UTILIZING iMovie's non-destructive feature

K, I've seen dozons of post regarding the dislikes and work arounds for iMovie's non-destructive default functionality. However, the true purpose of this feature im yet to take advantage of, and would like to do so if possible.
New to iMovie, just started using it last month. Dig it. I've popped in some sound trax and am now editing the timing of the clips to the music. What Im finding is that I'm left with small gaps of dead space in the timeline pane where I'd like to 'extend' or add the rest of the clip to soak up that .24 sec. (or whatever) between the two clips. Can the non-destructive element 'add' in this missing time from the native clip?
Timing would'nt have been much of an issue if I didn't have to delete transitions constantly to splice in clips n' pic's, which consequently shifted the timing a bit. Now that the montage is done, and the clips are timed to the music, I gotta fix them gaps!
Any help, much appreciated. Thanks all.

pixel punk, the non-destructive editing feature of iMovie isn't really intended to help you 'add' stuff to fill gaps. But it DOES let you re-lengthen a clip that's been shortened. That may be all you need.
Basically, it lets you restore a clip to it's original length (or something less) if you've shortened a clip. So if you change your mind after shortening a clip — even after emptying the iMovie Trash — you can restore the clip to (up to) its original length.
That means that Yes, if you have shortened a clip on either side of a gap you can use Direct Trimming to lengthen the clip to fill the gap. The non-destructive editing feature guarantees that the "stuff" removed from the clip is still there in the clip. You can re-lengthen the clip to get it back.
If the clip hasn't been shortened, then you must fill the gap some other way. If the gap is small, one way is to fill it with a picture of the last frame seen before the gap. Don't use iMovie's Create Still Frame command to fill the gap for the image quality is poor. Rather, use the Save Frame command, save the frame as a PICT, then re-import the PICT back into the project. Use Direct Trimming, if necessary, to shorten the PICT clip to fill the gap.
The gap will look good. If the view notices anything, he will assume the videographer simply paused.
Karl

Similar Messages

Is the new iMovie '08 "non-destructive"?

Pretty much that's the reason why I bought a license of Final Cut Express HD but, being honest, I haven't quite learnt (not even the very basics of) how to use it. It seemed to me an excelent feature to be able to, non-destructively, use parts of clips from various projects to generate new ones. Still sounds a very good idea, but the app is, at least for me, a bit confusing. And I don't consider myself a rookie.
Now it seems like iMovie can do exactly that but iMovie-style, which is much simpler.
Is that right?
Thanks in advance...

Hello there
I learned yesterday that, thank goodness, it's non-destructive. I recorded 1/2 hour of video using iMovie 08. I tried to trim 27 seconds off the beginning of the video and wound up only keeping the 27 seconds I didn't want. I was fuming until I found the original DV clips (that's the format I captured in) in my "movies" folder under "iMovie Events". I just imported the video again and it was saved.

Are you able to do a non destructively enlarge a volume using Disk Utility?

I have searched a number of articles in the forums, many archived, and I haven't found a clear answer to whether you can enlarge a volume non destructively using Disk Utility.
I am running a G4 PPC OSX 10.4.11 and am working with a Maxtor 300GB FireWire HDD. The volume I am trying to enlarge is the second volume on the Maxtor with free space following it.
I have followed the *Disk Utility Help file* on how to *enlarge a volume*, but cannot complete the procedure because *Step 5 refers to an Apply button*, *but there is none apparent*. There is a Partition button available but then that warns of destroying all the volumes on the disk.
Disk Utility Version 10.5.6.
Thanks for the help.

Your drive just be partitioned using GUID which is only available for Intel machines. An APM partitioned drive cannot be resized on the fly using Disk Utility on a PPC Mac. There are some third-party partitioning utilities like iPartition that may be able to do so on a PPC machine.

