6.5. Downloading More Transition Choices Simple cuts, cross dissolves , and fade-ins/fade-outs are all the transitions many professionals ever need. But if you're feeling hemmed in by the limited number of built-in transitions, you can download plenty more to expand the list. Here's a quick look at some of the leading contenders in the blossoming Commercial iMovie Plug-ins category: -
GeeThree. At www.geethree.com, you can preview and buy plug-in collections that add over 200 new transitions to iMovie's list. They offer a huge number of different shapes that open up to reveal a new piece of footage: hearts, barn doors, checkerboards, zigzags, page turns, swirls, explosions, drips from the top of the screen, and so on. You can even find picture-in-picture, morphing, and even image-stabilizing plug-ins that take the shake out of unsteady footage.
Note: Be sure you also download the free Slick Transitions updater , a little program that makes the older GeeThree transitions compatible with iMovie HD. Otherwise, mysterious bugs will seem to plague unrelated areas of iMovie.
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Virtix. Check out www.virtix.com to view this impressive set of effects and transitions. Burn Through makes it look like the first piece of film is melting on the projector, revealing the second clip behind it. Dream should be familiar to David Letterman or "Wayne's World" fans: it creates a soft-focused, warpy, zig-zaggy strip down the center of the frame that melts into the second clip. Fog and Smoke reveal the second clip through a passing haze. If you've shot one clip of an empty space (using a tripod) and another containing a person, Materialize creates a convincing simulation of the Star Trek transporter beam. And so on. -
cf/x. The transition effects at www.imovieplugins.com are very nicely done; some, like a soft-edged wipe, are even more useful than some of Apple's included transitions. What's especially nice is that you can buy these transitions individually (usually $3.50 or $4.50) instead of having to buy a whole package.
Tip: Most of these products come with installers that put the plug-in files where they belong:in your Home  Library iMovie Plug-ins folder. Knowing where they live also makes it easy to remove themwhich may come in handy in times of troubleshooting. Note, too, that older plug-ins not specifically identified as iMovie HD-compatible can cause all kinds of mysterious problems in apparently unrelated areas of the program.
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