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Can I join two projects?

Hi all...

Say I have a project (A). And a second project (B). A third project (C). Each with their own music photos, etc.


Is there a way to create a new project and import A, B, C.


So the movie that is rendered will be A, B, and C playing smoothly as one giant movie.... so there is a semeless transition of A to B to C.


The reason for asking is I want to create a large movie.... but I want to put together in sections (individual projects) ... then join the sections together (one new large project).


Thanks.

Posted on Nov 28, 2012 1:25 PM

Reply
15 replies

Dec 8, 2012 3:59 PM in response to betaneptune

I tried copying one project and pasting into another... it just garbled it all up... it was all pasted in random places and the pictures were distorted.


Is there a way to have a project. Then copy another project and paste it behind the other project.


In other words, paste project B behind project A in the Project Library?


Thanks for any help!

Dec 9, 2012 7:32 AM in response to zyfert

I just did this successfully in a test.


I opened the first project. This project had no audio and no titles. Nothing fancy. No cutaways, etc. I selected all clips (Cmd-A). Then a Cmd-C. Switched to the new project. Moved the playhead to the end of the last clip. Cmd-V.


Worked fine. Even worked fine in the middle of the project between clips.


If you have titles, audio, etc., and you want to do this, you're basically screwed AFAICT. Oh, and don't even THINK about it if you want to change the frame rate.


Yeah, you can export and re-import. PITA. And then how would you edit your titles? And what about quality loss? If iMovie weren't next to free, lack of such a functionality would be a rip off, for lack of a better term than I can think up right now.

Dec 9, 2012 8:27 AM in response to Tigervision

Question:


Did the movie you copied that got scrambled contain transitions or titles? I just tried a copy operation that contained a transition and the wrong footage was copied.


As I said before, the problem with the export and re-import method is that you lose the ability to edit such things (or so I would think, anyway). So it seems to me that if you want to re-edit such entities your only choice is to copy without such things and manually re-create them from scratch. Yuck.


Message was edited by: betaneptune Edited to clarify. No change in meaning.

Dec 9, 2012 11:03 AM in response to AppleMan1958

No sir, I do not have FCPX. And it doesn't support my graphics card. I think I missed it by only one "level". I would have to buy a new iMac. And add to that an optical drive!!! Oh, and then there're my USB 2.0/FireWire drives. I guess the USB would work, but it wouldn't run at USB 3.0 speed.


I think I'll make due with iMovie 9.0.4 for now. I can manage, but of course I welcome any tips to make things easier! I'd like to get iMovie 9.0.8, or whatever the latest is -- IF it would have some useful-to-me bug fixes and not break anything I currently have. I don't want to do a semi-non-reversable upgrade from 10.6.8 to Mountain Lion just to find out that iMovie 9.0.8 breaks something! Is it really asking to much for Apple to provide a comprehensive list of bug fixes, like DEC, Compaq, and now hp do with their VMS operation system? (I assume hp still does. I haven't upgraded a VMS system in years, so I'd have to check.)


Fortunately, at least for current projects, I have very few titles and transitions. Hmmm, I just remembered. My movie "Silent Quake" has transtions, and I didn't have any trouble copying them. You know what? I might have done my experiment copying from a 24 fps to a 30 fps project. Yes, that must be it. It seems that nothing comes over right when you do that. . . . OK, transitions are okay when not changing the frame rate.


As far as converting to a different frame rate goes, I'm doing it. Here's what it takes (approx. 14 minutes, 45 video clips plus titles and one transition):


Plan to make 30 fps VFT


Document 24 fps version

For each clip

Take screenshot of the first frame

Take screenshot of the last frame

Get speed

Get duration

Take notes about what got cropped

Write down color correction parameters (Or I could copy and paste, but that involves the old back-and-forth bit. Hey, can't write down the color correction params in FCPX, right?! Yes, FCPX color correction has more capabilities than iMovie's.)


Build the 30 fps version

Create a 30 fps project

Copy single clip of the raw footage to the project

Split the footage at each clip's first frame.

Make cuts so that the last frame of each clip is correct.

Copy music over

Sync with music

Adjust the speeds

Adjust the durations

Apply cropping

Apply color correction


So far I've done the following:


VFT D-3 16 24 fps version


VFT E 0 30 fps version (copied the single big clip from the Event Browser to a new blank project.)

VFT E 1 first-frame cuts applied except very first

VFT E 2 last-frame cuts applied


Well, I still have to document the 24 fps version from Get Speed and forward.


As far as titles go, my current set of movies all have original titles shot in Super 8. Only my "Visuals for Timesteps" movie doesn't. I presently have 5 titles for that, so it's not real bad. And I still have to go back and forth between the projects once in a while.


Message was edited by: betaneptune. I fat-fingered the post operation before I finished. Finished now.

Dec 9, 2012 7:37 PM in response to betaneptune

Yeah, my projects have lots of music and titles, etc.

So copy/paste won't work.

I guess I'll have to export each small project and then inport to piece together.


Questions:.... Appleman or anyone....

1. Will I lose quality by export and import and then put together?

2. Any suggests on what quality to export in before reimporting to stitch together? I.e. 720p?


I agree this is painful because I will have to make sure each section is perfect with music and titles, etc before exporting.


Thanks.

Dec 9, 2012 8:33 PM in response to Tigervision

You will lose some quality when you export, quality stays the same when you reimport. Then when you share your new movie, you lose a little more. The question is will it be visible to your eye. You can try it and see.


Export using QuickTIme in Apple Intermediate Codec in the same size as your Event Clips. If your event clips are 1920x1080, stick with that. If they are 1280x720, use that.


I think that would work for stringing together 2 or maybe three segments. It will probably not work for stringing together multiple segments, although it doesn't hurt to try.

Dec 10, 2012 7:58 AM in response to betaneptune

Yet another problem has reared its ugly head. In iMovie, 30 fps is really 29.97 fps. But the durations given in the first thumbnail of each clip are calculated assuming a frame rate of 30 fps! That makes sense, however, because you need the seconds column to increment by 1 every 30 frames to work in a sensible way. And for casual work this is fine. But for me it means I have to drop 1 frame for every 33 seconds of footage to achieve proper sync. Man, video is complicated, especially when frame-rate changes are involved!


Message was edited by: betaneptune. Fixed grammar. No meaningful content change.

Can I join two projects?

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