Adjust Length of photos and transitions via click-and-drag

Question

Adjust Length of photos and transitions via click-and-drag

Hello,

I have the following question:

Is there a way to make it possible to change the length of a photo or transition by clicking on the edge and draging it?

As of right now I always have to type in the exact time the certain photo is ought to be shown but when arranging the photos and transition to the beat of a song this can be a hideous thing to do.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out in this matter...

MacBook Pro, iOS 6.0.2

Posted on Jan 27, 2013 10:02 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

AppleMan1958

Level 7

27,492 points

Jan 27, 2013 3:33 PM in response to The Foo Fighter

Yes, you can click and drag. After you have the selection at the right length, use Right Click/Trim to Selection or EDIT/TRIM TO SELECTION.

You can trim up to 30 frames (1 second) by dragging directly.

For more see iMovie Help

http://help.apple.com/imovie/#mov3a61efb7

However, if you are editing to the beat of a song, there is a much easier way. Use the Beat Marker feature of iMovie.

Here is a good Tutorial.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/imovie_09_stone.html#markers

You open your music in the Clip Trimmer view and type the letter M to the beat to apply the markers. Then add your video clips or photos and they will snap to the beats.

You can do this really quickly if you line up all your photos in an album in iPhoto in the order you want them. Then, go to the photo browser in iMovie and drag in the icon for the album all at once. The album will snap to your beat markers.

Here is a good sample of what you can do.

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Answer 2

Feb 4, 2013 6:02 AM in response to AppleMan1958

well, ok, thanks for the detailed answer first!

but what do you mean by "having the selection at the right length"? do you mean the yellow border that lets me shorten the clip? i personally can only find out the right length when i try and see how it looks.

however, it does not allow me to lengthen the photos, it only allows me to shorten the duration from it´s default length, in my case 4 sec, to however short i want. but if i want to lengthen a photo i have to type the duration in.

(and by the way, is it possible to let the length of a photo be represented in its size in the timeline?

what i mean is that now, all my photos have the same width and depending on how long they are supposed to be shown the cursor rushes over them or goes slowly...

i would prefer a consistend speed and therefore changes in the width of the photos.)

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Answer 3

Feb 4, 2013 6:27 AM in response to The Foo Fighter

To change how long the photo appears in the timeline, use the Thumbnail slider. You can set it anywhere from 1 thumbnail per clip to 1 thumbnail per 1/2 second.

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Answer 4

Feb 5, 2013 5:06 AM in response to The Foo Fighter

The Foo Fighter wrote:

however, it does not allow me to lengthen the photos, it only allows me to shorten the duration from it´s default length, in my case 4 sec, to however short i want. but if i want to lengthen a photo i have to type the duration in.

You probably already know this, but you can change the default duration of photos in iMovie's menu item File > Project Properties. There is a slider there for Photo Duration, and an option to set it for all photos or when added to the project. Set the slider to a duration a little longer than you would generally need, say 6 seconds or so. Then it's easy to drag the yellow handles inwards to shorten the duration of the still, using Trim to Selection (as you've been doing, of course).

Sorry if the Project Properties suggestion sounds obvious, but thought it worth mentioning. Sometimes, the little things can be overlooked!

John

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