Bypassing the non destructive editing for emptying trash

Hey.
I am completey at my wits end over this. I have footage imported to three separate imovie projects. I have to try and combine these on the one timeline. However everytime I try to move anything it tells me I don't have enough memory. Fair enough so I empty the trash but it is restoring no memory to my hard drive or iMovie - From looking this up it seems to be because of the non detructive editing feature but I don't want to go back on any cuts or keep anything I've deleted just in case. I really need the space so I can begin to move clips around again and finish the project. Is there anyway of telling the programme to just empty the trash and ignore the non destructive editing feature?

Then I open a new blank iMovie project. I drag the desired clips to that project and save.
That, too, preserves the total lengths of the underlying media clips.
iMovie 5-6 dropped the ability to trim unwanted parts of the media clips. iMovie 1-4 allowed the user to do this at the expense of a more fragile project structure.
The workaround to trim the media clips is to:
1. export to tape and import back. Pros: preserves separate clips. Cons: clumsy & slow. Occasional dropped frames may make the process lossy.
2. export to Full Quality .dv and import back. Pros: No dropped frames -- truly non-lossy. Faster. Cons: clumsy, you have to manually break clips into scenes after import.
Cons for 1&2: effects are permanently burned into the image.
Regarding #2 see also this import shortcut:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#quick_DVimport

Destructive vs. non-destructive editing

If I send a sequence from FCP to a multitrack project in STP it will be a non destructive edit. Once I am in STP I right click on a track and select "Open in Editor" to take out clicks/pops, etc. Does opening this track in the editor from STP now change the edit to a destructive edit? I want to edit everything from my FCP project non-destructively in STP. Does creating a multitrack project in STP and THEN opening a track in the editor in STP change this to a destructive edit or is it still non-destructive?

Hi Brian:
I read the manual to see the difference between destructive and non-destructive editing in STP ...
What is STP?
This forum refers to DVD Studio Pro, the app to author DVDs.
FCP (Final Cut Pro is a non-destructive video edition software.
As far as I know iMovie (Apple entry level video edition software) is a destructive editing tool . . . no matter you can use some tricks to avoid source "destruction" (... I have not used it from some time ago).
Please, clarify your post and you'll get an answer for your problem for sure.

Non-destructive layer mask editing?

I just finished sweetening a mult-layered texture I was creating and suddenly had a thought - I create my texture in overlaid layers so that I can endlessly tweak, and my process is non destructive, but when I create layer masks for each layer, those have to be edited destructively... so I dupe layers in case I decide I want to go back. This makes for lots of extra backup layers.
So - is there some clever way of non-destructively editing a layer mask? It sounds kinda crazy, but would be super cool if there was a feature to have nested layers just for my layer mask.

Well, you could save as alphas, but then you are still doing destructive edits and archiving them. Only now, they are removed from the layers palette, and it would be easier to forget what goes where. If I leave the copies in the layers palette and turn them off, at least I can group in folders or something - I have a clearer picture of what goes with what.

Are .jpg images non-destructive editing?

If changes to .jpg's are non-destructive in LR, how can you migrate the changes /w images to another copy of LR on another computer? I've noticed Exporting .jpg's export the changed .jpg's, which must mean that they undergo another round of compression in the copy, no?

I want to straighten up some issues with jpeg files in LR 1.0
1. By importing a jpeg file into LR you will notice that you can use the develop module but certain features are just not as good as they are with real raw files.
White Balance: It's there but without presets and without Kelvin readings. It is still better that everything else I saw so far in other applications to rescue a jpeg file with wrong WB settings applied
Camera Calibration: Only the Embedded Preset is available
Overall the adjustment sliders feel less subtle and precise because there is no additional headroom of 16bit (actually 12bit with most cameras) files compared with the 8bit jpeg offers
2. When you write back changes you have made in LR either by using "Metadata->XMP->Export XMP Metadata to File" in the menu or automatically with the Preference setting "Automatically write changes into XMP" the pixel information of the jpeg is never changed. There is solely an update of the metadata section of the jpeg file. This is what I refer to as 'Non Destructive Editing"
3. You need to use an application which is able to interpret LR adjustments to see changes of the jpeg file you made in the LR develop module. In the moment only LR and Photoshop CS3 beta (using ACR 4.0 ) are able to do that. For all other applications which can display jpeg files the changes are not visible because the pixel information didn't change.
4. If you use the LR Export function in the Library Module you can render a new jpeg file where the changes are reflected in the pixel section of the file. This is of course no longer non-destructive because the original compressed pixel information in the original jpeg file has been decompressed, changed according to the develop settings and then recompressed again in the jpeg format. This is just what you did all the years before with jpeg files.
5. You can also use the LR Export function to export a jpeg file as DNG file. Here it is important to understand that the JPEG file will only be compressed with a lossless algorithm resulting in a file which is roughly 5 times the size of your original file depending on your initial jpeg quality settings. This option allows you to open the file in Bridge/Photoshop CS2 and to see the adjustments there but it does not give you any real advantage compared to 2. if you use CS3 and I don't recommend it in the moment. Perhaps we see here more options in the future.

