Import to iMovie from iPhoto QT Parse Error

Question

It's been a while I didn't have any iMovie projects but had a few updates since then. Now, I discovered that I cannot import photos to iMovie (iMovie is 5.0.2, iPhoto is 6.0.6). After trying to trouble shoot for a while here is what I found out;
When I import photos to iPhoto, originals are stored in iPhotoLibrary\Originals\...\LibraryName\filename but files here are aliases only. Thumbnails are stored into iPhotoLibrary\Data\...\LibraryName\filename. When I want to import to iMovie, it requests to open iPhoto before I can see the library but tries to import from iPhotoLibrary\Originals\...\LibraryName\filename which are aliases. Therefore I get a QT parsing error. "... PICT5985.JPG” can’t be imported; QuickTime couldn’t parse it: -2048". I copied the original photos to iPhotoLibrary\Originals\...\LibraryName\filename overwriting the aliases and it worked.
Is there something I am missing? I couldn't remember and figured out if there is any way to set iPhoto to use originals or iMovie to look for the folder where the originals are located?
Thanks.

Answer 1

In iPhoto's Preferences, under Advanced, there is an option to "copy files to iPhoto Library folder when importing to Library." If you have turned this option off, then your Originals folder contains only alias files pointing to the location where you have saved your photos. If you check that box, then future imports will be saved into the iPhoto Library folder, but it will do nothing to replace the existing alias files with the real thing.
If you want to convert your referenced library into a managed one, check out [AliasHerder|http://www.rorohiko.com/downloads.html]. I haven't tried it myself, but others here have reported success.
You can drag and drop files from anywhere into your iMovie project, and they should be imported. But to be able to import from iMovie's convenient Media Browser, you have to use iPhoto for your photos.
Something else is also wrong. This
When I want to import to iMovie, it requests to open iPhoto before I can see the library...
shouldn't happen. I haven't used an alias-based library, but I assume that it should work without you having to locate the source files. It sounds like iPhoto has lost the link to these files and is unable to send them to iMovie. In iPhoto, can you view these photos at full size and open them for editing? If not, that would support my theory.
One way iPhoto could have lost the location of your files would be if you moved or renamed them without using iPhoto. In that case, you'll have to put things back as they were. Or try replacing the alias files with the actual files. If you didn't tamper with iPhoto's files, you may have a damaged database file, which can result from a crash while iPhoto is writing to the database. You can try a rebuild. Hold down the Option and Command keys while launching iPhoto. Select the first 3 options in the dialog box, then rebuild.
One last question: Is there a reason why you are using iMovie 5 with iPhoto 6? Why not upgrade iMovie (and any other iLife '06 app) to match iPhoto? While I don't think that is causing your problem, it seems to be an extra variable with your setup.
Regards.