Preset or change duration of still photos in iMovie project

Hi,
I work with iMovie 11 and never had any problem with previous versions.
Now I'm doing my first project in iM 11 and it just ignores my requests
When I set the duration in 'Project Properties' 'Apply to all photos' to e.g. 4 sec it will set the duration anything from 5 to 7 sec and no matter how often I change it will not react. If I set it to 3 sec (as an example) it will allow 5 sec. but never what I would like the duration to be.
This is a really annoying issue, more so when there a lot of still photos in the project.
Is there any way to rectify this or what else can I do???
thl

"problems setting duration for still photos and transitions in iMovie '11"
A number of people have experienced the same problem and written about it on discussions. Lots of difference solutions as well. If you search using the title quoted above, you can read the solution I found. It's more complicated than it should be. I've never had to fiddle as much with duration times for transitions and still photos. Nevertheless, the steps I have described work for me. You will also find the steps another reader offered that may work for you if all of your transitions are set for the same durations and all of the still photos are as well.

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Can't adjust clip duration of still photos in iMovie '11

Anyone having the same problem? I inserted a still photo in one of my projects in iMovie which has a a clip duration of 5s when added. I clicked the cogwheel icon then chose the inspector to adjust the duration. I've managed to changed it to 3s but after I clicked "Done", the clip duration is still under 5s.
I didn't encountered this problem before in iMovie '10 and I've searched over at Google and found out that many iMovie '11 users have the same dilemma.
Any workaround you can suggest? Thanks!

"problems setting duration for still photos and transitions in iMovie '11"
A number of people have experienced the same problem and written about it on discussions. Lots of difference solutions as well. If you search using the title quoted above, you can read the solution I found. It's more complicated than it should be. I've never had to fiddle as much with duration times for transitions and still photos. Nevertheless, the steps I have described work for me. You will also find the steps another reader offered that may work for you if all of your transitions are set for the same durations and all of the still photos are as well.

Transfered DVD ( via Handbrake ) to Aperture folder. Was able to transfer still photos to iMovie project but DVD project ( in same folder would not transfer. What is correct procedure?

Transfered DVD ( via Handbrake ) to Aperture folder. Was able to transfer photo stills to iMovie project BUT DVD project in same folder would not transfer to iMovie. What is correct procedure?

I actually already checked Pondini's and didn't find the answer. Any other suggestions?
thanks

How to change duration of multiple photos

Greetings - I'm trying to change the duration of multiple photos in iMovie. Basically, I'm trying to change the duration of about 300 images (to make a time-lapse movie), but can't for the life of me figure out how to do it.
I need to change the duration of every photo to 0:03, but when when I do so, it automatically imports the photos with a duration of 9:29, and I can only change the duration of individual photos after import. I made a time-lapse move a while ago but can't remember how to do it. Any thoughts?

Select a group of your stills in the time line. (I would do maybe 30 at a time, because to do the whole 300 at once might overwhelm the machine -- though you could try.) Then go to Media > Photos > Show Photo Settings. In the Show Photo settings dialogue box, set your duration to 0:03, and then hit Update. The selected photos should all update to 0:03. You may need to remove the transitions first.
Another way would be to set your duration for 0:03 on the first photo that you import into your timeline. Then all other photos that you import afterwards will have that same duration.

How can I make a still photo from imovie

How can I make a still photo from imovie?

Let's assume you have iMovie 11 (Version 9). (If you have a different version, let me know. The instructions will be different.)
First, get an app called MPEG Streamclip, which is free. (google MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5)
Open MPEG Streamclip.
In iMovie, select the clip you need. Then, right-click/Reveal in Finder.
Drag this clip into MPEG Streamclip
In MPEG Streamclip, move the playhead to the frame you want.
In MPEG Streamclip, click FILE/EXPORT FRAME.
Choose JPEG, TIFF, or PNG and give it a name.
You can then drag this photo into iPhoto.
I have created a short video Tutorial on how to do this. There is one error in the Tutorial, where it says that Command-click is the same as right-click. I should have said Control-click instead.