IPhoto '08 Sort Of Non-destructive!

Hi,
I just noticed something in iPhoto '08. If you edit a photo by moving some of the Adjust sliders around, close the app then reopen it, you'll see that the sliders remain in the positions you left them in. This is REALLY useful because you can always see exactly what you've adjusted about the image, and tweak it if you don't like it.
The same is true of the Effects. If you, for example, set Antique to 9 and Vignette to 7, close the app, then ropen it, you'll see that those numbers are still there. So you can always see what effects you've applied to a certain photo, and how much of each you've used. And, of course, you can dial those effects back down any time you want, if they're too much.
So, this is kind of non-destructive, wouldn't you say? I know that behind-the-scenes, iPhoto '08 is still making Modified jpgs, but any Adjustment or Edit you make to any photo is fully undo-able, even if you quit the app and reopen it. Great!
Message was edited by: Reuben Feffer
Message was edited by: Reuben Feffer

Thanks. Sorry for the post, I just wasn't aware and somehow didn't notice that iPhoto '08 does proper non-destructive editing. Apple should probably emphasise that feature more, because it's really impressive. I always knew you could Revert to Original, but I didn't know all of the Adjust and Effect sliders remembered the exact positions you left them in. Fantastic
Message was edited by: Reuben Feffer

How do I connect two workstations to shared storage that allows them to work independently on the same project non-destructively?

I plan to edit a feature length film using Adobe Premiere CC. I need to know the "Adobe-way" of connecting two workstations to shared storage that allows them to work independently on the same project non-destructively. Is Adobe Anywhere the answer? None of the humans I spoke to seem to know anything about their own product. I also cannot find a price for Adobe Anywhere, anywhere on the Adobe website.

You need to contact Adobe on this:
Adobe Anywhere for video

Help about "NON DESTRUCTIVE" partitioning ... serious problem!!!

Hi guys... I really need your help, I have been all the day searching for some info, and this is my last hope...
Today I tried to partition one of my HD, with disk utility, under Leopard 10.5.7 . Everything went fine, but after some work I decided to turn back to one partition scheme. The problem was that one of the volumes was unmounted, and diskutility ERASED that volume!! I can't believe it! All the data is there, I can see it through Data Rescue, but no signs of the original volume, name, etc. I would like to know if I can recover the original partition data in some way, and not spend hundred of hours checking file-by-file and renaming all of them...
Thanks to everybody!

Unfortunately partitioning itself can go wrong even with so-called non-destructive partitioning software. I'd make a backup of the Windows software first, and then try the non-destructive partitioning. iPartition and Volumeworks are two Mac compatible programs that do that kind of partitioning.
Here's my FAQ on Mac backing up:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html

How can I tell if a non-destructive crop has been applied when opening an image?

