What does that wavy horizontal red line mean?

Question

What does that wavy horizontal red line mean?

I opened a new Event Folder and see some clips with a red horizontal line going across the bottom of them. The line is wavy and looks sort of like a caterpillar walking across the clip.

What does that red caterpillar line mean? What has been done to that clip that has given it that red wavy line?

=L

24" Intel iMac 222.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Lexmark All In One printer/copier/scanner/fax. 2-terabyte external harddrive

Posted on Feb 13, 2011 5:13 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Feb 13, 2011 6:11 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

It means that section of the video is too shaky to be stabilized.

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Answer 2

Feb 13, 2011 6:13 PM in response to Lorna from Hawaii

That means
1) That you have analyzed the clip for stabilization.
2) The red wavy line means that that portion of the clip is so shaky that stabilization will not help - in other words, it would have to zoom in more than 50% to stop the shaking, leaving very little picture remaining.

It is best to choose selections for your project that do not have the red wavy lines. If you have a scene that has red wavy lines and you really need it, you can use it in your project, but turn stabilization off for that clip in the clip inspector.

Also, if you can, avoid choosing selections that include part red wavy and part not red wavy. This will make the whole selection where it cannot be stabilized. If you need a selection that spans both, bring them in in two parts - the good part, and the red wavy part. This way you can at least stabilize the good part.

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Answer 3

Feb 13, 2011 7:56 PM in response to AppleMan1958

OH! OK, I see. I have also been identifying the clips that do not measure up to my standard (?) 🙂 and those got lined in red. I then went to View and selected that only the unmarked or those marked good will be visible. I won't be bothered by clips that are unworthy.

Thanks a lot to you and Tom for helping. Sometimes a question can be of a very basic nature, such as mine was, but there is no page that I saw that is titled: Here are all the little lines and icons and what they mean. 🙂

I am getting to realize how much I like iMovie '09. It is in fact so easy to learn and does so much of the calculating for the user. I love it. I remember slaving with iMovie '04 years and years ago and find it distressing. AFter that I quit iMovie. Now I am loving iMovie '09.

... and I am also getting familiar with my Xacti hd2000A and I love it.

-L

Message was edited by: Lorna from Hawaii

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