Still Life vs. Photo To Movie

Anyone use either Still Life or Photo to Movie? Looking for pros or cons on either as I'm trying to make up my mind which to purchase.

I have bought a copy of (IMO somewhat overpriced) PTM and have been pleased with it although I confess that I VERY rarely use it for real work.
About 1-2 years ago I compared the quality of PTM, SL and iMovie's Ken Burns and I liked PTM the best (High Qaulity output setting had no flicker on an interlaced TV which was disturbing with the competing apps).
PTM's learning curve might be steeper than with other apps.
SL can 'Export to iMovie project' but how do you export to existing iMovie projects? By outputting .dv and importing that to iMovie (or putting it directly in the Media folder as a shortcut), right? Then there is no difference with PTM vs SL in this respect, right?
I tested SL's 'Export to iMovie project' but AFAIR I got some unexpected behaviour (sorry, can't remember the details...). And how does SL currently handle the different project structure of iMovie 1-4 vs 5-6?
I recently heard about PhotoMagico (sp?) but have not tried it yet.

Similar Messages

  • Still Life, Photo 2 Movie, Fotogmagico - anyone like them w/iLife software?

    Hello -
    I'm looking to do photo montage effects beyond just the Ken Burns effect in iMovie (or iPhoto). I have FCE but don't want to keyframe (not even totally sure how to do that yet)!
    I'm looking for recommendations here:
    - does anyone recommend any of these? if so, which one?
    - do they integrate easily with the iLife suite of software?
    - which program do you use for final output (are you bringing back into an iLife or Apple product to finalize as a movie or burn to DVD, etc.?)
    I need to get up to speed quickly and easily on the program so it's key that it's intuitive. I heard good things about Still Life but read somewhere it's discontinued and the forums link is broken on their website - never a good thing.
    Thanks SO much for your help!

    "..Have you heard anything about Still Life being discontinued?.." ..It says so on their website: http://www.grantedsw.com/
    However, their most recent version, 2.4, is - it seems - a 'Universal' version, and so it WILL run on an Intel Mac.
    "..How would I know if it works on an Intel-based Mac.." ..because it's described as a "Universal binary", i.e; the kind of program which runs on both PowerPC Macs and also on Intel Macs.
    It downloads OK for me ..the link isn't broken.
    Hold down your Ctrl key and click on the picture alongside the description of Still Life. When it's downloaded, change the suffix from .dms (..if that's what it is..) to .dmg and then double-click that .dmg 'disc image'. It should open to show the Still Life application ..and just drag that to your Applications folder.
    "..Could you not do transitions in Still Life?.." ..No - unless this 2.4 version also includes some transitions. The version I use (version 2.2.3) just manipulates individual photos ..turns them, zooms them, moves them along a path, etc. You can manipulate as many separate photos as you want, then import the resultant .DV movies into iMovie and then apply iMovie's transitions between them.
    "..is there any drop in quality bringing it in.." ..None at all. Of course, you mustn't zoom in too strongly (..i.e; to a greater magnification than the standard DV video resolution ..call it 640x480..) or your pictures will look horribly pixellated. But Still Life provides an onscreen warning, or won't let you zoom in to such an extent that it might spoil your pics.
    You'll need - obviously! - a higher resolution pic than the DV video resolution of about 640x480 to start with if you want to zoom in at all!
    So if you want to use a 4x zoom, you'd need to start with a picture which has at least 2x 640 pixels width and 2x 480 pixels height, i.e; a pic of at least 1280x960.
    If you wanted an 8x zoom, you'd need to start with a pic of at least 2560x1920 pixels. That goes for all the picture-zooming programs ..and for the Ken Burns effect within iMovie itself. If you try to zoom in too far into a low-resolution photo, you'll just end up with pixellated blobs, whichever program you use!

