IMovie project on 2 computers

I am starting an iMovie project and may, partway through it, need to switch to a different computer. I know that there is more involved than just transferring the iMovie file to the second computer, since the program will look for other files too. So what is the best way to do this? What would need to be transferred? And where to?
The project will involve video clips imported from a camcorder, lots of photos from iPhoto, and probably some sound clips. Any advice for doing this? Or should I just stick to one computer?
Thanks!
DanK
iMac G4 800MHz Mac OS X (10.4.2)

The iMovie "file" is actually a package containing several files and folders. All the video clips and photos that you import to the project are stored inside that package. There are no project files stored elsewhere.
(To look inside the package, Control-click on the project icon and choose Show Package Contents from the popUp menu.)
Your iPhoto photos are stored in the iPhoto Library, of course. If you move the iMovie project to Computer B you won't (usually) be able to access the iPhoto Library on Computer A.
But that's not necessarily true. iPhoto is 1) not limited to having just one Library; and 2) Libraries can reside on other drives. So if your iMovie project is stored on an external drive that you move from Computer A to Computer B, you can also store your iPhoto Library on that drive so you take you photos with you.
See iPhoto Help for how to switch Libraries.
And, of course, you can just copy the photos to a CD that you take with you. iMovie lets us import photos from any folder of any drive. Just drag them into the Timeline.
Or drag songs in too.
Karl

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Imovie 09: Same Project on 2 computers?

Is there a way to move the same project between two computers assuming you have the exact same "event footage" loaded on either the internal hard drive of each or on a shared external?
From what I understand, all iMovie does is create an instruction set -- not a pixel is altered in the event footage. If that's true, can I move that instruction set back and forth between two computers?
Is it the file in Movies>iMovie Projects>(file name)?
Thanks for the help.

Be sure to do all moves within iMovie.
The easiest way would be to have an external drive. The external drive must be formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled).
In iMovie, click VIEW/EVENTS BY DISK. You should see your external drive show up in the Event Library and the Project Library.
Command-Drag your Project to the external drive icon in the Project Library List. Then select the Project in the Project Library List and click FILE/Consolidate Media. It should offer to move all Events, Photos, Music that are used in the Project to the external drive as well, and it will update the pointers in the Project File.
Now, you can open the Project on the external drive on both computers, and all project assets are in a stable location.

Need help with lost iMovie project.

I was creating an iMovie project for school and needed to save it on a USB, so I clicked on 'Export Movie' from the 'Share' options menu in iMovie. I chose the type I wanted it saved in (viewing for computers) and then a smaller screen in iMovie popped up saying it was exporting the movie, or something like that. It took about a good 30 minutes and my project was a 7 minute movie with film clips, music, transitions, ect. I exported this project to my USB but when it finished it wasn't on there and when I finally found it on the Mac somewhere, I went to drag it into my USB but it said it was full. I then dragged the project onto my desktop and tried to open it to see if it worked. When I did the iMovie icon jumped once and stopped. I clicked on iMovie and it was still there in the projects screen. I then decided to close iMovie and open the project again from my desktop to see if it would play like a normal movie but once I clicked it the iMovie icon jumped again, opened but my project that I was trying to open was not there anymore and wouldn't open from my desktop file. I cannot open it at all and view it, it has been lost from my iMovie. Is there a way that I can get it back? Really need some help with this.

What version of iMovie are you using?
Matt

How do I include the photos in a imovie project to the finished dvd so the users can have access to them?

I've included alot of old photos in an iMovie project and would like to include them on the finished DVD I create with iDVD. I woud like the users to be able to have access to them so they can print them, store them on their own computer or whatever they would like to do. How would I do this?

