iMovie- Pictures become blurry after import

Hello Desiree,
It is a tad bewildering, isn't it? Don't worry. I am still making sense of it all too.
Here's an explination of how I understand it:
The Ken Burns effect in iMovie renders the photo as a movie image and changes the file format, which condenses the file, where as, in iPhoto it is not transformed, thus showing full quality images. The Ken Burns effect is adjustable for importing photos into iMovie and some larger pixel images need to be played around with to keep their sharpness and to avoid 'the jaggies'. - In a nutshell.
I hope this helps you understand and hopefully you can explain it to me!

Most of my images are large res photos from a nikon d70.

You're using iMovie HD, right? My impression is iMovie 4 and iMovie HD treat RAW images differently, if that's what your Nikon delivers. But I'm not very RAW-aware. 😟

Generally, I'll try to summarize this thread:

AVOIDING THE JAGGIES

There's a bug in iMovie HD that adds "jaggies" -- stair-stepping along sharp edges -- to still images when you do ALL of these:
1. Import a still image to iMovie HD with the Ken Burns Effect checkbox turned OFF.
2. Press the 'Create iDVD Project' button in iMovie HD's iDVD pane.
3. When iMovie HD asks, you grant permission to render before sending the project to iDVD. If you do, iMovie renders (any un-rendered stills) poorly, adding the jaggies.

To avoid iMovie adding the jaggies, do ANY of the these:
• Turn on the Ken Burns checkbox before importing the images. (Best solution.) Then Ken Burns renders the stills with great quality. iMovie won't ask to render them later, at least not those clips.
• When asked, refuse permission to render the images after you press Create iDVD Project. (This may cause OTHER clips to not be rendered that should be rendered.)
• Drag the iMovie HD project file into the iDVD project window. (This may cause OTHER clips to not be rendered that should be rendered.)

IMAGE SiZE

To iMovie HD, "image size" refers to the dimensions of the image in pixels. Usually, there's no need to adjust the size of the image before importing to iMovie. (If the image is REALLY HUGE, you may need to resize it smaller. That can happen if you scan the image at an unnecessarily high dpi.)

However, you want to avoid dropping below the minimum size. If the Ken Burns Effect is set to zoom in larger than 1.0, you must assume a larger minimum size, one that's related to the KB zoom.

If the imported image is at least the minimum size listed in the charts I posted, the image won't be reduced in quality. (There's always a tiny reduction in quality when converting an image to DV, but that can't be avoided. If that's a problem, try creating an HDV-type project.)

IMAGE PLAYBACK QUALITY

The image quality of the project played in iMovie HD is never as good as the quality of the underlying video, especially for 'DV'-type projects. Set the iMovie playback preference to the highest quality possible so you're not selling yourself short. Then expect the DVD to look a bit better on the TV.

If you've followed the rules for importing stills, they will usually be fine.

Oh, and don't be mislead by the initial image you sometimes see when you select a clip. Sometimes you have to tap the spacebar -- which forces iMovie to redisplay the image correctly as the video is played. The "psuedo-jaggies" will immediately disappear. That's a temporary playback anomaly.

PILLARBOXING

When importing images that have a 4:3 aspect ratio, e.g. photos, iMovie HD typically pillarboxes the image -- adds black bars to the right and left side. Sometimes we don't want that, especially when the project contains video that is NOT pillarboxed, or will be be played in QuickTime, or will be played on a High-Def TV.

To avoid pillarboxing, you can do ANY of these:
• Drag the KB zoom slider larger than 1.0. (The minimum zoom depends on the type of iMovie HD project. See the charts.)
• Crop the image to a different aspect ratio before importing to iMovie. The aspect ratio to use depends on the type of iMovie HD project. See the charts.

That's most of it. Easy, huh?

Karl

I concur with the bit about viewing on a tv - I did a slideshow for a photographer, who mentioned that it didn't look too great on his 20" iMac - at which point I looked into it, concluding that the DVDs are set up for tv - PAL or NTSC, rather than hi-res computer displays.

I've read a lot hear about slideshows, but have been fine with iMovie and the KB therein (except for the bug with some pans starting too quickly) - producing generally excellent results.

I've never bothered to crop images for example, but rather just using KB to do this. What I tend to do is include a full panning / zooming slideshow with music created in iMovie, as well as a manually controlled slideshow directly in iDVD - so people can see the wow factor slideshow, but also browse the photos at their leisure too.

I did look at Photo2Movie and still life, but didn't take to them - most likely because I had gotten used to iMovie, and for some reason found them a bit too unfamiliar.

