Help Required - iMovie 11 V Final Cut Express

Firstly don't shoot me if this has been posted into the wrong place.
I've recently and quite successfully been getting to grips with iMovie. I mainly use it for personal projects importing files from .mov files, DVD's and Screen recording software.
I started using it a few months ago when I upgraded to the new Quad Core mac. First using iMovie'09 then recently upgraded iLife to version 11.
As a total amateur in anything 3D and Video production related it's certainly one area I never imagined I'd enter. Some may comment "Well it's not hard" but at present I'm loving the challenges that it presents me.
However, whilst I'm also not looking to become Spielberg, I do feel that because I have got to grips with the software fairly easily and quite quickly, I seem to have been left feeling that it's already met and exceeded my own expectations, and has now left me wanting more, particularly effects wise. (Maybe I just need to search a bit harder for something I haven't yet found - and I don't mean religion).
Therefore are there any plans to release further plug-ins for iMovie 11 to add to the experience, or would anyone here recommend upgrading to the Final Cut Suite?
FCE I have no experience of whatsoever, but do have friends that use it regularly. (I looked to download a demo version but nothing appears to be available) but it does, from what I have seen and read, offer more in the way of effects. (Or is this simply the upgrade packages that can be added) Am I wrong to even compare the two together?
So should I stick with what I have or make the change over - Basically need some helpful advice before I make what I feel may be a wasted purchase?

Ziatron wrote:
.... But I find the iMovie 06 interface superior to my mind. I also like the 'Final Cut' like Timeline of iMovie 06.  
you probably know, Adobe Premiere, iMovie a + b + i and FinalCut come from the same master-mind (Randy U.)
My first experience with NLE was Avid on some PowerMac - 40min max to import
It had a 'Moviola'-GUI: vertical film'strips'. For European editors this was a huge hurdle, because they were used Steinbecks - horizontal reels.
IMHD≤6 (and FC) tries to 'emulate' that film-strip metaphor too = timeline.
what I noticed: absolute beginners prefer the 'pool' of clips in iM-b, instead of the single-'slide' in iM-a = a better overview of things to come. skimming is a brutal fast way to chop clips together.
a word about that auto-scrolling: that is inspired by Garageband, isn't it ?
I hope, we'll see even more of those interface-marvel in FC/e.
I tested AdobePremiereElements for Mac a while ago, it offers simple features we miss in iM-b (example: pointers) - it is less intuitive, less 'snappy', less 'easy'. Although it is 'old fashioned' with a timeline (and 'slides', as iM-a)
I guess, we old Silverbacks just have to open our minds for new ways of handling videos ... +think different+ anyone? …

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Any suggestions for an animation program using photographs that can be incorporated into iMovie or Final Cut express?

Any suggestions for an animation program using photographs that can be incorporated into iMovie or Final Cut express?

The MTS files will always be grayed out. Do not drill down into the folder structure. Select the top level of the AVCHD folder structure. If this is a hard drive it may take a very long time to load. People have reported 20 minutes to half an hour.
Other possible problems, conflicts with other software like Perian. Also if there is mixed media on the drive; media in different formats can make the directory unreadable. What are the exact specifications of your media? What settings are you using in FCE?

HELP!!! Final Cut Express HD on ML

Got a real problem and I need help desperatly, Mountain Lion I have had problems with Mountain Lion than any other OSX.
Ok I got a new graphics card, before doing and to make sure the graphics card ran smoothly I did a systems clean up, and reinstalled Mountain Lion. Graphics card fine and working, Mountain Lion all working. I have just put in the FCE HD installation disc (the most important bit of software for my work as I work as a video artist with a huge amount of work needs to be done), prior to the reinstall was running perfectly on Mountain Lion, I now get when double clicking the Install PKG 'No longer supported by power PC' AAAAARRRRGGGG! Mountain Lion you are going to be the death of me!
I upgraded to Mountain Lion a couple of months ago, I lost Dreamweaver MX04 and Microsoft office for Mac, these I could just live without but I need FCE HD!! and fast.
Can anyone point me in the right direction on how I can install my Final Cut Express HD?
Really trying to give Mountain Lion a chance but I starting to wonder that it is just ****, and is there to make older Mac users skint.
Might just have to try and reinstall Snow Leopard until Mac sorts out this PowerPC problem if they ever will.