You do this by creating a DVD-ROM section on your DVD. See this explanation from iDVD Help.
Adding files to the DVD-ROM portion of a disc
You can let viewers copy files directly from your DVD by adding the files to the DVD-ROM portion of the disc. These files are burned onto the DVD and are accessible when the disc is viewed on either a Windows PC or a Macintosh computer, but not a DVD player.
You can add any kind of file to the disc. For example, if your disc contains a slideshow, you can add the image files to the DVD-ROM portion of the disc so viewers can download them to their own computers and print them. You can also add a file containing your movie production notes and other “extras.”
To manually add files to the DVD-ROM part of your disc:
Choose Advanced > Edit DVD-ROM Contents.
The DVD-ROM Contents window opens.
Click Add Files, or click New Folder first if you want to create a folder to put the files in.
Browse to select your files or folders, then click Open to add them to the disc.
You can also drag files directly to the DVD-ROM Contents window. When you are done, just close the window.
When you add a file to the DVD-ROM portion of your disc, before you burn the disc the project contains just a reference to the location of the file on your hard disk, not the actual file. So if you delete a file from your computer or move it from its location after adding it to the DVD-ROM contents, you get a “File not found” message when you try to burn your disc. You can either remove these missing files from the DVD-ROM contents or find them on your computer and put them back in the original location so iDVD can access them.
As you add files to the DVD-ROM contents, be sure to check the DVD Capacity meter in the Project Info window to find out how many gigabytes of disc space are being used. The Capacity meter shows the disc space taken up by the video portion of the disc as well as the DVD-ROM portion.

How do I move an iMovie project from my iMac to my laptop

I want to develop a movie project on two computers. One is permanently at work and my laptop is for weekends at home. Can't figure out how to keep it editable after moving to laptop. This is not just moving video to a different hard drive. I use lots of stills with transitions. Also music and video clips are involved. I just need to move the project back and forth as it's developed.

There are several things to consider here:
1) iMovie expects the Project file to live on the boot drive.
2) The project file points to the iPhoto library, and the iTunes Library, which are usually also on the boot drive.
3) The Event files can live on an external drive that is formatted HFS+ (journalled), but they must be moved there from within iMovie by using SHOW/EVENTS BY VOLUME and dragging and dropping in the Events Source List.
So I would recommend the following:
1) Do this one project at a time.
2) Move the EVENT to the external drive using iMovie, as described above.
3) Create a folder on the external drive called something like Project Assets
4) Go into iPhoto and export any photo you are using to the Project Assets folder on the external drive.
5) Go into iTunes and export any music file you are using to the Project Assets folder on the external drive. Ditto for any Garageband tracks, etc.
6. Now go into your project. Remove the photos that are there. Replace them by opening the finder to the external Project Assets folder and drag them in from there. Do the same for the music.
7) Now Create a folder on your external drive labeled iMovie Projects. With iMovie closed, use the Finder to move the folder containing the RCPROJECT file to the external drive in the iMovie Projects folder. Normally this folder is in the <user name>/Movies/iMovie Projects/ folder, unless you have added additional folders within iMovie.
8) Now, eject the external drive and disconnect it from your computer.
9) Connect the external drive to your other computer.
10) Move the RCPROJECT file to the boot drive of the 2nd computer in the <user name>/Movies/iMovie Projects/ folder
11) Now, start up iMovie on the 2nd computer, and everything should work. That is, if I haven't left anything out.

How do I burn a simple iMovie project to a dvd ?

I am so frustrated every time I make an iMovie project and am ready to burn it to a dvd whether for a client or family/friends because I struggle each time to know what the steps are. When I finally get one burnt it is just by accident it seems and I go through so many dvds it's not funny. I don't like to use DVDR's that are printable because when they don't work I have wasted one of them, and I want to make professional looking dvds with a picture or logo printed on the dvd. There is nothing on the iMovie Help button that leads you to the steps for burning a dvd from your project even after you have shared/saved it in the size format you will be showing it. If I type in BURN IMOVIE DVD or anything at all like that it leads me to dead ends. I eventually seem to burn a dvd but it seems it is only by hit and miss and a lot of wasted dvdr's. Please, can't Apple provide simple steps to follow to burn iMovie projects to a dvd for viewing on various computers and tvs? I REALLY need answers.