  • Photo To Movie - A solution to Jaggy edges to a moving still?  (Ken Burns)

    Hello Hello
    I know folks have talked about this before ......
    I recently received a tip about 'Photo to Movie', and how it improves those Jaggy images (the outer parameter of a photo), that can be seen in both Quicktime (on your computer screen), AND from a burned DVD on your TV.
    Well I have to admit that 'Photo to Movie' definitely helps remove the Jaggies.
    BUT
    Is is just me - or is it true that there is less quality in those panned and zoomed images as compared to iMovie? It certainly looks so to me ...... perhaps less detail .... on the TV screen
    Ya know when iMovie HD came out, I immediately saw an improvement in the resolution of burned movies onto a DVD on the TV.
    I've read the other posts about the Jaggy problem in Pans and Zooms including these solutions:
    Workaround #1 is to turn ON the Ken Burns Effect before importing an image.
    (I always do that)
    Workaround #2 is to convert still images to good quality video with Photo To Movie. Photo To Movie and Still Life have more features than iMovie's built-in Ken Burns effect. Photo To Movie's High Quality setting renders still images into very good quality video that doesn't flicker when viewed on a TV.
    (I just bought Photo to Movie - it works)
    But again is there a trade off in perhaps less detail in the images?
    Thanx

    When you look at movies, or frames of movies, in iMovie, you're looking at the entire frame. So if you import photos into iMovie, and don't use any panning or zooming, you'll see the entire photo ..but - as Karsten and Matthew say - at a reduced quality than the original photo(s), because movie resolution is lower than photo resolution.
    To create a zoom out or pan effect across a picture, you obviously have to start with a smaller area of the picture than the area of the full photo. You then travel across the photo, still using a smaller area than the full photo, or you zoom out until you're looking at the entire photo.
    If you start with a smaller section that the full photo, then if the photo has only a little higher resolution than video (..say it's a 3 megapixel photo..) then that smaller section has to be automatically enlarged to fill the entire video frame, so the apparent resolution of that smaller area of the entire picture will probably appear to be less sharp than the overall, entire photo.
    It's like examining a newspaper photo with a magnifying glass: you'll start to see the detail of the dots which comprise the photo, instead of seeing the overall photo as a whole.
    The higher the resolution of the original photo - e.g; 8 or 10 megapixels - the less will seem to be the quality loss as you pan or zoom across a small region of it.
    But if you start with a 2, 3 or perhaps 5 megapixel photo, then - depending on how far you zoom "into" it - you may well see a poorer quality image in the panned or zoomed sections than you would see on the overall image.
    ..As in the film "Blow-Up" ..the more you magnify something, the less clear it can become ..unless maybe you're using an electron microscope..

  • Still photo from movie

    I have been trying to figure out how to get a still photo from a movie clip. Is there anyway to take a still from the imovie video? I thought I could just drag and drop it on desktop but that isn't allowed. Any advice if this can be done. I do not want to use the still in part of the movie, I just want a still from the movie to use as a picture I can print out. Thanks for help.

    This is easily done. Do a search of this discussion and you will find numerous posts on how to do it.

  • Cant open pages/I photo/I movie/Keynotes and Numbers anymore

    Dear All
    After cleaning my mac with the program clean my mac (http://macpaw.com/), I cant open pages/I photo/  I movie/Keynotes and Numbers anymore. The icons are still in the bar below, but with a with a crossed circle.
    I took my macbook (Mac Os 10.6.8) to the apple store and they recommended me to reinstall MacOSX again (which I did). Afterwards i reinstalled application and I life.
    With the the small success that I can open the system prefernces again but not the other programs mentioned above.
    Any tips?
    Thanks a lot!
    best regards

    Thanks for the info. I will add one item to my blacklist.
    I would backup my datas,
    wipe out the HD
    reinstall on the clean HD
    restore my datas
    and after that, everything would behave flawlessly.
    Oops, I forgot to say : before wiping the HD, check that you have the iWork registration code available somewhere if you **** bought an iWork license (not a Dvd).
    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) samedi 2 juillet 2011 21:34:43 iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8
    Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community
    To be the AW6 successor, iWork MUST integrate a TRUE DB, not a list organizer !

