No Drop Zones in iMovie Themes?

Hi,
My mother has been working with iMovie HD recently, as she recently got an eMac from her school district. However, there seems to be something wrong with her installation. When she goes into the Themes menu and selects one to add photos to, the drop zone dialogue which would usually contain little numbered boxes is empty. There is no way to add photos into the boxes. The grey areas which usually signify a box are colored white as well.
The problem wasn't occurring just hours before. I'd really appreciate some help on this one. Is it a fixable problem? Or should I try reinstalling ilife? (and if thats the case how can I do a clean un-install / reinstall of the ilife suite?)
Thanks so much!

Welcome to discussions, Jake:
Try deleting the imovie preference file.
Close Imovie.
Then locate a file named com.apple.imovie.plist and get rid of it. Then empty the trash, run a permissions repair with disk utility and restart. That should do it. The files you need to delete are found in:
/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.imovie.plist
Sue

Similar Messages

First Time Mac User: Question Re: iDVD Drop Zone on Standard Theme

Oh My! I love this program and have spent all day on it. How do I add more than just 6 pictures to the watercolor theme? If I put numerous photo's in one drop zone, it only displays one of the photo's? Frustrated!!!! Observe

Two ways to do this is to make up a series of short slideshows in iPhoto or FotoMagico and drop it into each drop zone. Or you can even use YOUR slideshow in each drop zone by just selecting the autofill button on your menu. You can adjust each "movie" to play from different points and also change the "loop" time for your theme so that it only plays for 30 seconds or so (time it to suit the music).

Adding pictures to a theme, but not in the drop zones...

I don't know if this is a really noob ou really tricky question, but here it goes : )
I'd like to add a/some picture(s) to a iDVD theme, but not in the drop zones. I'd like my pictures to appear as layers, choose whoch one goes in front, and so on...
Is there any way to do that?
Thx, and happy new year ; )
iMac 24' 2,16GHz CodeDuo2 GeForce 7300 GT 1Gh DDR Mac OS X (10.4.8)

In that case you would need to prepare the background as a QT movie exactly the way you want to display it as a background movie and then drag and drop that prepared QT file to iDVD.
I've never done this type of movie in iLife apps alone but I have with FCP & DVD SP which offers these additional video editing options for sizing pip and frames in an existing movie / menu.
Also check the help Menu for iDVD6 (and iMovie) if you haven't already. I did a search for you and here's what I came up with:
Changing the background image of a DVD menu
You can replace the background image in a menu with your own image. Images in menu backgrounds are cropped to fit the standard DVD window size, but the aspect ratio of the original image is preserved. If you want your image to fit the DVD window exactly, first use an image-editing application to resize the image to 640 x 480 for standard video and 854 x 480 for widescreen.
When you replace a background image, you can also choose to keep the drop zones or remove them completely.
Here are ways to change the background image:
Drag a picture file from the Finder or the Media pane to a DVD menu background, outside a drop zone. Before you drop the picture, press the Command key and choose "Replace background" or "Replace background and drop zones" from the contextual menu that appears (shown above). Then release the mouse button.
Click the Menu button and drag a picture file from the Finder to the background well in the Menu pane. If your theme has drop zones, the drop zones disappear.
Click the Media button, then click Photos. Drag a photo from your iPhoto library or another folder to your DVD menu. If your theme has drop zones, the drop zones are retained.
Choose File > Import > Image, locate and select an image, and click Import. If your theme has drop zones, the drop zones are retained.
To remove a background image and return to the default image for the theme, click the Menu button and drag the image out of the background well (shown above).
Hope this answers your question/s.
SDMacuser

Editing a picture to fit into theme drop zone

I have cropped a picture in iphoto to remove a damaged portion and to reposition the important part of the picture to show in the Memories theme in idvd but the original photo keeps appearing.
I have several questions.
Can I move a picture in the drop zone in a theme like Memories that is horizontal to better show the important part of the picture rather than the midpoint?
Why does my original photo and not the cropped photo appear in the drop zone even when the picture I see shows the cropped picture?

