After chatting with some other folks that have plunged in to use the
new iApps, I have reached a few conclusions:
1) I and several others will be very glad when MicroMat releases
TechTool Pro for OS-X. Why?
Defrag, defrag, defrag. Video (and audio) needs lots of blocks all in a
row to store info. That was true in OS-7, 8, and 9 and it is still true
in OS-X. Keeping the disk defragged will do wonders for your video (and
audio) programs in terms of helping with synch problems, stuttering
etc. Defrag a disk and then watch how easily iMovie (and just about
every other video [and audio!] app) runs!
You might at this point be inclined to say "But TTP 3.x can do the job
on OS-X disks" Yes, but you still have to switch back to OS9 to run it.
It would be better to have a "purely" OS-X solution.
2) Lot of folks turn their OS-X machines off at night or let the drive
go to sleep. There have been widespread reports of people having
troubles that went away after they used MacJanitor or ran the built in
OS-X CRON housekeeping scripts.
3) Apple still needs to include a new line in the installer telling it
to run the repair-permissions program after the install is done.
Is iMovie 3 slower than iMovie 2?
I really don't think so. I believe this is an "appearance" issue rather
than a factual issue. In iMovie 2, you could do quite a bit quickly.
But then came time to export. That was when things were rendered
(turned into a "final movie product" -- effects were applied, still
photos were turned into clips etc.). Well at that point you might as
well go get a couple of cups of coffee and chat with the neighbors
because it took quite a while depending on the complexity of the movie
and the speed of the machine, etc.
In iMovie 3, when a clip is imported or an effect is applied, rendering
then begins, making it look like things are going slowly, but you can
do other things because the rendering is done in the background. One
can actually track the stages of the finished product because a .mov
clip is being created in the project folder -- full DV resolution ready
to put on a DVD. You can watch it in QT Player and it looks great
(giving you editing approval options not available in iMovie 2).
Comparing the same movie creation to final product stage in both 2 and
3, i have found that it takes less total time in 3 than in 2.
[disclaimer: your mileage may vary!]
One thing that i will have to get used to in 3 is the means of
inclusion of editing features from QT Player Pro. I really prefer the
frame by frame timeline editing that Premiere, Avid and yes Final Cut
Pro use. While it is really good that Apple has made it possible to use
in and out editing points in iMovie 3 (this is big!) they are using the
interface from QT Player Pro to do it-- bleah! 10 steps forward and 3
steps backwards. On the other hand, the new Audio Controls that Apple
has implemented for editing sound make it worth the time to download it
and get it running smoothly.
Some have discovered that just like in OS-X itself, you can go in and
remove the language support fro languages you think you won't need --
frees up a lot of disk space that can be defragged -- a stripped down
to only English version takes up 23 MB os space compared to the 81 MB
the whole thing uses.
iPhoto 2
Hey Allan, have you used the finder yet to discover where iPhoto 2 is
storing your libraries? It is pretty straight forward.
Jerry
| The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will
| be January 28. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