Help! I cannot create a jpeg (still photo) in iMovie '11

I have tried "freeze frame" but I cannot seem to get a movie clip to export a still photo in iMovie '11. Edit- create still does not exist in iMovie '11.

John Codgell has some tips on how to use MPEG Streamclip to do this on this Discussion Thread:
Helpful AnswerRe: can you make a still photo from clip

I've made a movie in iMovie. Now all of a sudden the sound that I added to my video is mute. I havn't changed anything and in my other iMovie-projects the sound is working fine. What is the problem? Help!

I've made a movie in iMovie. Now all of a sudden the sound that I added to my video is mute. I havn't changed anything and in my other iMovie-projects the sound is working fine. What is the problem? Help!

Try double tapping the movie clip itself when inserted in the timeline and ensure that sound is on on the actual clip on the movie time line.

Problems setting duration for still photos and transitions in iMovie '11

I downloaded iMovie 11 from the Apps Store last night and am trying to make my first movie with it today. I use still photos exclusively.
For most - but not all - I like 5 seconds for photos and for transitions 2 seconds. I do vary this on occasion and so do not check "for all photos' or "for all transitions".
I can't get these settings to work with this version of iMovie. For example, I added a photo (5 sec) then a transition (2 sec) which changed the duration time of the photo - as it should. But when I double clicked the photo, to bring up the inspector window to change the duration of the photo, nothing happened. Then I added another photo. The duration of the first photo increased to 7 seconds and nothing I do seemed to change that.
The time increases seem random: for example, sometimes the time on the still photo increases to 6:29 sec, sometimes to 7 sec.
The duration for the transitions always remains the same - 2 sec; it's the time for the photos that jumps around. And I haven't been able to find a way to get back to 5 sec.
Before posting this, I researched and found an number of earlier posts detailing the same issues.
However, none of these posts had stars to indicate the problem was solved.
Has anyone found a solution or is this a bug that should be reported to Apple?

Interesting!!
I've spent a lot of hours on this too, but I have come up with a different solution perhaps because I like to vary both the image duration and the transition duration in my movies.
Here's my process:
-> Knowing that (a) I want most of the photos to be visible for 5 seconds and most transitions for 2 seconds and (b) that a transition takes half from the photo before and half from the photo after, under File>Project Properties>Photo Duration I chose 7 seconds - each photo will 'lose' a total of 2 seconds from the transitions in front and behind. I did not check either "Applies to all transitions." or "Applies to all photos." - See below for why.
-> I discovered, as you have, that all the photos have to go in before I add any transitions. This was new to me. With all previous versions of iMovie I simply added a photo then a transition then another photo one at a time. I had to fiddle with the timing adjustments, but at least I could fiddle. With this new version of iMovie I can't. Once the transition is in place, I cannot change the duration of the photo.
-> Sometimes, I want a longer or shorter duration for a photo. For example, on photos to which I apply the Ken Burns effect, I often want the image on the screen for a slightly longer time. In this case, I have to use the inspector to change the duration before I add the transitions. So I might set the time for 8 seconds; when both transitions are added, the time for this photo becomes 6 seconds, which is what I want.
-> The same applies if I want a transition to be shorter or longer than 2 seconds. If, for example, I want the duration for a transition to be 1 second, then I have to change the duration on the two linked photos to 5 1/2 seconds.
All of this requires much more prior planning than I am used to with iMovie. Right now, I working with batches of 5 or 6 photos at a time. I don't put a transition on the last photo in the batch until I have added the next group of photos. And things get really tricky if I don't like my original design. If I want to change anything, I have to take out all of the transitions linking the photos I want to work on, do the math, make the changes in the photo durations, then put the transitions back.
Perhaps I am trying to make iMovie do more than it was intended to do, I don't know. Perhaps this problem stems from the fact that I bought just iMovie 11 from the Mac Apps Store and not the entire iLife 11. Don't know that either. But at least I have found a way to make the movie look the way I want it to look.
Thanks for sharing your process. I will use it when the circumstances are right.

