I have a project that uses a few photos with one minute duration timers I want to slowly fade from color to black and white but the fade to options are all greyed out... Am I over looking something or doing something wrong?
iMovie '11, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
Try the Cross Dissolve transition. That's the best one to use when transitioning from colour to black and white (or vice versa).
Fade to Black and Fade to White are used to fade out or fade in, such that the image gradually appears from a black or white background when fading in. Conversely, when fading out the image gradually dissolves into a black or white background. I don't know why your fade options are greyed out, but as I mentioned, try Cross Dissolve.
PS. You have created a Project - not trying to add a transition to an Event? Editing must be done in a Project, not in an Event.
John
Message was edited by: John Cogdell - added PS
Thank you for your suggestion but unfortunately it's not what I am looking for. First of all, yes I am editing a Project I created. I am already using Cross Blur transitions between pictures, it's the color in the pictures I want to gradually reduce the saturation on until they are black and white before the transitions start, not fade in or out to a black or white screen like you are suggesting.
I am at a loss, I have tried experimenting by creating a new Project containing just one picture with no transitions or fancy effects just to see if it didn't like fading between transitions etc but have had no luck.
Exiled Angel wrote:
....it's the color in the pictures I want to gradually reduce the saturation on until they are black and white before the transitions start, not fade in or out to a black or white screen like you are suggesting.
Sorry, but I wasn't suggesting that you use Fade to Black or Fade to White, just explaining what they do, given that you used the term "fade" in your first post. I assumed you may have been using the Fade to Black transition (which won't achieve what you want).
I suggested that you use Cross Dissolve, but I need to explain further how to achieve the effect you are looking for. First, you need to place a copy of the photo directly after the original. Make sure Ken Burns is turned off - use Fit. Now double-click on the copy to bring up the Clip Inspector. Click on Effects and select Black & White, then click Done. Drag a Cross Dissolve transition between the 2 clips (photos) and adjust the duration to your liking in the Inspector. Now you will see the effect your are looking for.
The key is to have an exact copy of the photo following the original, then change the copy to Black and White (or Sepia or any other effect), then insert the Cross Dissolve (or Cross Blur etc.) transition.
Hope that''s what you are looking for!
John
I spent some more time playing with it after my last comment and found out that you can only use the Fade to Black and White option from the Clip menu when working with video, my problem was I was trying to use it with photos. I ended up taking each photo and making it a seperate project, modifying each individually, saving them as a video, then importing each into my project in place of the photos. I was then able to select the Fade to Black and White option but am having issues with durations of the transitions, it doesn't fade for as long as I would like, there seems to be limitations on transition durations.
After reading your response I went back and tried it your way. While it was less time consuming, I was bothered by it being off slightly when the two photos synched together due to using the Ken Burns feature on the first photo (I wasn't using an exact photo as you suggest because I was going for a specific look and feel for this particular video). If I wasn't such a perfectionist or hadn't used the Ken Burns feature this wouldn't be a problem. I still however have the same transition duration issue. I don't know if it is based on the overall duration of the clips or if it is just a hard limitation of the program, I can't make them last longer than 30 seconds when I would like them to be around 40 seconds.
Thanks for the help, although I will likely go with the video way of doing it, your suggestion is helpful and saves a lot of time for those who are less picky or who aren't using Ken Burns. Cheers!
Why can't I use the fade to black and white option in iMovie '11?