I've wrapped my head around how to reclaim the stripped-out portion of an image that has been non-destructively cropped in CS6: click the image with the crop tool, or select Reveal All from the Image menu. Short of doing this every time I suspect that I may have cropped an image, is there anything in Photoshop's interface to tell me at a glance if the image has been non-destructively cropped? I guess I could check the document dimensions in the pop-up status display at the bottom of the window, but I'm looking for something more direct that doesn't make me search.
2009 iMac 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo; OS 10.8.1
Jeff Frankel

If you primarily edit files from a particular camera, then your idea to set the status box at the lower-left to show the image dimensions is a good one - just watch for dimensions that are not the norm.
You shouldn't have to set the readout to Document Dimensions more than once, though... Open one image, set that field to read Document Dimensions, then close the document and quit Photoshop gracefully. From now on it ought to read Dimensions when you open a new document.
I wasn't aware 10.8.1 was out.
-Noel

How do I install Adobe CS5 on a new, non-disc featured laptop...

I own Adobe CS5. I have the discs and serial number. My old laptop died and I replaced it with a new non-disc featured laptop. How do I 1) download my CS5 suite and 2) then upgrade (with a discount) to CS6?

you don't need to install cs5 in order to install your upgrade.
Downloads available:
Suites and Programs: CC 2014 | CC | CS6 | CS5.5 | CS5 | CS4 | CS3
Acrobat: XI, X | 9,8 | 9 standard
Premiere Elements: 13 | 12 | 11, 10 | 9, 8, 7
Photoshop Elements: 13 |12 | 11, 10 | 9,8,7
Lightroom: 5.7.1| 5 | 4 | 3
Captivate: 8 | 7 | 6 | 5
Contribute: CS5 | CS4, CS3
Download and installation help for Adobe links
Download and installation help for Prodesigntools links are listed on most linked pages. They are critical; especially steps 1, 2 and 3. If you click a link that does not have those steps listed, open a second window using the Lightroom 3 link to see those 'Important Instructions'.

FCPX 10.0.7 hangs when loading multiple projects - a non-destructive work around

FCPX 10.0.7 hangs when loading multiple projects - a non-destructive work around....
Hi Guys, I upgraded from FCPX 10.0.6 to 10.0.78 and discovered to my immense frustration that many of my 100+ FCPX projects would not load.
Symptom:
FCPX 10.0.7 appears to hang ("spinning beachball") with either high CPU% on a single core or with 1-2% CPU busy (activity monitor.app) when a FINAL CUT PROJECT is selected. No logs error information in /var/logs ..hmm
notices that the "status circle" spins around endlessly.
Actvity Monitor.app shows "Final Cut Pro (Not Responding)
and also I notice in some cases that an OEM filter ("NEAT VIDEO NOISE REDUCTION") is in progress to be loaded. FCPX V10.0.7 must be FORCED QUITtted to remove it from system.
History: Upgraded FCPX from V10.0.6 to V10.0.07.
"FINAL CUT EVENTS" and "FINAL CUT PROJECTS" on a single file system on SAS 16TB disk array (768MB/sec read via AJA system test) and 60% utilised capacity… FCP EVENTS has 400 events in it .. some 5.2TB of Prores essence etc .. all works fine! (i.e. the storage system is first class and is NOT the issue)
32GB of RAM on MAC PRO 2009 Nehalem 16 x Vcore with ATI 5780 card and ATTO HBA's (i.e. plenty of resources!)
As usual with any "upgrade" to FCPX 10.0.? all the EVENT objects need to be upgraded. In my case this takes an hour or two.. so I do that when asleep.
After experiencing above, I restored the FCPX EVENTS LIbrary of that file system from LTO4 tape archive (BRU-PE ) and still had the same issues as above.
WORKAROUND:
FORCEd QUIT FCPX V10.0.7
RENAMEd "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects" to "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects_original"
created (make) a new "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects" (use finder)
For each project !!! in "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects_original", (do one project at a time!!!)
MOVE "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects_original/one_fcpx_projext_nnnn_folder" to "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects"
Make sure you move ONLY one project at a time. If you have a subfolder of projects, please do each project one at a time (serially!)
Launch FCPX V10.0.7 and BE PATIENT!!! .. DONT click or fiddle with the UI.. it seems when you intervene it locks up as well…
Let FCPX V10.0.7 settle….
select the project you just added above and RELINK any objects it needs. Thumbnails and proxies will be rendered again.. just be patient
wait until ALL the rendering as stopped.
QUIT FCPX V10.0.7
(now if FCPX locks up, just force it out and start again as above).
repeat for all projects in "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects_original" (go to step 4 ad do until all projects moved)
When all is COMPLETED MAKE SURE YOU ARCHIVE an instance (or make a backup ) of "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects"
If this procedure has worked the folder "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects_original" will have zero (nill, none) projects in it.
I have managed to restore ALL my "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects" this xmas between drinking etc. I'm satisfied that its all ok.
Other issues:
use DISK WARRIOR or TT PRO 6 to make sure that the file system volume where your "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects" are is physically ok. I noticed some entries in file system's volume table that represented objects in "/volumes/some_file_system_volume/Final Cut Projects" were at fault when I used these utilities… FWIW.
SUMMARY: yes this took ages to d, however luckily I had everything in at least 3 instances in an archive which has saved me many time in the old FCP& and prior days… it was just a matter of time to put it back together.
I put this outage down to may be my own impatience when I first fired up FCPX 10.0.7 after the upgrade.
I'm interested if this workaround is helpful to others and in addtiion if others have a more satisfactory remedy.
HTH
warwick
Hong Kong