Can't change duration of multiple photos

In iMovie 5 I was able to change the duration of multiple still photos all at once, but this feature does not seem to work in iMovie 6. I've searched the topics on this forum and tried the suggestions I found but nothing works. I can't even import a single photo with the duration I choose - iMovie defaults to a duration of 00:02 if I choose 00:05, for example. I'm creating a stop-motion movie from hundreds of photos and double-clicking on each one to set the duration seems ridiculous. Any ideas?

Hi rattlebrain - welcome to the forum!
It does work in iMovie 6:
Establish the duration you want as default before importing the pics, and also decide then whether or not you want to import with the KB effect selected.
To update after they have been imported, select them all in the Timeline/Clips View, then in the Photos Pane adjust the duration with the slider, and hit Update.
Note - you may have to click the "show photo settings" button to access the floating settings pane.

Change duration of all photos

How do you change the duration of all photos? I have over 100 photos in my movie, and they automatically import at a default length of 5 sec. Is there a way to change the default import setting for clip/photo duration? Or is there a way to batch change all photos in my movie to a set duration if I want them all to be the same length? Rather than changing the length of each photo individually...

There is a problem with the photo settings for very short clips from stills. The Ken Burns setting goes wonky for clips less than 18 frames -- not just the zoom extents, but number of frames, also.
While you can set a still to a minimum of three frames (0:00:03), you cannot do it from the Photo Settings dialog box -- and you can only make the settings one clip at a time.
If you double-click on a frame (or control-click and choose "Show Info"), you'll get a "Clip info" dialog in which the clip's duration can be changed to 0:00:09 frames. But you may have to change your work-flow habit just a bit. Select the target photo in the media panel. When the Photo Settings box appears, uncheck Ken Burns, reduce the duration slider to minimum, and zoom and position the shot as desired. Then click "Apply" to place the still photo on the clip viewer. Once your photos are on the clip viewer, double-click them (one-at-a-time) to open the Clip Info window for that clip. Set your intended duration and move on to the next one.

Changing duration of a photo clip in iMovie 5.0.2

I can't change the duration of my photo clips consistently. Sometimes when I highlight a clip it shows in the photo pane (top right) and I can then use the speed slider bar which in 5.0.2 is underneath the small photo.
However, often the clip I want does NOT show in the photo pane -- I see the very first clip I imported with its duration. So I have to delete the clip, and import it again, redo the effect and the transition -- isn't there an easier way?
(In 5.0.2 when one double clicks the clip, all you get is the information about the clip, with no means to change the duration.)
Thank you!

Hi pdfac - you will find that the culprit is the effect that you have added. Photos without added effects will display in the Photos Pane, but those with an effect added will not. It will be necessary to remove the effect. Just select the pic in the Timeline or Clips View, and hit 'Delete. That removes the effect but not the pic. Now the duration can be adjusted. If you have added effects to quite a few that need duration adjustments, by selecting them all, you can do the operation all at one go.
Note - you do not have to trash the photos and start again!
You cannot change the duration by double-clicking, because the pics have become video clips, as a result of having the Ken Burns box ticked. The quality is best if the box IS ticked.

Time-lapse still photos to IMovie???