  • Photo to Movie...to iMovieHD

    Hi, I must travel this week for work and do not have laptop MAC but do have a laptop PC. I would like to work on a slideshow while away. I am wondering if I put Photo to Movie in my PC laptop can I then burn the files to a cd or DVD and import them into iMovie when I return. I have Still life on my MAC. Does Photo to Movie also save to Quicktime?
    A quick reply would be wonderful as I need to leave Monday.
    Thank you so much.
    Sue

    Sue,
    I'm not familiar with the WIndows version of Photo to Movie.
    It seems logical that you could do what you propose.
    Why not conduct a little test?
    You might also try contact LQ Graphics directly.
    [email protected]
    Matt

  • Error While downloading the file A server Error has occurred, please try again later Downloading Yahoo mail Application Attachments  Trying to download My Photos and movie 3 items so i can delete them all

    I have icloud and a new iPhone5 ! They work good , took pictures and a few short movies, plugged in my phone to my iMac transfered Items to iPhoto then inported items to iMovie. when getting to know what i was doing i decided to delete pictures and movies i no longer wanted. when i looked for a few missing items i opend Finder and there some where buyt i had already trashed them and deleted the doubles. Still could not find missing pictures and movies 3 items and today after calling yahoo about a different complant with sending feed back for Yahoo mail Applications login . i opened up Attachments Not the Large Attachments just Attachments and there were the 3 items i had been hunting for to Trash and delete. the mail Attachments file does not have the Option to delet Files and photos and movies. When i tried to Download the 3 items a window shows up that says Error While Downloading the Files, A Server Error has occured, please Try Again later. nothing works how do i remove the Trapped photo and movie Blank Files and trash them?  Onece they get into my downloads i can do something with them as i understand.    That part of it kind of keeps me in Question also because why should i have to down load my own files of Attachments / Pictures and movies if they are comming from my iMac?    How much better is iLife11 then iPhoto08 and iMovie08 .  Thanks Greg

    Hello,
    Thank you for your post.
    This is a quick note to let you know that we are performing research on this issue.
    If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact
    [email protected]
    Simon Wu
    TechNet Community Support

  • Apple TV vs. PS3 for photos & home movies

    I'm sure some of you have both of these units and have a comparison as to which unit displays photos & home movies better (sharpness, color, etc.) I recently bought the Apple TV and I'm not that impressed with the photo quality and 960x540 home movie recoding quality. The PS3 outputs at 1080p, and should be superior to the Apple TV in quality. I know you can use the Medialink software on the PS3 to interface with my Mac's iphoto & itunes.
    Looking for some real world comparisons from owner's of both systems.
    Thanks guys

    I own both, use a Mac for my computer, and have owned my PS3 longer than the Apple TV.
    Honestly, the PS3 sees more use than my ATV. However, for simple viewing of iTunes media on my HDTV, the ATV works well whereas I know I'd have issues with the PS3.
    I use a transcoding media app on OSX that allows me to browse through my videos on my PS3 as if my iMac were a media server. The system works quite well, honestly. I'd say that it is EASIER in a way to view non-Apple-formated videos this way, but if it is a standard that iTunes or ATV can play in HD, then the ATV works better and outputs it at the HD res without transcoding loss like I'd see through the PS3-media server linkage.
    For example: I have all of Farscape and Babylon 5 bought through the ITMS and thus watch it on my HDTV via the ATV. Also, my other videos that iTunes plays play though the ATV perfectly well without some of the network hitching I get when trying to view them transcoded via the PS3 media server (I'm convinced this is a case of my iMac needing more RAM to let my 2 cores do their work..... if only I had the new 27" iMac.... drool . . . . 4 cores available do to the encoding.....) for the HD versions (for example, the HD version of the popular "where the **** is matt" youtube video).
    As an iTunes interface to an HDTV, the ATV does its job and does it well (with some caveats). Outside of that, the PS3 excels. Also, HD movies through the ITMS are nothing compared to their blueray counterparts. Then again, the PSN video store pales in comparison to the ITMS. Star Trek is available in HD through the PSN video store, but the audio is only in 2ch stereo. Sad. I have the movie on blu-ray (which has the audio in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD), so I'm not sure what the HD version is on the ITMS.
    I see the 2 systems (ATV and PS3) as complementing each other. My PS3 is my blu-ray player, non-iTunes video player, and game system. My ATV is my iTunes interface for my Home Theater system. However, as I live in an apartment, I more generally just use my apple remote and control the audio on my iMac directly. Still, the ATV is quite useful for nights when I just want to rent a video (the PSN video store is lacking,and the new netflix service for the PS3 requires a Netflix authorization disc to use in the PS3.... most likely due to contractual agreement..... (thankyou M$ for binding Sony's hands like that, you know you're the ones who did that with your money paid to Netflix). The ITMS through the ATV is therefore easier for me to use and more expansive on video selection (though I still have yet to see Gods and Generals appear on the ITMS video store.... grrr), so for HD rental, the ATV is the choice I make.
    As far as photos.... since my Photos are in the standard place on my mac, the ATV is more readily there to display them all than is my PS3, which would require me to have up and running the media server app on my Mac (which I don't always have running).
    So, like I said, the 2 systems complement each other. Still, for the specific use you're talking about, I think the ATV does just fine. However, if you're looking for a comprehensive system, I might suggest the PS3 first, as you get the PSN, blu-ray player, and game system all in one. If you can, though, BOTH is even better (and affordable since the PS3 Slim now came out.... though I have been hearing gripes about some problems with people's PS3 Slims.... but that's in Sony's Disc. forums, and it is like the ones here: kind of an emergency room).

