What's New in iMovie HD iMovieHD (called iMovie 5 in certain dialog boxes and other spots) represents a deep overhaul of the program, one that will challenge the iMovie veteran with a good deal of unlearning and relearning. Big-Ticket Features Here's a summary of the really big improvements in iMovie HD, the ones that Apple either advertises or should: -
HD video. iMovie can now edit high-definition(HDTV)footage, as captured by so-called HDV camcorders. These are semi-professional cameras that record high-definition video onto an ordinary MiniDV tape, with spectacular widescreen results. Now, high-def video consumes three or four times the amount of disk space as regular video, so if you're lucky enough to have access to an HDV camcorder ($2,200 to $3,100), come prepared with lots of empty disk space and some understanding of the real-time conversion tricks described on page 103. -
More formats. That's not the only new kind of video that iMovie HD welcomes . It can also work with MPEG-4 video, which is what you get with those super-mini "palmcorders" from Fisher and Panasonic that record onto memory cards instead of tape. iMovie is also compatible with widescreen (16:9) footage that many recent digital camcorders can capturevideo that's not high-definition, but still looks fantastic on a widescreen TV set. -
Automatic dumping. iMovie offers Magic iMovie: an extremely simple, automated method of importing an entire tape, slapping up an opening title, backing it up with music from your iTunes collection, and adding crossfades between scenesall without any intervention from you. iDVD offers something similar called OneStep DVD, which slurps all of a tape's footage directly onto a blank DVD. Again, your editing options are very limited here, but the whole idea is to get your footage from tape to DVD without any effort on your part. After all, DVDs last longer than tape, cost less, are easier to show on TV, and are easier to send around to other interested parties. -
More draggability. You can now drag individual video clips around in iMovie's timeline vieweven back up to the Clips pane. In fact, you can drag clips clear out of the iMovie window and to the Finder (where they show up as individual clip icons) or into other programs, like iDVD or QuickTime Player. -
Overhauled Trash. The Trash mechanism in iMovie HD is utterly unlike the Trash in any previous version. You can now open it to view, rescue, or delete individual trashed items, just as you can in the Finder. Emptying the Trash no longer means that you can't restore chopped-up clips to their pre-chop conditions. And emptying the Trash in mid-project is no longer an invitation to corrupting your entire movie project. -
Overhauled safety nets . iMovie HD is far more forgiving than previous versions. Its Undo command lets you take back an unlimited number of steps, all the way back to the last saved version of your project, if you like. The new Save As command lets you spin out half-finished variations of a movie, and the Revert to Saved command does what it does in other programs: undoes all work you've done since the last Save command. Finally, you can trim clips, split clips, chop them up, delete pieces of themand recover them at any time, months or years later. There is, alas, a dark side to the new Trash, Undo, and Save features. To provide these generous safety nets, iMovie hangs onto a lot more of the footage you've imported from the camera. iMovie doesn't care that you've deleted 19 out of 20 minutes of a clip and then emptied the Trash; if you've incorporated even a single frame of that clip into your movie, behind the scenes, iMovie holds onto all of those gigabytes. Emptying the Trash, in other words, doesn't restore free space to your hard drive except when you're deleting an entire, untouched clip that you haven't used in the project. Note, furthermore, that you lose your entire Undo trail every time you use the Save command. As a result, hitting  -S is both a step forward and a step backward in project safety. -
Self-contained project icons. In the past, each iMovie movie you worked on took the form of a folder on your hard drive, not a document icon. But iMovie HD sews that folder up into a new, single, double-clickable "document" icon called a package. Here again, the change is a blessing and a curse. The nice part is that having only one icon to deal with makes it so easy to name , copy, move, or back up. Unfortunately, the actual project documentthe text file that records which pieces of footage come whenis now sealed away inside the package icon, where it's no longer recognized by (for example) iDVD. You'll find many more details about this change on page 112. Finer Points Apple's most intriguing enhancements to iMovie HD, though, are the little nips and tucks that lie scattered throughoutfeatures that go unmentioned on the iMovie Web site or on the "What's New" Help page, but taken together, will make a big difference in your movie making career. -
Burn Project to Disc. This new command preserves your entire project on a blank DVD (or a CD, if the project is tiny and short). This is strictly a backup feature, one that creates a safety copy of your entire project so that you can edit it later; the resulting disc doesn't play in a DVD player. -
Copyable clips. You can now copy or cut clips out of one project and paste them into anothera great way to re-use key scenes in other movies. (But note the important caveats on page 478.) -
Playhead pasting. Speaking of copying and pasting: When you paste copied footage, iMovie always deposits it at the location of the Playheadeven if that means splitting an existing clip in half to accommodate the pasted material. -
Effect and transition improvements. Transitions between video clips (like crossfades) can last ten seconds now, up from four. Reverse, slow motion, and fast motion are now listed in the Effects panel, just like all the other effects. (So don't keep scouring the bottom of the Timeline Viewer looking for these controls; they're not there anymore.) You have a few new effects, transitions, and sound effects to choose from. And you can be much more precise with your effects, transitions, and titles, because you can directly edit the timing numbers in the Preview window just by typing over them. -
Quick access to audio features. You know the audio waveformsthe visual representation of the loud and soft parts in an audio clip? You used to have to pay a visit to the iMovie Preferences dialog box to turn them on and off; now you have both a menu command and a keystroke that can hide or show them. Hiding or showing the horizontal, draggable volume-graph lines on audio clips is easier now, too; this feature, too, has a menu command and a keystroke. -
Search your photos. A standard, iTunes-type Search box now appears underneath the Photos pane. You can pluck one of your photos out of thousands just by typing a few letters of its name. -
Stills = videos . Still photos you've incorporated into your movie now behave like video clips in one useful regard: You can drag their edges horizontally to make them "play" longer or shorter in the movie. -
Speed. iMovie HD processes just about everything faster: effects, transitions, and emptying the Trash. iDVD Changes As you'll see in Chapters 15 through 18, iDVD 5 is loaded with enhancements that help you make your DVD look even more like a commercial Hollywood DVD. -
More blank-disc formats. iDVD can record on both DVD-R and DVD+R blanks (see the difference in punctuation?), if you have a relatively recent Mac. -
More themes. Version 5 comes with 15 new themes (ready-to-use menu screen designs complete with attractive backgrounds and coordinating typeface, background music, and graphics). The key attraction is moving drop zones (design elements that you can fill with your own photos or movies). -
Drop zone editor. A new, special window lets you fill or rearrange the contents of all your drop zones at once. It's especially handy because in iDVD 5's new themes, all of the drop zones are rarely on the screen at once. -
Editable Map view. As your menu and button layouts grow more complex, you can use the Map screen to help you keep track of your menu structure. In iDVD 4, the Map was just a frozen image. But in iDVD 5, you can batch-change your transitions, themes, button settings, and music right in this schematic view. -
Widescreen DVDs. If you've filmed and edited widescreen video (with an HDTV camcorder or a regular one) in iMovie, iDVD can burn it onto a widescreen DVD for you. On standard, squarish TV sets, you'll get a letterboxed picture; on wide-screen sets, you'll see video that fills your entire rectangular field of view.  |
