Jerky Ken Burns effect

I am using iMovie 10 on a mac desktop with all the latest software. In some photos in my 4 min video, the Ken Burns effect is jerky, even after sharing the video to a .mp4 file. The photos are of good quality and resolution (I use iPhoto). Is there a way to smooth the zoom effect?
I made a sample clip (5.7MB) but can't post it here, apparently.

Even though my stomach turns when people call a move on a still "The Ken Burns Effect," I'm going to supress my revulsion and try to assist.
The blurriness MIGHT come from a pref "Default Scale to Frame Size, which makes the scaling on all your imported / placed images 100%. This is a defect in the way Pr was built, IMO. There's no good reason for Pr to think a huge photo is 100% scaled, just because it fits nicely in a Comp view. It misleads users into thinking they're out of resolution, when they're not. So, my first suggestion is to turn off that pref (uner General) and see the difference that makes when you know exactly how much resolution you have to deal with. Then, don't go over 100%.
I can't envision the jerkiness you're describing. It could be an interlace issue, from how you describe it. If that's the case, render progressive.

Similar Messages

I'm looking for a High Definition Ken Burns effect

I put together an hour-long DVD every year of the best photos of my daughter. Every year I've used a program called *Still Life* to add the ubiquitous Ken Burns effect to about 25% of the stills. I've been very happy with the results.
But, lo and behold, we've upgraded this year to an HD television, and suddenly everything changes.
Now it is painfully apparent that *Still Life* can no longer do the job, as its output is noticeably non-HD.
I see how I can do the same basic movement in FCE itself using keyframes, but this movement is static. The thing I liked about *Still Life* was that it started the movement slowly, built up speed, and then slowed the movement at the end. It was smooth. I can't make FCE perform as smoothly. I get visual whiplash when it starts and stops.
I've found some other similar programs-- Photo-to-Movie, MovingPicture, etc.--but none of them output in the same high quality HD that FCE express does. I even tried *iMovie HD*, but it isn't flexible enough (you can't change the start or stop movement times, so that when I transition the clips in FCE, I lose the second before the Ken Burns effect kicks in, and so the overall effect is herky-jerky).
Does anyone have any suggestions for a software solution that exports high quality HD Kens Burns movement for a still photo?
Thanks for any help you can give.

Hi(Bonjour)!
I see on photo to movie spec page that you can export in full 1920 X 1080 H.264 codec, a high quality format usable in FCE.
http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovieoverview.php
By the way, how do you deliver your HD sequence from your mac to your HD TV set ?
Michel Boissonneault

Problems with Ken Burns effect

Having a very frustrating time trying to get a decent slideshow. Like the KB effect but when I play it back the images jerk and jump. Smoothness totally
gone. Strange thing is sometimes it is worse than others. Have tried closing all
other unnecessary programs to save RAM , etc...does not help. Sometimes it
looks ok played in iphoto but when I send to idvd the jerking is back. HELP.
When going through process have about 250MB free and 10 GB on disk.
Also when I export a slideshow (size-large 720X480)to Quicktime image
quality degrades considerably. All I want is a decent dvd copy of my honeymoon
pictures but can't seem to accomplish this. Am very disappointed at all the
grief involved in this...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Greetings Old Toad.
It seems that a fair number of users have run into this same problem over recent months: namely, producing a slideshow with audio from iPhoto with the Ken Burns effect creates a "jerky" movie as a result. The advice I have seen is to either clean up your hard drive or get more memory. I consistently run into this problem even though I have a 1Ghz G4 iMac with 768MB main memory. I have tried this on my root drive with about 7GB available and on a firewire drive I have with ~30GB available space. I have also tried using Cache Out X to clean up caches and other various files, and still iPhoto produces jerky results.
The one workaround that has worked was to turn off audio. That seems to fix the problem, but I do want audio in these slideshows to put onto DVD. Others have suggested using iMovie to add the audio track, but reading in the output of iPhoto into iMovie seriously degrades the quality of the video -- not to mention that it is a very slow and tedious process to do this.
I would like to point out that this was not always the case. Unfortunately I cannot pinpoint the exact time when this started happening, but I could swear that I had been able to create slideshows in this manner before one of the many iPhoto upgrades I automatically received over the last year. I now have version 5.0.4.
Have you heard of anyone successfully fixing or working around this problem? I love my Mac...and this is one of the fundamental reasons I switched from Windows a few years ago was for the great photo tools. But now, without the ability to make DVDs the way I want, I am considering switching back .
1 Ghz G4 iMac Mac OS X (10.4.3) 768 MB DDR

Jerky Ken Burns when burning to DVD

Hi all - tried finding an answer to this but not much luck - anyway the problem is I made a simple movie in imovie 08 using only photos, music and Ken Burns effect on some pics. the presentation runs smooth as silk on my iMac 24" - so then I try burning the movie to DVD using iDVD. I slot the DVD in a player and it looks very average. The picture resolution is low - should I export to a higher level of resolution? Then the Ken Burns effect is jerky - not massively but still not smooth. Please help I really want to be able to export/burn movies that look great and run smooth but can't find out how to do this,
thanks in advance
Rob

I have the same problem. Ken Burns looks good on the computer but real jerky on the DVD using iMovie 8.

