"Create Still Frame" creates blurry stills

Hi Bruce - I've noticed exactly the same issue when creating "still frames" from video content. Earlier versions of iMovie (? up to v4) gave an image that exactly matched the video frame, but alas, no longer!

Mainly with wedding videos, I generally create a highlights segment using a large number of stills created from video frames. The quality is "fuzzy" compared to the excellent images created in earlier versions. It's got to the point where I'm now almost reluctant to create stills in this way.

One method I've used to partially "hide" the problem is to export frames to a folder on the desktop, then import them to iPhoto. I then create a Book in iPhoto, using those stills in the various layouts, with 2 or 3 pics on a page. This reduces the size of the pics on screen (and provides a nice layout and background), such that the blurriness is not so visible. I appreciate, however, that this does not solve your "freeze frame" problem.

My next step is to "print" the Book - not as a hard copy but saved as a PDF (use the drop down menu item: "Save PDF to iPhoto"). Once the pages are back in iPhoto as independent images, crop each one to 4x3 aspect ratio (for standard DV). The images are then ready for import to iMovie in the usual way. Cropping eliminates any black borders (pillar boxing) that may appear in iMovie.

Matti Haveri's site has some comments on a similar problem (quality of imported still images saved back as frames) - see here:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#resavedstills

Hope this helps in some way Bruce!

John

This isn't pretty, but it should work, delivering a clip with no change in quality.

Instead of creating/exporting a still frame, grab 1 frame of VIDEO from the original clip, then "stretch" that video. Something like this:

1. Duplicate the clip from which you want a frame. (Option-drag it somewhere to duplicate it.)

2. Move the cursor to the frame you want to keep. Choose Edit > Split Video Clip at Playhead.

3. Press the right arrowkey once to move the playhead 1 frame right. Split the video again. You now have three clips, with a 1-frame clip in the middle. Keep the 1-frame clip and discard the rest.

4. Use the special effects to lengthen the play-time of the 1-frame clip, stretching it to a playtime of 5 frames.

5. Copy and Paste that clip 5 times. There's now 30 frames (1 second).

6. Select the clips comprising the 1 second of video and export it to a Full Quality movie. (Use the "Share Selected Clips" checkbox in the export dialog window to export just those clips.)

7. Import the exported video, which delivers a 1-second clip. Copy and Paste that as many times as you need. Export/re-import again if desired.

Karl

Thank you very much Karl for your detailed explanation - you always seem to come up with ingenious ways of overcoming obstacles!

Your method will be invaluable for Bruce's requirement for "freeze frames" - which I also use at times. Due to the large number of "still frames" that I usually use as highlights in many of my projects, it may be fairly time consuming to use your method for each "still". However, I might give it a try on my next project, just to see how it goes. Thanks again.

John

Karl,

I concur with John: you always have an ace up your sleeve - great stuff 🙂

little add-on for trying this: Too much copy/paste might make the project stutter - but then, you came up with some powerful solutions for that too 🙂

mish

Due to the large number of "still frames" that I usually use as highlights in
many of my projects, it may be fairly time consuming to use your method for
each "still".

I wouldn't want to do it often either! Once in a while, but that's all.

If I needed a production line, I'd think about using QuickTime Pro. It would be faster and have fewer steps. And since QuickTime Player is AppleScriptable, a script could do it all, if you're inclined.

The Timeline movie that's in the Cache folder of the project package lets you access the single-frame clip in QuickTime. You'd open the Timeline movie in QuickTime, Copy the desired frame, Paste it into a new movie, then Copy and Paste the frames of THAT movie until the movie is the desired length, Save it and import that movie to iMovie. Lots faster.

The trick is to Select All (of the frames of the new movie), Copy, Paste. Each time you do that it doubles the length of the movie in QuickTime.

How to find the frame in the Timeline movie? The trick there is to select the single-frame clip you made in iMovie, then save the project. When you do that, QuickTime selects the same frame as it opens the Timeline movie. It's already selected, ready to Copy and Paste into a new movie. No hunting for the frame. (Which makes it possible for an AppleScript to do it for you automatically.)

(From time to time I like using the Timeline movie inside the project to view the iMovie project. Better quality image. So I keep an Applescript applet in the Dock that opens the Timeline movie of whatever iMovie project is selected in the Finder. Very handy. The same approach could be used to build a 10-second single-frame clip for whatever iMovie project you've selected in the Finder.)

Karl

delivering a clip with no change in quality

Sometimes you want some change in quality -- for interlaced material I'd add:

6. Do a fake export to camcorder (with no camcorder attached). This will force iMovie to render (i.e. deinterlace) the slo-mo clip. Not doing so will produce an awful zigzag effect when that slo-mo frame is viewed on an interlaced TV.

(Notice that usually THAT iMovie render process makes jaggy still images, but this is one of those instances when it does some good instead!)

BTW, I hadn't noticed the terrible quality of the "Create Still Frame" command before. Thanks for reporting it.

If I want to extract best possible quality stills from DV, I do it via QT Player and some image editing app (my method is described in the link John posted in this thread). But if I wanted to use that frame as a freeze frame, it is very easy to introduce some color shifts or slight scaling issues, which Karls method bypasses because everything is handled internally in iMovie. (Some day I'll test how to control color in still image imports to iMovie...).

Hi Bruce - you could also have a look here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3023954#3023954

As explained in that thread, I drag the video clip to the desktop, open it in QTPro, scrub to the frame I want, go Edit>Trim to Selection, then Command-C to copy, then continue holding down Command-V until the required length is reached (seen to the left of the bar). Save that and drag the file into the project. It takes less time than you would think once you get the method off. The result is a clean image, but you need to mute the audio of the clip to avoid audio 'stutter'.

I use this method a lot, especially where, with travel video, maybe from moving vehicles, only one or two frames from a clip are of sufficient quality to retain.

Thanks Karl for the extra information, which I've saved to my "iMovie Tips and Tricks" folder for future reference - very handy!

I also use the Timeline movie (from the package) for reviewing projects - from both a quality and convenience aspect.

From time to time, I've also used QuickTime Pro to create still frames, using the Movie to Picture method, but I'm not too sure about the results. The aspect ratio seems a bit off, requiring cropping once imported to iMovie (to fill the frame) - but the quality may be slightly better than still frames created in iMovie. I'm sure your method will give the best results, as it's using the actual DV video frame, but may take longer.

Thanks again Karl - your input is very much appreciated.

John