PLEASE AVOID ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL ROSETTA INTO LION OR MT. LION!
There have been reports from those who did this to install Final Cut Studio 2 in the early days of Lion, now reporting strange system behavior and crashes, requiring complete wipes and reinstalls!
The two safe methods to install FCE 3.5 into Mt Lion are:
1. Use Pacifist:
http://www.charlessoft.com/
or
2. Use Jeremy Johnstone's method involving Terminal (with modifications for FCE, as nessary; refer to the comments):
http://www.jeremyjohnstone.com/blog/2012-03-11-installing-final-cut-pro-studio-2 -0-on-mac-os-x-10-7-lion.html
For the record, these programs' installers have a bug that coincidentally triggers the PowerPC dialog box in Lion or Mt. Lion and ironically the attempted installation of Rosetta does appear to get around this bug, at least in Lion. But at what price?
However it is folly to think that the installation of a program as complicated as Rosetta (as written for use in Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard) will function in Lion or Mt. Lion and yet not function for the hundreds of other PowerPC apps out there!

IMovie to Final Cut Express

Took an iMovie edited ad I did for a painting event in our town and transferred it back to Canon HD CMOS camera. Transferred that into Final Cut Express for some more color tweaking and the quality dropped significantly. Why? It was brought in the correct format as the camera HD 1080/60.
I brought a rough edit into the camera before and brought that back into iMovie as a clip and that quality is great.

New Question as well. It took ages to render the project clip sequence in the timeline. Then I was attempting to experiment with zooming into a scene. Set Motion Key frame, then marked an in point and noticed everything on the timeline is now unrendered again. What? I noticed that before in short shots on another project, but this is so huge to re render again and again. what have I done wrong to "unrender the sequence?" Do I need to cut up the section I;m working on first in the wireframe, so it doesn't affect the entire clip/project and unrender it?
Thanks for your help! Signing off for the evening, will check in again in the AM.. You guys are the best.
Monika

Bizarre results importing imovie into final cut express?

I have filmed different interviews which were captured in imovie. I am now trying to import them into final cut express. But when I import one interview called, say, Gavin I get Karen's interview instead. The clip is labelled Gavin but the footsage is from a different interview. No matter who I import I get a completely different project and there is no rhyme nor reason to the footage that opens up.
Basically I get the wrong footage with every clip I open.
Please help before I end up in the loony bin!
Exasperated,
Clare

I bought Final cut express just after capturing all my files in imovie (having heard that it was supposed to be easier to cature and trim in imovie before sending the files to fce - is this what you have heard?). If it weren't for a solid week capturing and trimming 40 hours of film I would recapture in fce!!
I have even replaced the captured media within the scratch folder but still it opens the wrong files.
The files are labelled as the interviewees name. All the books say that you can import imovie projects into fce and then render and save as fce files.
I have tried various methods of importing, opening and even dragging a clip straight from imovie into the browser of fce - which works but opens an original untrimmed version rather than the short trimmed version and again it will be an interview of the wrong person.
I have since been turning the imovie files into .mov files and opening them in fce - this seems to work but hope there is no change to quality.
Would this be the way to go? I would so appreciate an answer!
Thanks

Imovie 06 & Final cut express

I have iMovie 06 and i am trying to import projects into Final cut express but i am having trouble, need help??

Hi
There are no 100% way to do this.
If You want Your Timeline with edits (transitions etc) to come over to FCE in a
still editable version.
• Not possibly - transition, text- tools are to different
If You want Your TimeLine movie over and accept that spelling errors etc. if fixed
and can't be altered.
• Best way is to connect Camera and insert a new miniDV tape and Copy to Camera
Use this and You'll get best quality possibly
To open the iMovie project and drag material over to FCE will partly work but
1. unedited raw material
2. Audio doesn't work the same way but needs to in FCE be rendered (every time anything
changes very irritating)
My penny to this
Yours Bengt W

HELP! Widescreen in Final Cut Express

I have Final Cut Express, but not HD. I have widescreen video that needs to be edited in Final Cut, but I don't know if it is possible to edit widescreen video. Is there someway to edit it fullscreen (smashed) and then export it into imovie or something and have it back to normal? Im just not sure what to do...

Change easy setup to DV NTSC or PAL anamorphic and capture your material. Make a new sequence that's anamorphic and edit your material.

