IMovie HD 6 import iPhoto 08 ken burns stretches photos

When I import photos from iPhoto 08 into iMovie HD 6 (HD-1080i-30) and use the Ken Burns effect, the rendered clip is stretched horizontally. If Ken Burns is not used, the photos remain in their original aspect ratio. Any ideas as how to use the Ken Burns effect without changing the aspect ratio?

I am delighted to read that I am not the only one who gets burned by Ken in iMovie HD 6. I have spent hours on this problem and came to the same conclusion, that this is due to a glitch in OSX Leopard. The origin, mode of import or file format of the still doesn't matter. Interestingly, I seem to be the only one with the KB being stretched vertically (i.e. my fat nephew Ralf looks pretty slim). There are additional problems with the rendition of video effects. Several of the Quartz Composer effects (e.g. bump distortion, circle splash distortion) render bright and washed out.
I also discovered that iMovie HD v.5 (five) in Leopard still renders the KB effect without a flaw. I am lucky to still have the old 5 version in the box. So I work in iM 6 (iMovie 7 is the biggest software insult Apple has ever launched against their loyal fans) and when I need to bring in a KB effect I save and reopen in iM v.5, do the KB and reopen in iM 6 with the KB effect still perfectly rendered and ready for additional editing (titles, transitions). By doing most of the still imports and KB's at one time, it is not that inconvenient or time consuming. It certainly beats altering the aspect ratio of each still. Try to get hour hands on a iM 5 version until Apple fixes the bug (hopefully soon), although my fat nephew Ralf prefers the stretch version. I checked Apple's downloads, they don't offer iM 5. Check for iLife 5 on eBay. Good luck!

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    The input TIF and 2 second output .dv files are below (to my surprise the 15 MB input zipped to only 1.8 MB with this material). I turned ON the high quality display for you in the .dv files, but verify that the setting sticks when viewing them with QuickTime Player Pro. You can advance one frame at a time via the left/right arrow keys.
    http://www.saunalahti.fi/~shmhav/kenburnstest.zip

    Discussing DVD playback on a TV, Matti said:
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    was full of artifacts and lots of flicker with the
    moderate zoom factors. Gaussian blur was also quite
    bad while the 875x480 downsampled TIF was very
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    My tests used photos that are the most difficult for iMovie to handle, lots of hard lines, buildings, wires, fences, roof lines, etc.
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    But I like working in iMovie, so the goal of my tests was to find a way to make iMovie work better. The solution was to downsize the image before importing it to iMovie.
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  • How can I stop iMovie from automatically cropping and applying kens burns to my photos?

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    in the iMovie Project settings/pref, you can switch-off the automatic applying of KB

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  • Ken Burns reduces photo resolution in slideshows?

    Hey gang-
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  • Getting what looks like a jump cut with some of my Ken Burns esq photos

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    Okay here you go,
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  • IMovie Crashing when importing photo with Ken Burns Effect

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    Welcome to the forum! And thanks for such an insightful post.
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    Here's some history which may suggest another solution: In an earlier version of iMovie a similar problem occurred, where iMovie would refuse to open a project. It had somehow decided you didn't have permission to edit the project.
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  • Ken Burns Effects Don't Work in iMovie HD (I've Tried Everything)

    Version:
    OS X 10.4.10
    iMovie 6
    *Hardware 1:*
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    *Hardware 2:*
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    6. Created, saved and manipulated the iMovie file in the standard Movie Folder on my secondary internal hard drive. (i.e. – I'm not saving to an external HDD)
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    10. Tried a lower resolution photo and the problem persists.
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    1. The problem is confined to the Ken Burns Effects in iMovie. I am able to work with true video clips without incident.
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    Message was edited by: Charlie Brown Jr.

    Hmmm. You seem to have tried, without success, most if not all of the methods of resolving a Ken Burns black screen issue.
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    2. Are the sizes of your images too large, as can happen with some of these new high def cameras? iMovie has trouble working with very large images.
    3. Do you have any 3rd pary plug-ins, particularly in Quick Time, that could be causing a conflict?
    4. Do you have enough disk space for the project to operate?
    5. Have you done a recent Quick Time update? Some users have reported a problem with that.
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    There is an application called Photo to Movie that reputedly has a far better Ken Burns type of effect. If you can't resolve your problem, you might try downloading that app. I believe that it offers a demo download.
    Good luck.

  • Automatic Ken Burns Effect in iMovie HD 6.0

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