Ken burns effect editing

I read this statemnt on a forum:
*Do you have iMovie? You can create a slideshow in iMovie, and the Ken Burns effect gives you a great deal of control. You can set whether it zooms in or zooms out, and you can control the exact starting point and ending point, as well as how long it takes. It's really great for synchronizing photos with music, as you can make each photo stay on screen as quickly or as slowly as you need.*
But I can't find the way to do it. I get Ken burns effect but I don't know how to edit it (every time the photo chanes I get jerky issues) Can anyone light my way??
Tnx

1) Drag a photo into your project from the Media Browser (or you can drag and drop a JPEG directly from a Finder Folder.)
2) Select the photo so there is a yellow rubber band around it. Select the Fit/Crop/Ken Burns Tool
3) Use the Green rectangle as a start point. Click to bring the red rectangle forward and set the end point.
4) Click done
Control the length of the Ken Burns by changing the Duration of the Photo.
An additional thing that may help: iMovie 08 may default to editing in increments of one tenth of one second. In iMovie Preferences, you can change this parameter so that it edits at the frame level (e.g. 30 frames per second for NTSC formats). Once you are editing at the frame level, you will have a great deal more control over "jerky" moments. I never see them, but it is possible that if you are editing at .1 second, some strays occur that you can't see. To change this parameter select iMOVIE/PREFERENCES and make sure there is a check in the top box that says "Display Timecodes". I also check VIEW/PLAYHEAD INFO so that I see the timecodes as I skim.
Once you change this parameter, 1:9 will mean 1 second and 9 frames, not 1 and 9 tenths of a second.
Also, if you see jerky movement while editing, but it looks OK when rendered - that is a sign of an underpowered processor or too little memory (not likely in your case).

IPhoto slideshow export -- jerky Ken Burns rendering

Have an iPhoto slideshow of 25 pictures. On some, I used Ken Burns effect to zoom in, out, etc.
When I export, the result is a .mov file. Everything looks great when I play it on Quicktime, except for some of the photos on which I had used Ken Burns (meaning there's motion). The bad ones don't render properly, and are "jerky" for lack of a more technical word. They get stuck for a couple of seconds, jump forward, get stuck again, etc.
Amazing thing is that I did an export out of Quicktime using Sorenson3, and that seems to have smoothed everything out in a nice way. Result is a movie with no jerkiness, and everything works right.
Two questions:
1) Can I count on the Sorenson3 export method to fix the jerkiness for three other iPhoto slideshow-based movies I'll need to generate, or was this a one-time fluke that Sorenson3 fixed this movie? In other words, is there a principle behind the fix that makes sense and can be counted on?
2) What caused the jerkiness in the first place? Is there something I can do so the original output from iPhoto on Ken Burns photos isn't jerky?
Thanks for any insights.
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Kirk,
Did what you suggested, with some tweaks, and it's working nicely. Exported at 3MB/sec -- 2MB didn't render well enough. Tried MPEG-4, and then Sorenson again, and actually the Sorenson worked better for some reason.
So thanks, and now I have one follow up question: My next step is to convert the file to .wmv format so it plays on Windows Media Player. Must do this for a project at work -- where people are on PCs using WMP.
I purchsed Flip4Mac a while ago for this purpose, and that's what I intend to use. Can I simply convert the file exactly as is to .wmv -- keeping all the goodness of the settings that are now working? Will this be an export of an export that will damage the quality of the result?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

How do I get rid of the Ken Burns effect on my photos

I would like to get rid of the Ken Burns effect on my photos I addes to my video. How do I do that

When you create a New Project and give it a name, the next thing you should always do is go to File>Project Properties and make sure in 'Initial Photo Placement you have selected either Fit or Crop. It seems the default setting is the Ken Burns annoyance.

Cannot get rid of Ken Burns effect on slideshow

I have turned off Ken Burns effect when creating slideshow on my Mac Mini (the one that I share iPhoto libraries with Apple TV). I did the same in Apple TV.
Still I have these funky effect that may fit some documehtaries, but is inappropriate to some other content... and one has to realize that (e.g. if you present photos from someones funeral you do not give some fancy effects to upset audience, right?)
Isn't it a bug in software? Anyone had the same issue? Under what circumstances the checkboxes to turn it of in APPle TV and iPhoto are ignored by Apple TV?
Thank you.