  • How do i get a still image from my home movies in iMovie 09

    On you tube it how's how to do this on iMovie 08, however, I cant find out how to create a still image from my home movie, and possibly export it to iPhoto,
    any help much appreciated

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

  • Problem using "Photo to Movie" and "Toast 8 Titanium" for dvd slideshow

    I used photo to movie to compile a 20 minute collection of photos for a relative's funeral. All the files were still photos (no video) but I added 4 songs (that I had in iTunes).
    When I go to "create movie", I normally select NTSC for toast, but when I do so toast gives me an error saying "filename.dv is an unsupported format and cannot be imported".
    I just went throw this process a day ago for a wedding slideshow (using same computer and workflow) and it worked fine!!! What could be causing this?
    I have downloaded all the latest updates of both toast and photo to movie.

    I finally figured out (after 8 hrs of troubleshooting) that there was one photo in there it didnt like. When I finally found the photo (by process of elimination) and replaced it, everything worked fine. Just wish the error messaging would be more specific to help me locate the problem!

  • Moving photos and movies to free up space on hard drive

    My MacBook hard drive is almost full. The majority of the space is taken up by photos and movies. I would like to move my current collection of photos and movies to an external hardrive, and then delete the files off my harddrive so that I have the space available to add more photos. However, I still want to easily access the old photos on the external harddrive and the new photos thta will be put on the hard drive. Any suggestions and the best way to accomplish this? 

    Easiest way to do this would be to copy your iTunes folder (located inside your home folder/Music) to your external hard drive. Next, open iTunes while holding down the option key on your keyboard. When iTunes asks you to select a music library to use, select the one on the external hard drive. Test to make sure everything is working just as it did with your old library. Assuming it does, you can now delete the iTunes folder on your internal hard drive.
    The same process can be used with iPhoto.
    Best of luck.

  • Ken Burns vs Photo to Movie test

    I did a quick simple test to see how iMovie's Ken Burns and Photo to Movie manage high resolution, high frequency still images as their input:
    I made a 3150x1728 (5 megapixel) TIF image. I chose that particular ratio because it completely fills both NTSC and PAL 16:9 frame when imported to iMovie HD 5-6's widescreen project.
    I inserted 1 pixel thin horizontal and vertical black stripes at every 100 pixel. That kind of thin (high frequency) lines tend to flicker on a TV unless they are blurred.
    Then I imported the still to a widescreen NTSC (I chose NTSC for Karl, Fred, Kirk and other NTSC-geared geeks iMovie HD 6.0.3 project and applied a 2 second 1-5x zoom to it.
    I did a similar zoom with Photo to Movie 3.2.2's High Quality export setting and compared the results...
    Well, the iMovie zoom-in was quite interesting: at modest zoom factors many stripes were omitted and the stripes disappeared and appeared as the zoom progressed! Some stripes were rendered grayish, but they were always 1 pixel thin (a recipe for flicker on a TV!). Only near the end of the zoom-in, all the stripes appeared and begun to grow thicker (and non-flickery on a TV).
    The Photo to Movie zoom-in was much "duller": all stripes were preserved and they were slightly blurred (which prevents flicker on a TV).
    The winner: Photo to Movie.
    The input TIF and 2 second output .dv files are below (to my surprise the 15 MB input zipped to only 1.8 MB with this material). I turned ON the high quality display for you in the .dv files, but verify that the setting sticks when viewing them with QuickTime Player Pro. You can advance one frame at a time via the left/right arrow keys.
    http://www.saunalahti.fi/~shmhav/kenburnstest.zip

