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.

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Remove ken burns effect from photos in iMovie HD

I am trying to burn iphotos slideshows to DVD like I used to do before newer versions stopped supporting iDVD. I was advised on this board to use iMovie HD and it seems to be working and I am pleased with the integration with iDVD. But when I used the ken burns effect on some of my slides I got a shimmering effect. So I tried to get rid of it. In iMovie HD, you are supposed to slect the media tab and click on "show Photo settings" This gives you a window where you can adjust the Kne Burns setting or uncheck the box. When I uncheck the box, nothing happens. Whther I press "update" or not, the effect is still there. This is a 1000-slide project. I hope I don't have to start over.
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Thanks for the response, butt.. this is iMovieHD (or version 6). There is no crop or fit tool in this version (as far as I can tell). There is a "crop" choice in the Edit pulldown menu, but I think that's for clips. And this verison doesn't give you boxes for the Ken Burns effect. These things are in later versions of iMOvie, but those versions don't integrate as well with iDVD which is most important to me.

Always same ken burns effect in imovie HD 6?

Hi,
When creating a slideshow in iPhoto, the app appropriately randomizes the speed and direction of the Ken Burns Effect that it applies to the various pics. When adding photos to iMovie '08, it does the same (as far as I can tell).
But when adding a bunch of photos in iMovie HD 6, it seems to just apply the same exact effect to every photo. Boring. Am I missing something, or is there some clever way to tell it to mix it up a bit? Or am I left to manually go into each photo to adjust the Ken Burns magic? Not something I'd want to do to a couple hundred pictures. Thanks.

.. ehm? iM is an editor.. any video imported can be edited.. so, if you create your 1.5h slideshow in iPhoto, for sure, you can split that beast into as many parts as you need.. clips are not 'solid'.
set playhead at wanted position, press simultanously the keys Apple-T.. as spliT ... presto! two clips, allowing inserting a video, another still, whatever..
Of course, I hadn't thought that far ahead but that should work just fine. Thanks!
Sort of limits my creativity and options ...
.. hm.. a machine generated, 'randomly' done KB is no 'creativity', imho; doing it manually is my understanding of 'options' ..
I've got to disagree on this one. IMHO, applying Ken Burns to a couple hundred photos is exactly what the Mac should be doing for me. Of course, I will need to go and tweak some here and there, but if I was forced to do every one manually, then I think that would be a weakness in the app. Having it take care of lighter fare like that frees time to make more important creative decisions around duration, color, audio, video, etc. Your tips should have me on the way to doing that, so thanks again.

Automatic Ken Burns Effect in iMovie HD 6.0

I'm creating a slideshow in iMovie HD 6.0. I've imported about 300 still photos from iPhoto. If you create a slideshow in iPhoto, it applies the Ken Burns effect to all the photos at once. And the effect varies from photo to photo. (It will zoom in, zoom out, move right, move left, etc.) In iMovie HD 6, it appears you have to apply the Ken Burns effect to each photo individually and the only effect I could see was a zoom in.
Similar to iPhoto, if possible in the my iMovie project: I want to apply a Ken Burns effect to all of them at once and (ii) I want the Ken Burns effect to vary from photo to photo.
Possible? How?

The remaining problem (which is the reason I ended up trying to do this in iMovie rather than iPhoto) is that I can't figure out a way to lay down audio tracks that tie to certain slides, fade in and out, etc.
Is there a way to do this in iPhoto that I didn't realize? Or is there a way to do it in iMovie to the imported iPhoto slideshow?
If you want to make these changes to the audio, that editing can be done in iMovie. However, you first should create the Quicktime movie of the slideshow without music. Then import this film into iMovie. You are then able to import your music and do the editing to get the results you want. I have used this method on a project I am currently working on.
I have a question for Rich839. Could you explain what you mean by "Full Quality" Quicktime movie? I want to be sure that I didn't overlook anything.

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

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