Cross-dissolve transition not working in iMovie 10.0.2

Hi, there;

I was also having this problem with split clips, particularly when I detached audio and put a new picture source (most often a still photo) above the original picture source. When I deleted the original picture source, the transition worked.

Was able to do this because audio source was music, nothing needed to stay in sync. Buggy transitions one of the many drawbacks of iMovie 10.1!

I seem to have found the solution: cut the clip in pieces, save the pieces individually, throw them back together, and add cross dissolve. You are now joining separate files, which means the effect will work. Call it Apple logic.

Hi linbmcd,

Welcome to the Support Communities!

The article below may be able to help you with this. Click on the link to see more details and screenshots.

iMovie (2013): Add transitions to your movie

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14698

Do you have any issues with cross-dissolve in your other iMovie projects? Another troubleshooting step would be to remove the iMovie preferences:

iLife: Troubleshooting Basics

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3249

Delete the User Preferences

You can resolve many issues by restoring an iLife application back to its original settings (this will not impact your project files or libraries). To do this:

1. In the Finder, click the Go menu and choose Home.
2. Open the Library folder and then the Preferences folder.
3. Remove the "com.apple.x.plist" file, where "x" should be replaced with the iLife application you are troubleshooting (for example, "com.apple.iphoto.plist" or "com.apple.imovie.plist").

Cheers,

- Judy

Hi linbmcd,

My apologies, missing from the instructions above is that you have to hold the Option key in Finder, then click Go and you will see a hidden Library file. This is your User Library. You'll find the iMovie file in the Preferences folder.

In iMovie 10 (2013), I would suggest you start with a new movie, add a few clips from the Maps and Backgrounds content that is part of the program, and then try your transitions again. That way, you can see if the issue is with the software or your media.

This article has some other general troubleshooting guidelines:

Isolating an issue by using another user account

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4053

The issue at hand may simply be caused by a bad preference setting or user-specific data file.

If an issue doesn't happen when logged in to a new user account, then you know OS X and your installed applications are working as expected.

If you need more help with troubleshooting an issue isolated to a specific user account, you may wish to contact Apple Support. If you work with AppleCare to troubleshoot the issue, be sure to mention any troubleshooting steps you have already performed and the results, and the text of any alert messages you're seeing. You may want to take a screenshot of any alert messages so you can refer to them later.

I hope this information helps ....

Have a great day!

- Judy

Hi linbmcd,

I'm glad you figured out the solution to this puzzle. Thanks for sharing it with the community.

- Judy

The new version of iMovie has more bugs in it than ever before. I have been a long-time iMovie fan, but with all the dumbed-down features and bugs I am beginning to hate this application.

You can't work with 60fps or greater videos as iMovie projects only support 30fps - period. So when you slow down your clips, they look choppy. You are also hobbled by the lack of granularity at which you can export your videos - hence the lack of high-bitrate videos on output and only 30fps videos on output.

When is Apple going to restore some of the more desirable advanced features? FCPX is overkill for what I need to do and iMovie used to be my go-to-it app. Not anymore.

Disappointing.

Hi all,

I came across this topic looking for a solution for the same problem as topicstarter. Even almost 1,5 years later in iMovie 10.1 this is not solved (or I'm too stupid to find another solution for this). I can't open the Precision Editor. When I split a clip there is no bar appearing between the 2 parts of the clip that I just created, therefore I can't open the PE. The file I imported was created by importing a miniDV (tape) movie to a Windows 7 machine. Did anybody find a solution for that?

Yes, it is a long time ago this topic was started, but apparently there are still problems. 😠

Best regards,

Mischa

I don't understand why you want to add a transition between the two parts of a split clip when there is no 'gap' in the action. A cross-dissolve in particular would be invisible if added since it would be mixing two identical bits of video. Transitions are to connect clips to 'soften' a 'jump' in the video.

If you trim (or add) one or more frames from either part then there now is a 'jump', the bar appears and you can add transitions.

Geoff.