I figured out how to do this.

Preview of Ken Burns effect doesn't work with some pictures

I just recently installed a new graphics card (ATI Radeon 7500) on my Sawtooth, 1.2 GHz, so I could utilize the Ken Burns effect in imovie HD. It works but only partly. It works great but with some pictures the preview pane doesn't show the photo. What I see is a what looks like bad reception on an old TV (fuzzies and the picture is distorted so bad you can't even make it out). With other pictures the preview shows up fine. I'm sure I've loaded the drivers. What else can I do?

Hi Tonyy13.
I am presenting the same problem. I can set the Ken Burns' effect while I am with the pictures before placing them in the Clip or Timeframe viewer. After placing them there, if I try to edit the picture (either by right clicking and choosing -edit picture or by control clicking and doing the same, I ended up with a black background. If you change the setting in this black ackground and update this changes they will be effective. So, you can change the slide duration, and everything in the sliders but without an image.
I was running System 10.3.9 and I thought this was the reason. Today, I went and bought Tiger but it didn't sove the problem. I do believe it is a bug in the program. According to Apple's Help and David Pogue's "The Missing Manual" this shouldn't happen.
If you solve this problem reply to this posting. If I did I will reply to your posting. Thank You.

Preview of Ken Burns Effect is a black screen!!

So, I am doing a movie for my parents, and I have 102 photos that I have loaded into IMovie. I loaded them in to the clips section, as I am not a huge fan of iPhoto personally. At first, no problems, but later, as I dragged photos into the playhead area, my photos wouldn't allow me to preview the Ken Burns Effect. I would drag them into the playhead, click on "Meda" button, and then select the Show Picture Settings button. The preview screen goes black as the effect scrolls through the process, disallowing me to see the preview. I have deleted the pictures from IMovie, re-inserted them, and started over (AAAARRRRRGGGGGG!), and it happened again.
Any Ideas? Thanks for the help!
Oh, and I have made no modifications to my machine (no new graphics card), and the pictures are all in .jpg format.

Hi Tonyy13.
I am presenting the same problem. I can set the Ken Burns' effect while I am with the pictures before placing them in the Clip or Timeframe viewer. After placing them there, if I try to edit the picture (either by right clicking and choosing -edit picture or by control clicking and doing the same, I ended up with a black background. If you change the setting in this black ackground and update this changes they will be effective. So, you can change the slide duration, and everything in the sliders but without an image.
I was running System 10.3.9 and I thought this was the reason. Today, I went and bought Tiger but it didn't sove the problem. I do believe it is a bug in the program. According to Apple's Help and David Pogue's "The Missing Manual" this shouldn't happen.
If you solve this problem reply to this posting. If I did I will reply to your posting. Thank You.

How can I turn off the ken burns effect on iMovie? If I crop the picture it still persists!

I cannot turn off ken burns on iMovie for the life of me! Everyone is telling me to fit the photo or stop it, which I have done. However, when cropped the ken burns effect is still there in full force!!! What can I do to turn off this dreadful effect?

iMovie forum for an answer from the users in there who will most likely be able to help you out faster : https://discussions.apple.com/community/ilife/imovie

Ken Burns Effects Don't Work in iMovie HD (I've Tried Everything)