This is where DVDSP out performs iDvd. There is much more latitude (literally) within apple's pro apps for exactly this type of work. It is possible within iDvd also (to a marginal extent). But there's only so much i-apps will offer when compared to apple's pro apps. Hence the need for a graphics editing app (ie, PhotoShop).
It actually becomes a bit frustrating without the additional features / tools to do the work that's needed to customize your iDvd in this respect. It's almost as if one is at the mercy of the software along with it's built in limitations. It is a shortfall IMO, even though it is intended as a consumer app.

Wronge clips in drop zones

When I drag a clip into the drop zone of a theme, a different clip appears and plays in it's place. I have tryed deleting the incorrect clip and drag and pasting again, but the same clip keeps comming up. An suggestions?

There's a bug. Instead of playing the clip you drop in the drop zone, iMovie plays from the beginning of that clip's media file.
As Matti suggested, the solution is to export the clip from the Timeline to a Full Quality movie, then import that movie to the project and drag it to the drop zone.
Karl

Not scaling images in drop zone

Hi,
For some reason when I drop an image into a drop zone in iDVD 6, it will not scale the image so a large chunk of the image is cropped off. Since the image I need to use has some text on it, I'm trying t resize it to fit in an external editor, but no luck as of yet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many, many thanks,
David

David,
I know I used to have the problem you described back in the iDVD 4 (or earlier) days, but I just did some more checking.
The article Selecting the portion of a movie or image that appears in the drop zone at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/5.0/en/258.html says (in part): When you drag a picture or movie into a drop zone, the aspect ratio of the image is preserved and it is scaled larger or smaller until the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the image meets the edge of the drop zone. You can move the image to choose which portion of the image is visible in the drop zone.
The article was written for iDVD 5 but when I 'fired up' iDVD 6 and tried some 5 megapixel images in the drop zones of several themes, everything worked as advertised in the article.
What theme are you having problems with?
F Shippey

Photo dragged to drop zone not resized

iDVD is supposed to automatically resize photos dragged to drop zones to fit the screen. Not so. The photo I dragged was cropped and enlarged. How do I fix it?

I also had this problem and it was only by chance that I decided to use a still image from my film to use in one of the drop zones (from iMovie). This photo fit perfectly in the narrow portrait drop zone. I opened the photo in Photoshop to discover the size is actually 960 x 720. I created a new image with these dimensions and placed my desired image in the exact middle of the display. Voila!

Drop zones for both portait and landscape photos?

I'm looking to create a template similar to the Appletv screen saver. I can figure out how to stack the photos in 3D and do motion paths. My question is specifically how to create drop zones into which I can drop either portrait or landscape photos without having to worry about them getting squeezed or cut off. Or is there some other software I need to use?

Thanks so much to both of you. Mark, you are exactly right. I would like to be able to somehow dump a bunch of photos, regardless of orientation, into existing drop zones and have them look correct. I tried placing a portrait photo into the existing drop zones in the appletv motion project and it cropped it. On the actual Appletv itself, it does not crop or squeeze portrait photos.
Do you know of any workarounds to help me do what I would like to do, other than learning how to program core animation?

Drop Zones - Changing shapes and sizes

This may not be possible with DVD Studio Pro, but does anyone have an idea how to change the size and shape of a Drop Zone and distort them so they look like they are laying on the ground or have some scale.
Refer to a Star Wars DVD where the drop zone is on the deck of the death star, or shaped round, or against a building. Much like the distort tool in Final Cut Pro, but can you do it in DVD studio Pro?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

sorry typo, assets
You can use Photoshop, Final Cut, Motion, After Effects or other program you like using, you mentioned the distort tool in Final Cut, and there are similar tools in the other programs.
What you would do is compositie the menu in Motion or AE or FCP (if you want movement) and make the drop zones part of that (or in Photoshop) The drop zones can also just be manipulated by going into DVD SP --> Package--Resources and you can see the actual files, copy and distort the copy to use. Makke sure to use a copy

Drop Zones formats ?

Can someone tell me if you can use FCE Final Cut Movies in the drop zones on the themes in iDVD 5.0 ?

Hi lucey,
Here is what the Apple KB article says: iDVD 5 Help: Preparing your Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro movie to work with iDVD.
Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver) Mac OS X (10.4.3)

How to remove iDVD Template Drop Zones?