Greetings.
I have a Nikon D2x that will shoot time lapse photography. I tried a test of 30 images (one second of video). So I have a folder of JPG images which I then resized to 640x480 at 72dpi.
At first I tried to import these stills into IM just by dragging and dropping my pictures into the clips window to the right of the viewer. It took a while for these to "render" but when they finished, I placed a few of the images in the time line.
I pressed play, thinking that each photo would show for 1/30th of a second, but what happened instead, stayed on the first photo, did a pan out, and then went to the next photo.
My question, (and maybe IMovie is the wrong app for this) is how do you take a sequence of still photos and have them play each for 1/30 or 1/24 of a second so that I can see the out come of my time lapse photography?
Thank you for your help.
Jonathan

how do you take a sequence of still photos and have them play each for 1/30 or 1/24 of a second so that I can see the out come of my time lapse photography?
The easiest is to use QuickTime Pro ($30, from Apple). It lets you import a series of images to a movie, creating just what you want. You can tell it to import the images at 30 frames per second or any duration you want.
It can be done in iMovie too, but there are some hurdles. One is that iMovie lets us import a photo with a duration no shorter than 3 frames per second (shown as 0:00:03).
But there is a back door. See this topic:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=3210397
I pressed play, thinking that each photo would show for 1/30th of a second, but what happened instead, stayed on the first photo, did a pan out, and then went to the next photo.
That happened because the Ken Burns settings in the Photo Settings window were set to zoom in. Turn off the Ken Burns checkbox and import the image as a still instead of an animated video clip.
Karl

Adding music to still photos in iMovie, wont syncronize with rhythm markers.

I´m trying to simply add music to a series of still photos, and I want the photos to change according to the rhythm of the song (I´ve set rhythm markers). This just wont happen, allthough I´ve followed every instruction in the "Help"-menu. I´ve tried both locking the project to rhythm and unlocking it. Some of the photos change with the rhythm in the music, others just skip and are automatically set to last 0.1 seconds (why??) Can anybody tip me on what might be the problem? Is there a bug in here? I usually get these kind of things, but this really bothers me - can´t seem to figure it out.

Hi Matt.
Yes, I´ve tried this. It´s the same result - some of the pictures change with the beat markers, others just skip. For some reason suddenly two pictures lie between two beat markers (instead of one picture pr marker), though I never wanted this. Also; do I have to seperately make a project with only pictures and make sure this is exactly the order I want them to appear in, and then copy/paste them into a project with the music track and beat markers? It seems like everytime I try to change the order/delete pictures the beat markers (the few ones which are in the right place...) move and get out of sync, allthough I believed the "lock to beat/rhythm"-function would prevent this?

I need to add text over a still photo in iMovie. Following directions that always worked before but not this time.

I am running OS 10.6.8, an upgrade that I did after Christmas. A couple of times a year, I need to make a video of my students' performances, and have always been able to add text over the still photos before, using the directions in iMovie "help." However, this time, I am not able to choose a title style; no amount of clicking makes anything show up on the selected still photo. And no amount of trying to choose the font style makes anything show up either.
This is iMovie 09; is it possible that it is not compatible with my OS upgrade?
I've been able to insert still photos into the video footage, but can't add any titles or acknowledgements. Thank you so much for your help! Since I only do this a couple of times a year, it always takes me forever to accomplish, which is why I printed off the Help directions to follow.

just to make thing clear (sorry for sounding impudent!)
you do .... :
create a New Project
make a selection of an Event and add it to the Project
select a title and drag it onto the clip?
iM does work with your OS ...

Still Photos in iMovie

This may have been asked by another user in the past, but I can't see one at this time. Anyway, I was making a "movie" in iMovie using some still photos mixed in with some video. At any rate, the still photos when viewed in iMovie have jagged edges along straight lines which ruins the quality of the photo. I have tried several procedures to try and resolve this issue, but to no avail. When building a slide show in iPhoto, these same pictures are crystal clear. I have even taken these iPhoto slideshows and exported to quicktime and copied and pasted these into exported iMovie movies, but that seems like too many steps. Besides, since iMovie allows pictures to be imported, I would hope that they should still remain high quality.
Thanks for all your help in advance!

hi Tully:
Read what Matti Haveri has docomented on the 'jaggies' in imovie:
iMovie HD 6.0.3 renders jaggy still images when sending them to tape or iDVD
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#jaggystills
Sue

Preset or change duration of still photos in iMovie project

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