Version:
OS X 10.4.10
iMovie 6
*Hardware 1:*
PowerMac G4 Dual 500 Mhz, 1GB RAM, Internal 40GB HDD and Internal 320 GB HDD
*Hardware 2:*
PowerBook G4 500 Mhz, 512MB RAM, Internal 20 GB HDD
Problem:
This problem occurs on both of my G4 Macs. In iMovie HD, I imported a JPEG from iPhoto with Ken Burns Effects on. The still photo appeared properly in the Clip Viewer initially, but appeared as a black screen in the iMovie Monitor. Once the imported photo with the Ken Burns Effects completed rendering, the clip in the Clip Viewer turned white and appeared as a white screen in the iMovie Monitor. I have tried almost everything I read about in these forums in search of a resolution.
*Resolutions that Failed:*
1. The photo is definitely a .jpg
2. Tried importing the actual .jpg file as well as importing from iPhoto.
3. QuickTime and all other Software updates have been applied and are running on the most current release.
4. Repaired disk permissions.
5. Created, saved and manipulated the iMovie file in the standard Movie Folder on my main internal hard drive. (i.e. – I'm not saving to an external HDD)
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)
7. Deleted the 'mac.imovie.plist' file and created a new one.
8. Attempted to do apply the effects logged on as a different user.
9. Saved file, restarted machine and reopened numerous times but the problem persists.
10. Tried a lower resolution photo and the problem persists.
11. Attempted to import all the photos I planned to use, added transitions to all of the clips and rendered completely. Saved the file, restarted the machine and reopened the file with no change to the blank clips.
12. The iMovie trash emptying issue did nothing to help.
*Additional Notes:*
1. The problem is confined to the Ken Burns Effects in iMovie. I am able to work with true video clips without incident.
2. Ken Burns Effects operate properly in iPhoto 6 using the slideshow functionality.
3. I would use iPhoto, but it seems like it would be easier to line up specific sections of an audio track with certain Ken Burns Effects in iMovie. (i.e. – a crescendo at the 16 second mark of the audio track coincides with the end of a 'zoom' on a photo, transition from second 16-17 second mark, new photo at the 17 second mark and pan left to right from 17 second mark to the 25 second mark.) Point is that it lines up precisely with the markers on the audio track, which seems far easier to do in iMovie than iPhoto.
4. Please help me, I'm going nuts troubleshooting this bug! I can't find any resolution that works.
Thanks in advance for the help.
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.
Some thoughts that have occurred to me:
1. Perhaps your G4 500mhz Mac is not fast enough. I think that the minimum spec for iLife '06 is 733mhz. Might have nothing to do with this problem, but I just mention it.
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.
6. From your post, it appears that you have continuously worked within the same iMovie file that exhibits the Ken Burns problem. If this is true, try creating a new iMovie project and experimenting with a few clips to see if the problem persists in the new project.
Ken Burns issues can be very frustrating. I think that you will need to keep trying things until something works. Wish I could be more help, but perhaps some of the tech experts on this forum will have some workable suggestions.
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.

I need to do non-constrained crops for Ken Burns effect in photo slide show

I am making photo slide shows in imovie '09. I understand the Ken Burns effect and how to set a start and an end point. I want to use the effect on vertical or portrait mode photos. i would like to have the entire photo displayed in portrait mode and have it zoom in a bit. The problem is The start and end points seem to only be horizontal or landscape mode. I can't ever get the entire image selected. How can I do this?
Thanks,
Tim

You need to add the letterbox (black space) in another application. iMovie's Ken Burns effect will not do it for you. You can do it in Photoshop if you like.
However, there is a way to do it in Automator, and you can do hundreds of vertical photos very quickly. That is the way I do it.
Here is more detail:
There is also a quick way to pad your images without using Photoshop. This method will pad hundreds of images in just a few seconds.
You do it with a tool that comes with OS/X called Automator. It should be in your Applications/Utilities folder.
Automator is basically a workflow tool. It allows you to string together commands and actions into a workflow and then execute the entire sequence at once. If you have Snow Leopard, you can even add these workflows to your contextual menus that come up when you right-click.
There are many workflows that would work to pad your images. Here is an example:
In Automator, start a photo workflow and drag the following actions into the workflow from the Action palettes on the left.
You should have something like:
1)Ask for Photos (You must select one or more photos and hit Select - you can make this easier by putting them in an album beforehand)
2) Copy Finder Items (give it a folder to copy to- so you can find them easily)
3) Pad Images. (put a check mark in "scale image before padding" Pick the pixel dimensions of your project...like 640x480 or 960x540. or 1920x1080
Hit Run and a dialog box will come up asking you to select photos. When you are finished, press SELECT and the Automator script will keep running.
Then at the end you should have padded images in the folder you created in step 2.

Photo Settings not showing up; cannot remove Ken Burns effect

Hello,
Earlier today, I selected the photo setting button and a little box showed up with the Ken Burns effect options in it, however now when I select photo settings, the only thing that shows up is the preview of the of photo zooming/panning. Please help... how do I get back to that little box so I can remove the Ken Burns effect from my photos! Thanking you!

Also having the same problem. When going to show photo settings, it shows black screen. Un checking Ken Burns and updating does nothing. All photos in slide show have same super zoom of Ken Burns with no way to remove it or alter it.
iMovie HD broken, iMovie 08 ***... The only reason I purchased Mac was for handling media and I end up doing projects on my old pc using photoshop elements.

How to turn off ken burns effect in new imovie

The new iMovie---11-- how in the heck do I turn off the Ken Burns effect? Nothing against Mr Burns but.... I don't want everything to move!
Thanks!

Go to File/Project Properties and you can define the default behavior for adding stills to your project.
After clicking File/Project Properties, you will click on the Timing Tab. There you will see how to set the default still photo duration and the initial photo placement.
You an set it as Ken Burns, Fit, or Crop. You can always change it later in the Rotate, Crop, Ken Burns tools, but if you are importing a lot, it makes sense to set the default as the one you are most likely to need.

Jerky Ken Burns effect

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