Need help... Final Cut Express to Final Cut Express HD

Hey guys,
I recently edited my wedding video in Final Cut Express. It was filmed in HD, and I was not able to export my project in HD format... no matter what I tried. It comes out pixelated and is definitely not HD. I'm thinking FCE cannot export true HD video.
I then tried opening my project into Final Cut Express HD, and I'm getting General Error 41.
Is there a way that I can open my project in FCE HD or FCP so that I don't have to start all over again? If i would have known... i would have created my project in an HD program in the first place...
Any help is appreciated. Thank you!
Julie

>The files are 1920 x 1080 HD, h.264 codec
Problem #1: FCE doesn't work natively with H.264 files. They need to be converted to AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec) prior to importing into FCE.
>i was in DV NTSC 48 khz.... Now I'm thinking this is probably the problem?
You are correct. You need to create a new Sequence set for AIC in the resolution you want. Look at FCE's Easy Set Ups to choose the correct Sequence settings and convert the H.264 files so they match that.
>Would like a file for dvd, you tube and usb key
You'll need to export two different ways; one for DVD and one for web/file delivery. For DVD, export a self-contained or reference movie from FCE (File-Export-QuickTime Movie). Do NOT use QuickTime Conversion. Import the resulting file into iDVD for authoring and burning. Keep in mind that DVD is standard definition only so the HD footage will be downconverted to SD.
For web/file delivery, export "Using QuickTime Conversion" and choose the format/settings you need.
-DH

Help irendering video on final cut express

I use final cut express and when i try to render my video it would only render the audio and not the video part. i press the "control + r" button and only the audio is rendered, please help

i actually figured it out i went to the "sequence" bar and went to selection and saw the "red bar" and press it , it work thanks for the prompt response Mr Tom greatly appreciate your help. I've been using final cut express for a while sometimes i am still learning like now... ?how do I thrash my preferences...

IMovie vs Final Cut Express

I've been away from using Final Cut Express for a while. I'm thinking about getting back into making some very short documentary films. My goal is not for broadcast but rather to putting these on my website or YouTube. My thought is that I would be well served just using iMovie and that this would be a very painless way of uploading to my site. Am I correct in my thinking? Thanks.

My goal is not for broadcast but rather to putting these on my website or YouTube.
I find Youtube is a bit buggy (The most famous bug is the inability to post a text comment).
These work better.
http://www.the-top-tens.com/lists/best-alternatives-youtube.asp
http://www.youtubealternative.com/

IMovie vs Final Cut Express and Pinnacle Studio

Before I had the Imac (6 months now) for my video or photos I use Pinnacle Studio 11. Now I want to update the IMac to Leopard with ILife 09. Now I also want to use Final Cut Express for video editing. However since I seen the introduction of IMovie 09 I'm not sure which investment to make.
My question to you: with my experience with Pinnacle will Imovie 09 apply for video editing or should I also get the FCE. And what about my projects done in Pinnacle Studio.
Thanks in advance for all your reactions.
Ron

I migrated from using a PC and Pinnacle Studio 11 to a MacBook Pro and Final Cut Express about 9 months ago. I had no previous experience with a Mac, so it has been a very steep learning curve for me. But I have been studying the bright minds on this forum for awhile and have also been taking advantage of various Final Cut tutorials on the web. I eventually stopped regretting leaving Pinnacle behind and I have come to love Final Cut and the greater creative control it offers. As for iMovie, I found it a little too basic for what I want, but it may be suitable for your needs.
As far as your Pinnacle projects are concerned, finish them up and then immerse yourself in Final Cut. I think you'll be glad you did.

Imovie or final cut express, which one works best?

I am sick and tired of all the bugs in imovie. And I feel bad for everyone who are going out of their minds with soooooooo many problems with imove. I'm ready to buy final cut express, but does any one know if final cut express will run alot smoother and more relieable than imovie?
Thanks, ED

Hi M
I also use iMovie (pref v6) and FinalCut Express (3.5.1) and FCP (5.x.?).
FinalCut Express and Pro are rather same in work flow. iMovie is mentally
somthing completely different.
You need to be a very organized person to get the best of FCE eg. numbering all
Your tapes (tape unique numbering), preparing a structure from beginning etc.
BUT: The freedom of about 99 video and audio tracks. Resizing a video track
above another (pic-in-pic), rotating a slightly off horizon eg 2 deg, color-
correction (much better than in iMovie), Green/blue screen and so much more
that needs plug-ins to iMovie (with a cost) as standard.
Can give Your creativity a real spinn.
Yours happy with both worlds: Bengt W

Flip mino or flip ultra HD to use in imovie and final cut express

i am contemplating either flip mino HD, Flip ultra HD or creative vado HD. Which one has a good video quality and design style? Is it necessary for 2 hrs movie or actually i like the flip mino coz its slimmer but only takes 1 hr video. By the way, What kind of format the flip camcorder will save as coz someone says its .avi but some says Mp4 format? If in Mp4 format, is the quality still good? most of the time i will shoot in ultra hi definition setting. I will use imovie and final cut for edit and does the Flip compatible to imovie and Final cut? How about creative vado? any recommendation?
But most likely i will get the flip.