In addition to John's suggestions this is what I was referring to. Use a template such as this one:
Select the button that's on the menu and delete it
Make a simple black graphic in any basic graphics application and fill it with black. Just drag the graphic into the menu to replace the background.
In map view place your video in the first play box

I cannot use iMovie Projects / evnets on External Hard Drive

Hi,
I am a long time iMovie, Finale Cut Pro, X... user. I have 26 iMovie projects from my mac at school which I copied to an external HD inside of the imovie software. I've done this in the past to create more space on the mac's hard drive in the past. Recently, I was told the school district was reimaging all of hte computers so I moved all of the projects (and events) to an external HD (again inside of imovie). I wanted to edited the movie's on my desktop mac at home but when I attached the external hard drive and open up imovie on my home computer, I can see the external hard drive inside of imovie, but their are no events or projects????).... Yes, everything is uptodate. I can open the hard drive in a seperate window in the finder (outside of imovie) and see all of the files. I even tried importing and dragging the .rcproject files and double clicking to just open them. Nothing is happening. Can anyone help??? Thanks , Joe
Notes:
1) Both versions of iMovie are the same on both macs.
2) When I open up Final Cut X it also shows the hard drive with the imovie projects / events... but says "no files exist on this disk".... that's crap because I can see them on the hard drive!!!! What the heck is going on!!!!

Top Level of the Drive!!!!!!! . ...Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.... that solved it.
I had ogranized everything into subfolders, so it makes since... just didn't realize they needed to be at the top level. Big help and thanks!!
I am marking "This solved my question" because I accidentally marked "This helped" on the reply above. I don't know how to change it bu Appleman 1958 solved this problem for me. Thanks Appleman 1958
.... for everyone else with the same problem, please see the reply from Appleman1958 from above.
Joe

How do i migrate all my imovie projects from one computer to another

how do i migrate all my imovie projects from one computer to another

You need to attach the computers to one another say with a firewire cable? Or use an external hard drive to copy the Events/Projects and then move the hard drive to the other computer. Are you able to do either one of these first?

Song in imovie project

I am not sure why, but some of my imovie projects have an explamation point over the audio. I assume this is because it can not locate the source track. The song still plays along with the video, and the song is indeed in my itunes. Is there any way to point the track to the correct tune, as opposed to having to delete the song, drag it in again, and align with the video the way I worked so hard on the first time?
Thanks

Yes! Urrrgh! Very frustrating. I have never had any problems with iDVD prior to my latest Quicktime and iTunes upgrade. Since I have upgraded these app's, I have been getting the same, "computer not authorized" BS. (exactly as you described it). I really think the upgrade is the problem.
My sense is that since iTunes is such a popular cross platform application, every new upgrade is trying to catch some kind of licensing loop-hole in the system. I read this in a Steve Jobs interview recently. So, the loss of revenue due to file sharing between multiple computers/iTunes and iPods is more of an issue, than what the licensing loop-hole upgrades do to iDVD. As soon as enough people complain, MAC will create an upgrade to correct this issue.
The glimmer of hope: any song that I have not bought through iTunes has seemed to play in iDVD, and has made successful burns to disk.
I await more positive news as well. I want my iDVD back!!!
T-me-Emo
IMAC Mac OS X (10.4.10)
IMAC Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Moving an iMovie project

I have a 1hr movie created using iMovieHD 6.0.3 on a G4 iMac that has no superdrive, and thus, no iDVD.
I would like to author using iDVD on a separate workstation (quad core MacPro, running iDVD 6.0.3).
Moving the iMovie project file is not an option (15GB size). Is there any way to 'export/share to iDVD' on a separate computer?

Can the two computers be connected with a firewire cable? Of course they would need to be in the same place to do this.
I've done what you are trying to do (after transferring the file over an ethernet network). A problem was that there were associated files that were not transferred. These included music on iTunes that was used as background music. These had to then be separately imported into itunes on the second computer. Anyone have a suggestion as to how to prevent this problem?
DanK
iMac G4 800MHz Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Impact on merging iPhoto events on iMovie projects?

