Macworld: The New, Improved iMovie '09

Yesterday, I got a chance to get an up-close-and-personal look at the new iMovie '09 with my colleague Jeff Carlson (author of iMovie 08 and iDVD 08 for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide in a demo briefing given by Apple. The iMovie '08 release was notable for its complete overhaul of the software, which angered many users by taking away many of the more powerful editing features. The new iMovie '09 (part of the iLife '09 suite of products, now available for pre-order) brings back many of the more advanced editing functions and simplifies them with easy peasy drag-and-drop.

For instance, you can more precisely get just the right edit between two clips via a visual editing function (seen at right) where you can drag the start and end points of the two for a very professional cut. There are also several other new enhancements, such as Indiana Jones-like animated maps and improved titles.

But the most impressive new feature is the video stabilization, which is great for the new, smaller camcorders (like the Mino Flip HD--my favorite Christmas gift) that don't have in-camera stabilization. Ubergizmo helps to explain it:

It removes a lot of the small hand motion, which is particularly true if you film something in a car because there is a lot of small motion jitters. It works by analyzing frames before and after the current one being processed, to extract information that might not be in the current frame, or to guess in what direction the image will shake next. From there, the software can compensate for it.

The clip that you end up with is cropped a bit, and you can also adjust the amount of stabilization so that you can still include the feel of motion in your video. I'm looking forward to editing some of my Mino Flip HD clips in iMovie '09 (which also promises improved compatibility with the Mino--previously you had to install the 3ivx MPEG-4 Decoder to import Mino movies) as I've found I don't have as steady a hand as I think I do.

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Comments

[Torley on January 08, 2009 at 10:12 AM]

I wonder if the video stabilization is derived from Final Cut's SmoothCam?