The Flip cameras are easy to use and pocketable.
Unfortunately it is their very simplicity that drastically limits what they can do.
They are OK for someone who wants to take daft pictures of their friends and post them on YouTube but for serious film-making they are non-starters.
They record low quality highly compressed video onto an internal memory.When you have shot your 60 minutes of video you can’t use the camera any more until you get it to a computer and download it.
The lens is a small aperture fixed focus with no zoom.
Actually to be correct there is a 2x digital zoom, but as we all know, digital zooms are a total waste of time and only reduce the quality still further. You can get the same effect by enlarging your picture 2x in the computer - not to be recommended.
So what at first sight, to the uninitiated looks like a very cheap camera, quickly turns out to be a very expensive toy.
Much better to buy a proper camera (which won't cost all that much more) like Skalicki suggests.

IMovie Vs Final Cut Express/pro and making$$$?

Sorry, another post from us (interchangeably Graeme or Leanne).
We have been making home movies with various versions of iMovie for about 5 years now and for the most part (except the bugs) love it. Recently we have decided to try and start using our filming and editing skills to earn some money in our spare time (not that we have much of that with two kids 3 and under...).
We have done a couple of weddings, baby movies and a little corporate function work so far and are just at the point of registering a business, domain name, buying better equipment etc - in other words, getting more serious. My question is as wannabe (semi) professionals, should we be making the effort to learn and use FCP or is it OK to keep using iMovie?
We do get a little frustrated occasionally with the limitations of iMovie but on the whole, it usually produces fantastic (and seemingly impressive) results to our clients. I guess we feel reluctant to learn a whole new complicated package when iMovie seems to be doing the trick. We just worry that maybe we're being lazy and not very professional by using such an 'off the shelf' consumer product.
In some ways, we think our filming and techniques and editing creativity are what's important and the editing software is just the tool that allows us to put it all together so we shouldn't be software snobs.
Are other people using iMovie to make money?
I would really appreciate any thoughts about this?
I think I have read posts in the past (by Karl possibly - to the effect that iMovie is not to be sneezed at...)
Sorry for the ramble,
Leanne
PS We do have a copy of FC Express by the way - just never used it because iMovie is always so invitingly easy every time we start a new project.

I'm not a video professional so my opinion doesn't count for much. (Which won't stop me from expressing an opinion. :-))
I love simple tools. My bias is always to use the simplest tool I can find, if it does the job. I don't like spending days or weeks learning software, or having to re-learn it if I haven't used it for a while. I dislike the nuisance and the cost.
You see where I'm heading here...
But wait. That tool can't limit my imagination. It has to be able to deliver, create the stuff I want to create. It has to meet whatever demands I place on it, not get in the way.
Since I don't consider myself a particularly imaginative guy, it also has to inspire me. Show me what's possible. Help me discover what's out there that I can do.
(Great software is like seeing an Ansel Adams collection for the first time. It lets you see what is possible with a simple camera and a simple darkroom.)
David Babsky, perhaps one of the more creative and artistically sensitive people here, creates wonderful stuff with iMovie, as do many others. He doesn't seem limited by iMovie. He's probably a lot less limited than I am, for he's more creative.
Other people create great stuff too. I'm constantly amazed at the wonderful videos created by novice users. iMovie hands us the tools to make great-looking stuff. Even more so with iMovie 6's Themes.
If there's a bottom line, it may be this: The "best" tool is the one that works best for you. For users who revel in complexity -- who are perhaps inspired by it -- Final Cut warrants a good, hard look. If complexity just gets in your way and your creative juices aren't stymied by iMovie, its simplicity is wonderful.
One other thought: If iMovie doesn't offer a feature I need I can usually create it with QuickTime Pro. I recently needed to create video-over-video, not a feature offered by iMovie. It was a short video of a seated woman talking into the camera -- a talking head. I wanted a series of photos to fade in and out inside a small picture frame on the wall behind her. (The pictures were a kind of subplot which, as the talking head fades to black, reveal an inside joke.)
I built two iMovie projects, one containing the photos and one containing the talking head, exported each to a Full Quality DV movie, then using QuickTime Pro, "placed" the photos on the wall behind her. It worked perfectly. With simple tools.
It's a very subjective call. If the software inspires you and lets you do good work, it's the one to choose.
Karl

Downgrading to iMovie from Final Cut Express - exporting?

