't have to look far to find them. One day you'll be online, and the Mac's Software Update dialog box will appear, letting you know that a new version is available and offering to install it for you. (You can also download the updates from www.apple.com/imovie.)

When the updater is finished with its installation, your original copy of iMovie, wherever you've been keeping it, will have morphed into the newer version of the program. You'll find it in the same place it was before, but now it has enhancements of the updated version. (One way to find out what version of iMovie you have is to open the program and then choose About iMovie HD.)

This book assumes that you have at least iMovie HD.0.1, which is far more reliable and stable than the 5.0 version was.