I don't have a lot to say, but this is my little bit.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Things that make iMovie hard to use

I used a previous version of iMovie on a Mac, then I have used OpenShot on Ubuntu. Today I tried to use the apparently 'new' version of iMovie on a newer Mac and I am flummoxed at how impossible it is to do anything.

1. When I add a title, why aren't there any options for how the title behaves? It fades in, which is what I want, but then it fades out, which is not what I want. Is it impossible to stop the fade, or is the option just impossible to find?

2. I want to know what time in the video the title should start, so I put my cursor over that point in the video. Why isn't the time shown anywhere? Am I the only person who uses times when arranging clips?

3. It is possible to trim the edges of a clip by dragging the edges. I know it's possible because it suddenly worked once I increased the "clip size" to the maximum. So why not allow users to use that feature when the clip size is not the maximum? It seems like maybe people other than me would want that, too.

4. I want to change the bounds of the title box. Is this possible? I can't find any way to do it. I have to assume it's possible, so why isn't it as easy as "drag the corners of the box" or "click 'properties' then set the size"?

5. You know what, after spending some time looking, I'm actually ready to say that I don't think iMovie lets you change the title box bounds or position. Seriously?

Okay, I give up. Thirty minutes of trying to put text on a movie clip is too long. I'm going to go use OpenShot which at least has a minimum set of features. I won't try iMovie again this decade.

1 comment:

  1. Oh hey check it out, I was right, I didn't try iMovie again that decade! Still haven't. I wonder if it's gotten any better? But I don't wonder very hard because I can't point to anything about Apple software which got better during that time.

    ReplyDelete