Hello!
I need to insert some still photos into an iMovie timeline that has two video tracks (I'm editing back and forth). Question: how do I insert a photo without interrupting the audio track?
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
Hi, jay,
From a workflow standpoint, the best way is to arrange your videos and photos on the timeline and then afterwards add your audio. That avoids a lot of fiddling as you add photos and video clips to the timeline. Since you are beyond this point with your present project I'll mention below some other ways of working with audio. These are just a few techniques that you may or may not find applicable to your situation.
Inserting a photo in the time line between two videos will push the down steam video clip further down the timeline. (You insert a photo by dragging it between two clips.) Any background audio clip that is attached to the down stream video clip will move along with the video clip. If you don't want that to happen you can first detach the audio clip by putting your cursor on it and, while pressing down, pulling the audio clip straight down until the little attachment handle pulls off of the video clip. Then you can insert your photo and when the video clip is pushed farther down the timeline the audio clip won't slide down with it. Of course, if the audio is somehow synchronized with the video clip, such as a voiceover for example, then it would be out of sync. But with ordinary background music it would be no problem.
Another way to insert photos into a timeline is to place them above the video as an overlay in the timeline above the main timeline. By default they would act as a cutaway, so that as the playhead progressed through the video when it came to the photo it would cutaway to the photo. The photo would be displayed for its duration in place of the video. You wouldn't see the video but the audio would continue playing uninterrupted through the photo.
Another thing you can do in appropriate situations is to change the attachment point of the audio if you don't want it to be moved with the video clip above it. You can do that by holding down the Option and Command keys, and clicking at any place along the audio clip. The attachment point will move to the place that you clicked.
You also can share out your project as an audio-only file to your desktop using the Audio share option in the share box. Now you have a sound track that you can import back in to your project. You would need to then delete out the audio tracks that you left in the project.
You can also overlay photos as a picture in picture, using the picture in picture feature of iMovie.
I hope that the above helps.
-- Rich
Hi, jay,
From a workflow standpoint, the best way is to arrange your videos and photos on the timeline and then afterwards add your audio. That avoids a lot of fiddling as you add photos and video clips to the timeline. Since you are beyond this point with your present project I'll mention below some other ways of working with audio. These are just a few techniques that you may or may not find applicable to your situation.
Inserting a photo in the time line between two videos will push the down steam video clip further down the timeline. (You insert a photo by dragging it between two clips.) Any background audio clip that is attached to the down stream video clip will move along with the video clip. If you don't want that to happen you can first detach the audio clip by putting your cursor on it and, while pressing down, pulling the audio clip straight down until the little attachment handle pulls off of the video clip. Then you can insert your photo and when the video clip is pushed farther down the timeline the audio clip won't slide down with it. Of course, if the audio is somehow synchronized with the video clip, such as a voiceover for example, then it would be out of sync. But with ordinary background music it would be no problem.
Another way to insert photos into a timeline is to place them above the video as an overlay in the timeline above the main timeline. By default they would act as a cutaway, so that as the playhead progressed through the video when it came to the photo it would cutaway to the photo. The photo would be displayed for its duration in place of the video. You wouldn't see the video but the audio would continue playing uninterrupted through the photo.
Another thing you can do in appropriate situations is to change the attachment point of the audio if you don't want it to be moved with the video clip above it. You can do that by holding down the Option and Command keys, and clicking at any place along the audio clip. The attachment point will move to the place that you clicked.
You also can share out your project as an audio-only file to your desktop using the Audio share option in the share box. Now you have a sound track that you can import back in to your project. You would need to then delete out the audio tracks that you left in the project.
You can also overlay photos as a picture in picture, using the picture in picture feature of iMovie.
I hope that the above helps.
-- Rich
Insert photo into imovie timeline without affecting audio track
