Adding arrows to Highlight film in imovie

Dulacrosse27 wrote:
I am creating a sports highlight film in i movie and need to be able to add arrows in certain clips.

try the 'Transparent png Trick', described on my website:
http://sites.google.com/site/karstenschluter/imovie09tricks

and Welcome, Dulacrosse27, to the  iMovie boards ... 😀

I am having the same issue and an Apple store employee directed me to a software application which unfortunately I cannot now find. I still am struggling with this and want to do the same thing you do. I have searched for commercial applications to no luck at the moment

spearmintz wrote:
... and an Apple store employee directed me to a software application which unfortunately I cannot now find. ..

an Apple employee will recommend Apple products.. as FinalCut/express, whwich allow very simple to add pointers, highlights, etc.

a non-commercial solution is, to use one of my pointers, I offer for free download here, incl. an illustrated advice & demo:
http://sites.google.com/site/karstenschluter/imovie09tricks/how-to-add-a-pointer

Karsten's pointers (including circles) work brilliantly! Just carefully follow Karsten's instructions on his site, particularly about setting Project Properties - Timing - Initial Photo Placement to "Crop" before inserting any .png images.

The downloadable .png files are free (thank you Karsten) and will do the trick for you. Look no further!

John

Wow - this was great. I followed the instructions but I have a white background with the arrow. Does anyone know what I did wrong? In other words, the picture isn't transparent.

Hi Julie,

It should work if you have followed Karsten's instructions to the letter. The key for me was to ensure that Project Properties was set to Crop for Initial Photo Placement, before inserting the .png Picture in Picture image. Also, don't click on any of the image settings in the Preview window (Fit, Crop or Ken Burns) when sizing and positioning the PIP, as that may destroy the transparency.

Note that setting Initial Photo Placement to Ken Burns also works, but the PIP pointer will show movement (as in a normal Ken Burns photo). The black background only appears when Fit in Frame is selected in Project Properties - at least that was my experience. I'm not sure why you are seeing a white background - perhaps Karsten has some ideas.

John

John Cogdell wrote:
... I'm not sure why you are seeing a white background - perhaps Karsten has some ideas.

if something internal went wrong, should be black, indeed.
people notice lots of 'flaws' with this trick .. me no engineer, so it's voodoo ..

the white bg only appears, if you don't save your graphic as .png (ot tiff) in your graphic app/Preview/Photoshop/Pixelmator/.. , but e.g. as .jpg - then, transparency is kaputt 😉

Thanks Karsten. If Julie used your pointers (and circles) correctly, she shouldn't be seeing the white background. Perhaps she has tried creating her own, but as you say, saved them incorrectly as .jpg (or other format) and not as .png format.

John

I am trying to isolate my daughter in a group dance video by using the arrow to point to which one she is. I downloaded your pointers folder, added to my pictures and followed directions to insert the arrow as picture in a picture. However, when I play it back, the video freezes and you can't see the arrow unless I highlight the yellow picture in picture box. Do the arrows not work with moving video?
thanks for you help.

lisa1957 wrote:
... However, when I play it back, the video freezes and you can't see the arrow unless I highlight the yellow picture in picture box. Do the arrows not work with moving video?

they do ..
unfortunately, there're some +erratic errors+ in the preview of this lil' workaround .. usually, the pointer is visible without flaws in the preview. sometimes just when you set the playhead manually.
I'm lacking the skills, to find out why. on EXPORT the pointer will appear normal in a video.. promised 🙂

okay thanks,will try and let you know

it worked!!! thanks so much!!!