My husband and I used to be into video editing before the kids were born. We have two 6 year old macbooks and one is dead and one is dying so we are forced to make a decision here on how to procede. My husband does one or two hobby type movies a year, but we mostly use our video editing software for home movies of the kids now. We don't have the money to spend on these things we used to, or the time to really be trying to tinker around with Final Cut anymore. So we decided to buy the $600.00 Mac Mini instead of a new laptop. We are thinking about switching back to iMovie as well, since buying the newer version of Final Cut will be pretty spendy, and iMovie seems to have come a long way since we last used it. We have a really old version of Final Cut right now, so I think upgrading would be necessary if we stick with Final Cut.
I am really confused about the new iMovie though. We have been using a Sony Digital 8 camcorder and storing our movies on tape. I talked to the guy at the Apple store about the Mac Mini and asked why there was no 'export to camera' on the new iMovie (I'm actually using '09, but I am told 11 doesn't have it either). He looked stumped and actually said he had never heard of doing that and why would I want to do that. I asked where I was supposed to store our final movies and he said the hard drive. I was surprised and told him that hard drives crash, but tapes last much longer. He said tapes degrade, and I said yeah, but not for like 30 years or longer, our hard drives have only lasted on average 5 years. But later I was thinking that maybe it wasn't a bad idea to back up our tapes on the hard drive. We have a 1 TB external which we would probably fill when all is said and done. I am thinking of getting some cloud storage from BackBlaze as well, so I started thinking that maybe tapes are becoming obsolete and we should really do this HD thing (for now, until a better storage option comes out in a few years because HD's are obviously not ideal).
But then I started looking at the new iMovie and I have no idea how to export a final movie into a file that won't lose any quality. In final cut there is the 'self contained movie' setting which is a full quality version of the final movie. But in iMovie, I can't find an equivilent. How are you exporting your final movies in iMovie and where are you storing them? And if we downgrade to iMovie, will there be a loss in quality? I saw another thread that says that iMovie 11 is exporting movies that lose a lot of quality. Has Apple fixed this yet? When we started using iMovie years ago we were told that it imports and exports the exact same quality since it is all digital there would be no degradation. But now that I read that there is a loss of quality in the new iMovie I am nervous to downgrade to iMovie. Can anyone shed some light on these issues for me? Should we stick with Final Cut, or can we make iMovie work?

Is this a really slow board, or did I ask a silly question? Why no responses?

Resolution concerns in iMovie, will Final Cut Express be solution?

Hello:
I'm working on a film, and have input from various people with various cameras. We are all working with 'standard' definition cameras, however, even among our cameras and outputs our film clips have different resolutions.
I put together a 120 minute film in iMovie. There are approx. 15 minutes of various clips from cameras with less than good quality film. Because of the film quality of a vast minority of the film clips, in iMovie, I can only export it into a 'medium' resolution, because medium is as good as some clips can be made out to be. So the majority of the film suffers with resolution because a small amount of film can only be done in medium resolution.
Does FCE allow you to better blend film clips with various resolution, while still maximizing your final output's quality? iMovie seems to be limited in that your final output is only as good as your worst quality clip that is included in the film.
Can I use FCE or some other tool to somehow compress and clean up the clips that are medium resolution so they can be then imported back into iMovie and can be used in a high resolution output?
Or will FCE natively handle most of what I'm asking, ie, glueing film from different quality standard def. cameras and creating a final highest possible resolution film? There appears to be an export from iMovie into FCE, however som things are lost in transition. I don't want to learn FCE completely or be forced to move to FCE or Pro in order to do something I'm shocked iMovie doesn't better handle.
Or are there any Pro's out there for hire to help me get over this hurdle. I'm making a DVD. The best output I have right now is 640 x 360. I don't exactly know what output is ideal for going onto DVD, but I figure the rest can be done in 960 x 540, so shoot for the higher resolution before compression and have better results, but I don't know if I'm thinking right.
Any input into using FCE as a solution, or if I'm asking something that cannot be done? I don't understand all the codecs and compressions but figure if I can massage the lower quality stuff or otherwise find a tool that help me produce a film project done in iMovie to the highest possible resolution.

.. which vers. of iM we are talking about?
if your source is miniDV (=interlaced), iM vers≤6 is ok.
iM08/09 have that 'skip field' prob, meaning, you lose halve vertical resolution while using iM08/09.
=> this is discussed +in extenso+ at the iM boards. it leads a few folks (incl. me) to establish this web-site:
http://sites.google.com/site/theimovieoutputproject/
if you really need that extra-grain of quality, you have to start from scratch in iM09 or FC/e.
640x360 is no resolution supported by iM (any vers.), nor FC/e.
for sure, +on export+ you can choose this 'size'.
for DVD-creation, use the app's intended workflows to avoid useless interim-conversions.

Help Required - iMovie 11 V Final Cut Express

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