Hi Eb, yeah I could not see any "memory leak" or unusual consumption of REAL memory whose less availability would cause excessive PAGEing and SWAPping as seen in the Activty Monitor.app
I watch this carefully especially the use of REAL MEMORY by 3rd Paryy apps. BTW there are a few that cause ALLOCATED but NOT USED memory (blue in the A.M.app UI). Simply a unix PURGE command can release that memory and help clean up the PAGE and VM swap files (its alleged!).
Yes, you may be might with the element of "Luck" involved. I would add though, that having MULTIPLE project displaying in the STORYLINE window and loading always caused my FCP 10.0.7 jam up at startup with h symtoms and observations I described.
TIP: I might also add that for a super speedy launch of FCPX one may also emply setting each PROJECT's UI to show only AUDIO thus negating the need to contstruct or reneder out a PREVIEW ui in each clip in the storyline.
Your/Apples suggestion of the movememt (rename) of "Final Cut Pro Projects" to "Final Cut Pro Projects Hidden" is similar to what I proposed above to stop FCPX 10.0.7 accessing and building it up at startup. This workaround has been useful inthe past as well.
ALso one might also get the stick out and remove (delete/rm) the ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.FinalCut.savedState in one's home ~/Library so that FCPX wont do such a neat job reinstating FCPX last time you crashed it... This has been helpful also in diagnosing my issues.
Lastly I have noticed that:
impatience clicking on the FCPX UI when in the unstable state causes it to lock up with NO visible CPU% busy.... as if its waiting on something which is usually me MEMTERMing it via FORCE QUIT and
the projects where I have employed the NEAT VIDEO Noise Reduction OEM filter for FCPX seem to exasserbate the PROJECT loading issues when several PROJECTS are available at FCPX startup time.
As of yesterday I have some 400+ EVENTS Final Cut Pro Events and 130+ projects of varying compexites in a single file system on Final Cut Pro Projects all working fine and as good as gold again!
Oh and one more thing, I had to RE-RENDER many projects of them again... strange as the FCP PROJECT library was renstated from a recent LTO archive as of V10.0.6 FCPX.. strange that...I would have expected if the projects and events were 10.0.6/7 compatable as proposed by Tom, that this would not be necessary... hmm straneg that
I'll monitor this thread.
Thanks for your comments lads!

