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iMovie 10.1.13 upgraded uninstalled 2x. Start to edit movie, then tools break into colored blocks on screen and not responsive,

iMovie 10.1.13 upgraded uninstalled 2x. Start to edit movie, then tools break into colored blocks on screen and not responsive.

Posted on Oct 8, 2019 7:11 AM

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Posted on Nov 18, 2019 9:35 AM

Yes, the only solution that appears to work (as described in several replies above):


Go to System Preferences->Accessibility->Display and turn off both reduce transparency and increase contrast.


Crazy that Apple does not have this tip in their support site for resolving iMovie issues.

38 replies

Oct 14, 2019 6:34 AM in response to thesurreyfriends

YES! That seems to resolve the problem when using VLC for playback of videos. Switching either back on makes the problem return. Not going to risk trying to run iMovie though as too many projects could be lost again, but seems to be the answer.

Guess you can/could turn this off when wanting to use any program affected by this bug.

This all makes sense now with the colors flashing on MENUS which the 'Preferences->Accessibility->Display' setting affects, of course.

Oct 15, 2019 12:23 AM in response to Rich839

Try going to System Preferences>Accessibility>Display. Check your settings there. If the boxes that say "reduce transparency" and "increase contrast" are checked, then uncheck both of them. Thesurreyfriends who post here mentioned that FCPX had a similar problem and that solution worked for FCPX. If it solves it for you, post back if you have time, as it may help others with the same issue.


Good luck with this.


— Rich

Oct 15, 2019 7:37 AM in response to Chris Torrence

Chris Torrence,


Apparently disabling checked accessibility options only works in some cases. I wonder if a graphics card upgrade is necessary with iMovie 10.1.13 and Catalina, in view of the several reports that have been posted about graphics issues. We'll just have to wait and see if Apple fixes it with future updates. At least you were able to downgrade and get it working.


-- Rich

Oct 23, 2019 10:09 AM in response to NNK01

I HAVE A SOLUTION!


It took me nearly two hours with Apple Support to get to the bottom of it, but here's what ended up working (it's a weird fix...the Apple Pro said it was the weirdest fix that he'd seen(!)):


Open System Preferences > Accessibility > Display


If "Reduce Transparency" is checked, uncheck it.


That fixed it for me...hopefully it'll work for y'all, too!

Dec 12, 2019 8:07 PM in response to lipwak

Thanks libwak for posting that info. I just installed 10.1.14 and it seems to have fixed the problems with the graphics tearing. I was able to open up a movie project, do some editing, and then export to a file without any graphics problems. In my case the "reduce transparency" and "increase contrast" settings never made any difference. But now it's (hopefully) all fixed.

iMovie 10.1.13 upgraded uninstalled 2x. Start to edit movie, then tools break into colored blocks on screen and not responsive,

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