Iain

Do your pics jump without transitions? Try it I know this is not what you want, but I am curious. Mine do not jump without transitions but do with transitions. Actually they are going into focus the last second (jumping), than going to the next transition smoothly than jumping again at the end of each image. Let me know as I may have a solution.
Jay

I have found this point to be true. I photo as a slide show is the best if and only if you are using it (iphoto) to show your images. The images are not compressed within iphoto until you save for iDVD or other. This is where is problem is. The compressor of QT is not the same as the compressor of imovie
Jay

I too am having similar problems when using the Ken Burns Effect, but will take someone else's advice from this forum and try checking the Ken Burns Effect BEFORE I import images from iPhoto.

By the way, I recommend you get Quicktime Pro (7 or 6.5) because that is the only way you can set Quicktime Player to playback at Highest Quality so that all of your iMovie exported projects (whether in DV quality or the new H.264) can be viewed at their best quality.

Figured it out! Using the Ken Burns Effect, I found that using an image of about 1150 x 1780 pixels (in this case, a TIFF) gave me a crisp playback as a Full Quality DV QT movie. Previously, I had used 640 x 480 pixels (JPEG or TIFF, it didn't seem to matter) which looked horrible only when using the Ken Burns Effect. When I was using a still image WITHOUT the Ken Burns Effect, the 640 x 480 played back fine in QT.

So, I guess we need to use fairly large image when using the Ken Burns Effect, if we want it to look very good at playback in QT.

Hi Karl-

I have had the same issues with poor resolution when trying to send a slideshow from imovie to idvd. I have not had experience using idvd except from the tutorials and I feel stupid. Can I clarify a few of your pieces of advice? When you uncheck the Ken Burnes effect box before import, do you mean before you bring it from iphoto to imovie? Also, you mentioned that it may look better to burn your slideshow as a HDV-type project. I don't know what that is.

I have just spent many hours making a slideshow in imovie with transitions and effects. Then I try to burn it to a dvd with idvd and it looks awful. I am using imovie HD and to get it to idvd, I clicked the round idvd button next to transitions and effects. I read on here that I should instead do share>export>hand off to iDVD, but I cannot find those.

My photos were from a 6 megapixal camera and are about 2544 X 1696. If I have to re-import, I basically have to start over and have wasted about 8 hours.
I'm so frustrated and I am so new to this. Could you help me?

Thank you!!!!

When you uncheck the Ken Burnes effect box before import, do you mean before you bring it from iphoto to imovie?

Yes, you first configure your Ken Burns Effect settings, THEN import the images. (Importing from anywhere, including iPhoto.)

Also, you mentioned that it may look better to burn your slideshow as a HDV-type project. I don't know what that is.

iMovie HD offers several new project types not offered in previous versions, including two High Definition project types. When you create a new iMovie HD project, select the type you want from the popUp menu at the bottom of the Save File dialog window.

The image quality of the two HDV (High Definition) types is very good. Unfortunately, we're on the bleeding edge of technology here, so there's no way yet to burn a high-def DVD. Your HDV project will be burned like a traditional DV project. But when creating QuickTime movies, the HDV projects do a very nice job. Plus it's fun to work with such good-looking video in iMovie.

I basically have to start over and have wasted about 8 hours.

Sorry to hear that. Remember that if all your images use basically the same Ken Burns settings, you can import many at the same time. Just configure the KB settings, select a bunch of images in the photos list, and import all together. And if you use the same transition for each, those can all be added together too.

Start small, though. It's a good idea to practice with a handful of images in a new project, building a project from start to finish, including burning a DVD. Fixing a big project is hard, so you want to make your mistakes on a small project. Once you get the bugs out in your production line, then apply what you've learned to a large project.

I read on here that I should instead do share>export>hand off to iDVD, but I cannot find those.

That refers to Sharing (exporting) the project as a "Full Quality" QuickTime movie, then importing THAT movie to iDVD. Full Quality is one of the export options listed in the popUp menu of the QuickTime section of the sharing dialog window.

That step usually isn't necessary, however. It's good to do if iDVD later has a problem encoding your iMovie project when burning the DVD. The Full Quality movie "flattens" the project, simplifying the audio and everything else for iDVD. But normally iDVD can handle it.

Remember too that when practicing, you can "burn" the iDVD project to a disk image instead of a physical DVD, then play that disk image in DVD Player. So it's not necessary to actually burn a DVD. (If you want to, you can use Disk Utility to burn a DVD from your disk image.)

Karl

Hi Karl-

Thank you so much for getting back to me. I just have two more questions.

I have a 6 megapixel camera, so the jpegs are around 2544X1696. If I turn off my Ken Burns effects before importing my photos in, will I be OK on resolution? I read that I need to go back and resize all of my photos down. I don't really want to do that. But do I have to?

