Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

414 switching to the mac: the missing manual

Effects

The Effects button summons a pane full of additional visual effects. Most are designed

to create actual special effects that simulate fog, rain, earthquakes, lightning, flashbulbs,

and bad LSD. (Most are weird and distracting. Use sparingly.)

To apply an effect, first specify which lucky region of footage you want to be affected.

(iMovie can apply effects only to entire clips, so it may have to split your clip at the

endpoints of the selection, and then apply the effect to the central clip.)

Then, on the Effects pane, specify when the effect should begin and end (use the Effect

In and Effect Out sliders), its intensity, and so on. Finally, click Apply. As usual, the ren-

dering telegraphs its progress with a miniature red progress bar on the selected clip.

If you click a clip and then press the Delete key, you’re saying: “Throw away the ef-

fect. Bring back my original, unmodified clip.” To adjust the start time, stop time, or

other parameters of a special effect, you must first delete the effect altogether, and

then reapply it using new settings.

Titles and credits

To add rolling credits, opening titles, subtitles, or MTV-style music video credits to

your masterpiece, start by clicking the Titles button. A list of title animation styles

pops up. In the tiny text box underneath the list, type the text you want to appear.

(Some of the effects, ...