export from iStopMotion for editing in iMovie 09

Hi,

I'd like to export a time-lapse movie I created in iStopMotion (I started from very high quality JPG's, shot with a Nikon D700), so I can edit it in iMovie 09. Apparantly, iMovie does not import .mov files, so I tried "DV-PAL 16-9". Now, I don't know where exactly things change, but the end-result looks bad compared to the original movie I created in iStopMotion.

While I'm working in iMovie, the quality I see there, is already low, but maybe this is normal while working as you only see some kind of low quality preview? I'm not sure about this... But, in the end, when I save the iMovie result as HD 1280x720 (using the highest quality preset with 'Export Movie'), it doesn't improve. The quality remains low. To be more precise: the movie is less sharp and straight lines get this ugly jagged look.

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks,
Kris

Hi xStep,

Thanks a lot for your help, I appreciate this! I'm a photographer so I new to all this, but since I'm now very much interested in time lapse photography, I have to learn this stuff.

my replies:

..."First, iMovie imports .mov files just fine. It is dependent on the codecs used though."...

-> This explains a lot. I remember being able to import .mov files into iMovie, so now I know why.


..."Codecs to to try are H.264, AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec), DV Stream, Uncompressed 4:2:2."...

-> iSM is ging my a number of options, but not all of the above, in fact, only DV Stream. (See my attachment)

..."The different versions of iSM have different resolution limits. I have iSM2 Home and it is limited to working in standard definition size (max 720x576). So for reference, what version do you have?"...

-> I have iSM Pro.

When you started your project, what resolution did you set it at? Blowing up from a smaller size to a larger size is going to cause quality loss. Click on 'Document Settings...' under the file menu for that project. You can make some changes there, but if iSM resizes on import, then it is too late for that imported media. I think it does resize upon import.

-> I started with hi-res jpg images, having a resolution of 1800x1200, enough to have a HD movie in the end I think. In iSM, the quality is excellent! And in iSM, the Documents Settings say: Pixel Aspect Ration: HD(1:1).


..."So, if you are editing in DV-Widescreen, exporting to 1280x720 HD will affect the quality. You might want to try two exports. The first using the current native size and the second one in HD. Then compare how iMovie exports them from a project. You might find that iMovie does a better job on upsizing the native size version. I'm not sure what affect frame rate will have."...

I could try this later today, but I'm not sure it will help, because when importing the DV file from iSM into iMovie, I can already see immediately the loss of quality (loss of sharpness, jagged edges, etc). See my second attachment to illustrate the difference between the movie in iSM and the import into iMovie. After exporting from iMovie, I can see no extra quality-loss, it looks exactly the same as the import of the iSM DV file.

Many thanks in advance,
Kris