Should I be importing into Quicktime? If so, do I make it in imovie, then take it to Quicktime, then to iDVD? I am confused why the extra step is in there.

Thank you so much for your help!
Susan

Hi Iain-

"What I tend to do is include a full panning / zooming slideshow with music created in iMovie, as well as a manually controlled slideshow directly in iDVD - so people can see the wow factor slideshow, but also browse the photos at their leisure too."

I read your e-mail about making the slideshow but also allowing them to browse the photos at their leisure, too. Would you tell me how you did that and/or how they view the individual photos?

Thank you
Susan

If I turn off my Ken Burns effects before importing my photos in, will I be OK on resolution?

Whether or not the Ken Burns Effect checkbox is on or off, images always pass through the Ken Burns Effect. The checkbox affects whether or not the image is rendered by KB into a video clip, but all the other KB features always apply -- the zoom, pan, duration, etcetera.

So I don't think that will affect your result.

I read that I need to go back and resize all of my photos down. I don't really want to do that

Most images don't require resizing, but some do. You'll have to experiment. I note that yours don't have a 4:3 aspect ratio, which most photos do. To arrive in iMovie without image distortion may require cropping. You'll have to try yours to see what works and what doesn't.

Should I be importing into Quicktime? If so, do I make it in imovie, then take it to Quicktime, then to iDVD? I am confused why the extra step is in there.

Although QuickTime can import images, that's not normally necessary. Normally you import the images directly into iMovie, then send the iMovie project to iDVD.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the extra step". Please say more.

Karl

Karl-
Thank you for your reply. By the extra step, I mean going from iMovie to Quicktime and then to iDVD. I have been just going from iMovie to iDVD.

I am so frustrated with this I feel like throwing this mac out the window (Ijust switched from a PC about a month ago). The guy at the mac store told me that I should use imovie for this slide show instead of iphoto. The images look fuzzy in imovie. I just made the same small slideshow in iphoto and they were very sharp. When I imported them into imovie, I made sure that ken Burns was not checked. The images look fuzzy. That does not make sense to me.

Should I just start over in iphoto? I am a photographer and I have a lot of uses for this type of a slide show, but not if it looks this bad (like it does in i movie)

Should I just start over in iphoto? I am a photographer and I have a lot of uses for this type of a slide show, but not if it looks this bad (like it does in i movie)

A couple of things to keep in mind...

First, don't fall into the trap of comparing the image quality of iMovie HD to the image quality of iPhoto when viewed on a computer. iPhoto is showing you the source image, which will always look great, while iMovie is converting that image to digital video, which will never look as good as the source image. Don't forget either that iMovie HD never shows you all the quality that's there, while iPhoto does.

If your goal is to create a DVD, the only appropriate way to compare them is to burn a DVD containing both and play it on a TV. You'll probably find the image quality is quite similar. If the iMovie HD project has been handled correctly, the image quality you'll see from iMovie HD will probably be great. It looks fine here on a high-quality TV.

I mentioned the iMovie HD project must be handled correctly. You have to avoid iMovie HD rendering the images when you press the Create iDVD Project button. If there are images that have not already been rendered by Ken Burns, iMovie HD will offer to render them at that time. Do NOT grant permission to render them or iMovie HD will add lots of jaggies to those images. THAT's when the damage occurs.

Is iMovie HD the best way to create slideshows? It's a close call, but when I compare the DVD playback image quality of slideshows created by iDVD itself, slideshows created by iPhoto and slideshows created by iMovie HD, iMovie wins my vote. (The practiced eye of a photographer will notice some differences, like a difference in the quality of transitions.) The other two show defects on the DVD that iMovie HD does not, and the video clips iMovie creates with the Ken Burns Effect are gorgeous. But you gotta handle the project right.

If you want fast, easy slideshow production with good quality, iPhoto is great. It lets you create impressive slideshows using a random Ken Burns Effect in minutes. But for flexibility, control and quality throughout, my choice is still iMovie HD.

Karl

Karl-

Thank you for getting back to me and encouraging me- Maybe I should continue to try instead of giving up so soon. I saw the box where it gave me the choice of rendering. I told it not to. My iDVD will not burn, so now I am also on that chat site trying to figure out why. Have you ever had that cause the DVD not to burn? It says it found errors trying to process. It may be a system problem, but the only thing that I did differently from the previous time of burning is telling it not to render. I'm working on that part.

I wondered about the Ken Burnes effect. I know that we should uncheck that box when we import. After it is in the clip viewer, can we put on the Ken Burnes effect without it affecting the image quality?

Thank you VERY much for being so helpful - it stinks to be new to all this!
Susan