    Discussing DVD playback on a TV, Matti said:
    The output that used the original TIF as its input
    was full of artifacts and lots of flicker with the
    moderate zoom factors. Gaussian blur was also quite
    bad while the 875x480 downsampled TIF was very
    peaceful. Of course the 875x480 was somewhat fuzzy
    with the extreme zoom factors.
    Photo To Movie's Higher Quality setting was very
    peaceful with practically no flicker on the TV.
    I admit that this is an artificial and a very
    difficult test image. But I have seen the same
    artifacts with real JPGs as well if there are hard
    lines in the image (buildings, wires, waves, fine
    patterns etc).
    I've seen similar results here too, burning perhaps a hundred DVDs in the last few weeks. The goal was to compare DVD slideshows created by iMovie, Photo to Movie and FotoMagico. Matti's conclusions look familiar.
    My tests used photos that are the most difficult for iMovie to handle, lots of hard lines, buildings, wires, fences, roof lines, etc.
    When the goal is to burn a DVD, Photo to Movie consistently delivers good quality with a variety of source images. The quality is good across a range of image sizes and content. If you like working in Photo to Movie, you can be quite confident you'll get good results.
    But I like working in iMovie, so the goal of my tests was to find a way to make iMovie work better. The solution was to downsize the image before importing it to iMovie.
    As Matti suggested, iMovie delivers good results if the source image is downsized before importing to iMovie. Virtually all flicker is eliminated by downsizing to 640x480 (NTSC) or 768x578 (PAL). (Downsize less if you plan to use a 2x or greater Ken Burns zoom.)
    Downsizing is easily done with iPhoto's File > Export command. It takes just a few seconds to export new copies of photos at the new size.
    So is Photo to Movie "better" than iMovie for slideshows? Sometimes Yes, if you don't want to resize problem images. But often not, at least from my tests. iMovie can deliver fine results too. And to be fair to iMovie, it has other advantages.
    Note: Our tests may have little in common with the pictures you often shoot, the people pictures, the landscapes, the other "soft" images. They are WAY easier for iMovie to handle, and may not require downsizing. It depends on the photo's content.
    Karl

  • Is there still a 1000 photo cap on iPhone My Photo Stream as described in HT4486 with the new HT4858?

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4486?
    How many photos are stored in My Photo Stream on my devices and computers?
    iCloud pushes all your photos to the My Photo Stream album on your devices and computers, and manages them efficiently, so you don’t run out of storage space.
    Your iOS devices keep a rolling collection of your last 1000 photos in the My Photo Stream album. From there, you can browse your recent photos or move the ones you like to your Camera Roll or another album to keep them on your device forever.
    I am seeing my iPhone's My Photo Stream still keeping the 1000 photo limit. As I took new pictures, the old ones are deleted to make room for the newly uploaded photos.
    The new announcement says there is no limit any more:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4858

    According to this and some other posts:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/19892793#19892793
    Some people reached 2k+ photos thou.

  • I Photo, I Movie, and Photo Booth Icons are visible but when clicked on won't open.

    What can I do? I Photo, I Movie, and Photo Booth Icons are visible but when clicked on won't open.

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  • I have a 250GB western digital external hard drive for my time machine backups. if i just want to backup and recover my photos and movies how do i do that with time machine?

    I have a 250GB western digital external hard drive for my time machine backups. I did not download the software that came with the external HD. If I only want to backup my photos and movies from my Macbook how do I do that in Tme Machine with my external HD?

    Format the HDD in Disk Utility>Erase to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and the open System Preferences>Time Machine and set up the external disk as the Time Machine HDD.  Then look at the Options, and exclude what you do not want backed up.
    Ciao.

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