What Happened to option to export as PNG?!!

Question

Level 4

1,102 points

What Happened to option to export as PNG?!!

Hi,

Unless I am going mad I am sure I exported a movie a while back as PNG format (under Share - Export Quicktime Movie and then choose PNG compression format). I know the file size was unbelievably huge (30 gb for a 30 min movie), but it is the only way I have found in iMovie to export a movie with minimal quality loss. However, I am trying to export a movie now and I can't find the PNG option - has it been removed or was it on an earlier version of iMovie?

And if it has been removed (and I know this question has been done to death), how do you export a high quality movie from iMovie for archiving? I have tried exporting as DV using best compression but there is still noticable blocking in the dark areas.

Many thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Jun 26, 2012 1:24 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Jun 26, 2012 4:24 PM in response to Russ New Boy

PNG is not a video format. It is one of the options for saving a frame as a still photo.

Reply

Answer 2

Russ New Boy Author

Level 4

1,102 points

Jun 27, 2012 5:27 AM in response to Klaus1

OK thanks, that probaby explains why the file size is so large as it saves every frame as a photo. I previously exported the movie as PNG within a .mov container as recommended by http://www.dvcreators.net/how-do-i-export-a-high-quality-movie/

The original footage was in dv format but when I use iMovie's dv export options the titles look really soft and dull whereas under the previous PNG export they were as good as in iMovie, only problem is that I can't remember how I did it and PNG is not shown as an option under Compression types!

Reply

Answer 3

Dtinen

Level 1

93 points

Jun 27, 2012 8:22 AM in response to Russ New Boy

Yes, you can still export to PNG from iMovie, but it's buried in a LOT of submenus:

1. In the Share menu select Export using QuickTime...

2. In the Save exported movie as... window that pops up, press the OPTIONS button (near the bottom).

3. In the Movie Settings window that pops up, press the SETTINGS button.

4. This will bring up a window where you can change the compression format (usually defaulting to H.264). In my case (Snow Leopard and iMovie '11), PNG is one of the drop-down menu options.

By the way, there are a LOT of cool special effects under the Filter... button in Movie Settings I'd never noticed before today (like embossing, solariation, putting "film scratches" on it).

I also didn't know that QuickTime allowed you to select the Key frame rate. The default is 150, apparently, so when I had a pan-across move, it looked jumpy until I lowered it.

Reply

Answer 4

Russ New Boy Author

Level 4

1,102 points

Jun 27, 2012 9:53 AM in response to Dtinen

Thanks. I have looked in the compression drop down menu but there are only around 10 options, half of which are DV, plus AIC. My only guess is that it has been removed under Lion as I am running iMovie '11 as well.

Will check out your other suggestions.

But any views on the options to export as close to Lossless as possible would be appreciated.

Reply