Hi! I'm looking to remove all drop zones from iDVD to have a simple black background that could be replaced with a .mov file.
Essentially, I'd like to remove the 3 drop zones from the "Modern" 7.0 theme.
Please let me know if this is possible, thanks!
Alex

This is from iDVD Help: _Adding or hiding drop zones_
The drop zones in a theme are a permanent part of the graphics or animations included in that theme. Therefore, you can’t add drop zones, delete individual drop zones, or change the location of drop zones on a menu. You can, however, hide all the drop zones on a menu so that they don’t appear in your final project. This is particularly helpful when you want to create a simple custom theme.
To hide all drop zones on a menu screen:
Make sure the menu whose drop zones you want to hide is showing in the iDVD window.
With your pointer over the menu, press Command-I to open the Menu Info window.
Deselect the “Show drop zones and related graphics” checkbox.
The drop zones immediately disappear from the menu, and they do not appear in your final burned project. Some other graphical elements may also be hidden.
You can always show the drop zones and ornaments again after you’ve hidden them. Simply open the Menu Info window and select the “Show drop zones and related graphics” checkbox.
To replace the background, open the menu info window. For full directions, go to iDVD Help, and look up _Changing the background image of a DVD menu_.
I hope this helps.

Plain backgrounds, arrow icons, and drop zones

Plain backgrounds
Is there a quick way to have a simple, plain color background within iDVD, or do I have to create colored layered in Photoshop and import that? I'd like a plain black background, no drop zones.
Arrow icons
Some themes include arrow icons that act as "Return to main menu" buttons in the submenus. How do I change or delete these? I am able to move them, but I can't find the different shapes listed in the Buttons menu, and I can't select them to delete them. One click hits the button and brings me back to the main menu.
Drop Zones
Is there a way to completely delete a drop zone from a theme or background? I see how to modify and edit the drop zones, but don't see an option to delete it completely.
I'm more accustomed to using DVD Studio Pro, but this project is already made in iDVD and won't import into DVD SP.

You will need to create a black jpg image and drop it into the well in the upper left hand corner of the menu pane. That will give you a black menu background.
I think you are stuck with the arrows.
I am not aware of any way to completely delete a drop zone.

IMovie Drop Zones for Themes in 6 HD--Not appearing

All of the iMovie 6 HD themes open fine, but the drop zones do not appear. Any suggestions? Debbie

I have 'somewhat' found my own answer .... I did a re-install via original iLife 06 CD all iMovie Themes ... did a few runs to see how it all works and it does - they are no longer missing ... but, did have a crash of iMovie after doing several various trials using my Themes ...
Have reported this to Apple via 'Report Bugs to Apple' ... hopefully they will read it.
ApB

I'm trying to burn a dvd from idvd but I keep getting error message, broken assets, but when I check my drop zones and their content there's no error messages on any of them?

I'm trying to burn a dvd from idvd but I keep getting error message, broken assets, but when I check my drop zones and their content there's no error messages on any of them?

Hi
And if You change view - in main "window/view field" so that You see the box-plot structure.
No exclamation marks there either ?
and non at the front page ?
iDVD do not copy Your material - only points to where it is stored. So if on any external hard disks, USB-memories, CDs or DVDs are missing - assetts are broken.
Or if You changed location of any material or directed iPhoto or iTunes or GarageBand to a new Library - Then iMovie/iDVD also get's lost.
Yours Bengt W

Adding Drop Zones to Themes

Playing around with iMovie 6 and so far, so good. However, in working with the themes I haven't found a way to add drop zones to the Drop Zone pane. Does anyone know how to do it or if it's possible?

A trick I have used to compensate for the limited number of themes instead of using transitions is to create the same theme and reverse the direction. The last picture on theme #1 is also the first picture on theme #2. Then I change the other pictures on theme # 2 to whatever I want.
The theme zooms on a picture, pause there for a second and then zooms back out and continues.
Yes I know on theme #2 the pages get turned in reverse, but I guarentee, most people are so amazed, they don't even notice.
I am sure there will be third party themes in the future.

No Drop Zones in iMovie Themes?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for