I Dislike the Terms "Destructive" and "Non-Destructive" Editing

Some folks in the Photoshop realm use the terms "destructive" and "non-destructive" to describe ways of using Photoshop in which transforms are applied directly to pixel values vs. being applied via layers or smart filters or smart objects or other means.
Do you realize that the term "destructive" is actually mildly offensive to those who know what they're doing and choose to alter their pixel values on purpose?
I understand that teaching new people to use Photoshop in a way that doesn't "destroy" their original image data is generally a good thing, and I'm willing to overlook the use of the term as long as you don't confront me and tell me what I'm doing when I choose to alter pixel values is "wrong" (or when I choose to advise others on doing so).
For that people who claim editing pixel values is "destructive", I offer this one response, which is generally valuable advice, in return:
Never overwrite your original file.
There. The "destruction" has ceased utterly.
It's common sense, really. You might want to use that file for something else in the future.
If you shoot in raw mode with a digital camera, then you actually can't overwrite your raw files. That's a handy side effect, though some don't use raw mode or even start working with digital photographs.
In any case, when you open your image consider getting in the habit of immediately doing File - Save As and creating a .psd or .tif elsewhere, so that you can subsequently do File - Save to save your intermediate results.
There can actually be many advantages to altering pixel values, if you know what you're doing and choose to do so. But sometimes even the most adept Photoshop user might find that a given step created a monster; that's okay, there's a multi-step History palette for going back. I normally set mine to keep a deep history, to give me a safety net if I DO do something wrong, though I tend to use it rarely.
And for those who would tout the disadvantages to editing "destructively", there can be huge disadvantages to doing it "non-destructively" as well... Accumulating a large number of layers slows things down and can use a lot of RAM... With downsized zooms the mixing can yield posterization that isn't really there, or gee whiz, just TRY finding a computer fast enough to use smart filters in a meaningful way. Just the concept of layers, if one hasn't worked out how layer data is combined in one's own mind, can be daunting to a new person!
So I ask that you please stop saying that the "only" or "best" way to use Photoshop is to edit "non-destructively". There are folks who feel that is offensive and arrogant. I think the one thing everyone can agree upon is that THERE IS NO ONE OR BEST WAY TO USE PHOTOSHOP!
You go ahead and do your editing your way. I prefer to do "constructive" editing.
Thanks for listening to my rant.
-Noel
Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt man doing it.

function(){return A.apply(null,[this].concat($A(arguments)))}
Aegis Kleais wrote:
When you alter image data in a manner that cannot be reverted, you have destroyed it.
Really?
That's one of those things that one is not supposed to question. It just sounds so right!
Problem is, it's insufficient in and of itself, and misleading... It's a rule of thumb that's way too general.
What IS "data" anyway? Arrangement of magnetic spots on a disk? My disk is still whole, so we're not talking about physical destruction here.
One could argue that all the data is all still there in many cases of pixel-value-change editing (e.g., where there has been no resizing). The image file is the same size! Same amount of data.
Upsampling, or making a copy of an image is actually creating more data, not destroying data. Thus there is no general "destruction", but the terms "construction" or "creation" could be used.
But wait, perhaps you're really talking about destroying information, not data... Well...
As it turns out the term "destructive" is still off base. I have altered the information, possibly even adding important information. If I make a copy this is a no brainer. Even if I don't, depending on a person's skill in editing, the altered result could still carry all the original information that was important plus information added by editing, and be quite possibly better for its intended purpose (human consumption) than the image before the edit. That's the goal!
So now we're talking about important information vs. unimportant information. And of course we're talking about fitness for a future purpose.
As with anything, there are multiple ways to get there and multiple ways to interpret the words.
The term "destructive" in my opinion was invented to further someone's agenda.
-Noel

I am utilizing imovie 7.1 and I am trying to shorten the length of a clip. How do I do that?

I am utilizing imovie 7.1 and I am trying to shorten the length of a clip. How do I do that?

There are several ways to do this.
First, drag the clip from your Event to an iMovie Project.
In the Project, there are several options:
1) Select the part of the clip you want to keep by dragging with your mouse. When you have it, right click within the selection and select "Trim to Selection". (You can also do this from the Edit Menu.)
2) Select the part of the clip you want to cut by dragging with your mouse. When you have it, right-click within the selection and choose "Delete Selection". You can also do this from the Edit Menu.
There is a good Tutorial here. http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/imovie08.html#trimming

UTILIZING iMovie's non-destructive feature

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for