I have made several iMovie projects, primarily using photos from various related events in iPhoto. If I merge the iPhoto events where the pictures are currently located, will the iMovie projects be impacted / ruined / need to be started over?
I am working with the last iMovie and iPhoto BEFORE iLife '11 (have not upgraded to '11 out of fear of losing photos, etc.). OS s/b most up-to-date Snow Leopard version. Hardware is a MacBook Pro purchased in summer 2010.

iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ - is the only solution currently to merge events between different computers
LN

IMovie projects choppy with 23" display

I just added a 23" Cinema Display. I've noticed that the playback quality of my iMovie projects have become choppy since the monitor was installed. Audio also drops out in spots. (Actual video and audio is okay; problem only exists in playback.) Projects play fine on other computers. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, is there a solution?

You may want to set your iMovie Preferences, under their 'Playback' tab, to Standard, rather that High or Highest.
Cinema displays are designed to give the best possible visuals, but that can use up a lot of Mac processor effort, whereas you really want the effort to go into correctly grabbing all the relevant bits from your hard disc, both video and audio, and making do with 'acceptable' presentation on the monitor.
(..Though one would have thought that a dual processor 2GHz should be able to keep up with handling the video + audio files and being able to provide a good screen display..)
Karl may give some relevant advice, as he has a cinema display.
Maybe post this query with his name in the Topic, e.g; "Karl - 23" Cinema Display choppy", for example..?

Saving iMove projects for later edit by PC users

I've been converting a lot of VHS tapes to DVD for friends and family using iMovie and iDVD. Lately, I've been getting asked if I can simply hand over the digitized files to them for editing on their computers with their video editing software. What's the best way to save an iMovie project to disc for people with PCs (or Macs) so that they can edit and create their own DVD?

As Karsten said, the most foolproof method is to give them tape.
I don't know what kind of video files PC editing apps can import. Looking from the Mac side, a DV-stream (.dv) would be the most convenient format because iMovie can readily export it. The downside is that all scenes would be stuffed in a single file (unless the user exported each scene separately) and it would be up to the PC app/user to re-split the scenes into clips.
Another tempting format would be a DV-encoded .avi. But then you should remember that due to a bug in iMovie HD, it can't properly export it.
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#expertsettings
So you should then use a workaround and use apps like MPEG Streamclip to export the iMovie project as a DV-AVI.
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#imovie_3rdparty
The latest MPEG Streamclip beta has a Save as... -command which AFAIK should wrap a .dv file as DV-AVI (choose AVI from the pop-up).
...but as I said, I don't know how the PC apps handle these formats.

Codec missing and moving projects between different computers

Hi,
Im a real rookie when it comes to premiere... and i have 2 problems.
First off i just want to know the best way to move a project between two computers... Usually when i move the folder and try open it all the links to the different movie files dont work, so i have to go through and select each one manually. There must be a way to get around this...
Second off i have a problem with importing my mac mov (i used iMovie to move the files from the video camera, which is a Sony HDR-HC3) files into premiere on the pc, it claims the codecs are missing. I have installed quicktime on the pc and i can play the movies fine, but they wont import into premiere because of the missing codec. Why?

FAQ:How do I transfer a project from one computer to another?
Cheers
Eddie
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Missing codec and moving projects between different computers

Hi,
Im a real rookie when it comes to premiere... and i have 2 problems.
First off i just want to know the best way to move a project between two computers... Usually when i move the folder and try open it all the links to the different movie files dont work, so i have to go through and select each one manually. There must be a way to get around this...
Second off i have a problem with importing my mac mov (i used iMovie to move the files from the video camera, which is a Sony HDR-HC3) files into premiere on the pc, it claims the codecs are missing. I have installed quicktime on the pc and i can play the movies fine, but they wont import into premiere because of the missing codec. Why?

See the responses to your duplicate post.
Cheers
Eddie
PremiereProPedia (
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- Over 250 free tutorials
- Maintained by editors like
you
Forum FAQ

IMovie project on 2 computers

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