Sharing and Exporting

Media Browser
YouTube
QuickTime
iMovieHD

Media Browser

If you want to move your project to iDVD '08 or GarageBand, then you need to share it to the iLife Media Browser. To do this:

  1. Select Share >> Media Browser… from the menu bar.
  2. Choose the size or sizes that you wish to export your movie as. If you want to create a DVD of your movie, then it is probably a good idea to select the largest choice possible.
  3. Click Publish.

iMovie will now begin to process your movie. Sometimes this can take a pretty long time, so be prepared to wait awhile. There'll be a progress bar giving you an estimate of how long it is going to take, although it's better to just set it up and then go do something else during the processing.

YouTube

One of the nifty features about iMovie '08 is that you can share your movie directly to YouTube. **Note: YouTube will not accept any movies that are over 10 minutes long.

  1. From the top menu, choose Share >> YouTube. A dialog box will pop up.

  2. A. If you've never posted a movie from iMovie to YouTube:
    1. Click Add on the account line and then select Sign In.
    2. A browser will pop-up to YouTube.com. Create a YouTube account.
    3. YouTube will then ask you if you wish to allow third-party software. Choose Allow.
    4. When you see the "You have permission" message, return to iMovie.
    5. Click Confirm Sign-in.

    B. If you have exported a video from iMovie '08 to YouTube before, simply choose your account name from the list of accounts.

  1. Select a Category, type in a Title, and add a Description and Tags for your movie.

  2. Select the size. Medium will look better, but will only play well over high speed connections. Mobile will be smaller, but will load faster, which is better for viewers using dial-up or cell phones.

  3. Check over all of your settings and then click Next.

  4. A box will come up reminding you that you should not be posting anything that you don't have the copyright for.

  5. Click Publish.

As with all exporting options, this can take a while. When iMovie is done, a box will pop up giving you the URL of your movie.

QuickTime

If you want to export your movie to a movie file that can be played on any computer, then you want to use the export options.

To produce the movie quickly, go to Share >> Export Movie…. When the window pops up, choose a name for your movie, where to save it and what size you would like it to be and then click Export.

For a bit more control over the output:

  1. Go to Share >> Export Using QuickTime. The Save exported file as… window will pop up.
  2. Choose a name for your movie and where to save it.
  3. Under the Export drop-down menu there are many different options to choose from. Choose the type of file you want to create from this list.
  4. Many of the choices allow you to click on the Options… button for further fine-tuning of how iMovie will export your project.
  5. Once you have all of your settings set up to your specifications, click Save.

As with all exporting options, either way can take a while to process, depending on the size of your movie.

Exporting Still Frames

If you created still images from your project that you want to use elsewhere:

  1. Create a new project in the Project Library
  2. Move a copy of the still frames to this new project.
  3. Set each of the images to have a duration of 1:00 second.
  4. Use the Export to QuickTime instructions and choose Movie to Image Sequence.
  5. Under Options. choose your format and set Frames per second to 1.

You will now have a series of still frames that you can use wherever you want. Remember, if you want to use them in iDVD, it's a good idea to import them into iPhoto.

iMovie HD

The process to export your project to iMovie HD is similar to the Export to QuickTime directions.

  1. Use the Export to QuickTime instructions and choose Movie to QuickTime Movie.
  2. Click Options, then click the (Video) Settings button.
  3. You want to choose Apple Intermediate Codec from the Compression Type pop-up window. (A codec, if you're curious, is a program which encodes and decodes information on the fly.) By selecting Apple Intermediate Codec, you're telling iMovie that you want to translate your film into a form which iMovie HD will understand.
  4. Click through to finish exporting the project.
  5. Open iMovie HD, create a new project, name it and save it.
  6. Choose File >> Import, and double click on the file you exported. This will import the entire project as one clip into the clips pane of iMovie HD. Now just follow the iMovie HD tutorial as necessary to work with all those handy features that didn't make it into iMovie '08 (specializing audio effects, adding a great deal of special effects, add chapter markers, etc.)

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