iLife '08: Impressions & Discussion (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Aaron, thanks for the update. That's great to hear! I really like iMovie 06: it makes quite a bit of sense to me now, but I'm hoping I can adapt '08's workflow without too much trouble.

I may have to buy sooner than later. Not sensible to invest in learning 06 any more if I've got to relearn everything in 08. And iPhoto '06 drives me batty; I just want to ditch it for 08 ASAP.


And the online photo gallery: I think my wife will really like that!

 

[Craig S]

Eric, when you open iPhoto '08 for the first time it does a one-to-one conversion of Rolls to Events - at least, that's what it did on my machine. Took about 30 secs for 4000 photos (on my Jan 2006 Intel iMac).

To follow up on what Eric said - anyone wanting to see what the new iMovie is all about should get to an Apple Store (if you have one near). All the iMacs are loaded with lots of HD video and several sample projects using it. Very easy to get right in and play around with the new interface.

 

[Craig S]

Macworld's "First Looks" at the iLife '08 apps:

iPhoto

iMovie

iDVD

GarageBand

iWeb

 

[DaveF]

Interesting comments on iMovie 08 by David Pogue.

I may buy iLife this weekend. I'm excited about some features in iMovie 08, in particular the real-time rendering of effects and transitions. As easy as iMovie 06 is to use, 08 might be simpler still for my modest uses.

But some of the concerns suggest Apple just went brain-dead for a few moments: iMovie 08 can't properly open iMovie 06 projects? It can't create chapter markers for iDVD? That's just senseless. It's crazy for a product, after two years between releases, to lose such substantive features.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'm sticking to version '06 of iMovie. It works
fine for my purposes.

Thanks for the links to the reviews. Good read.

 

[Craig S]

Pogue actually made a couple of mistakes and/or incomplete statements in that article (unusual for him):
This is a matter of opinion, but I strongly disagree. He is clearly an iMovie HD power user. I'm sure he sees it that way, but for those of us less familiar with iMovie HD it's much easier to perform these operations in the new version.

I'm not hating on Pogue. I've seen some of his videos. Good stuff. This new version is clearly not for him. While I think Apple made it easier for novices to get into video-making, they clearly left their power users in the lurch. They can continue to use iMovie '06 and deal with the end of updates, or they can shell out $300 to move up to Final Cut Express. Not a great choice...

It'll be interesting to see what (if anything) Apple does to deal with this issue.

 

[DaveF]

The more I read, the more I think iMovie 08 may be a good tool for me. It sounds like it loads video almost instantly; 06 takes a few minutes on my machine. That alone would be a nice benefit. Plus removing the rendering time for titles and transitions would be great.

I don't use soundtracks so most of that stuff doesn't matter,but I do extract audio to use it as a visual tool for finding transitions to make edits. I'm not sure how that'll work on 08, but I may find I don't really need that level of precision in my editing as I settle into an efficient routine.

Well, I just need to buy it and see how it goes. Gotta check with the accountant and see if I can place an order

 

[DaveF]

I bought iLife 08 (family pack) this weekend. The installation went smoothly, though I haven't checked to make sure iMovie 06 is still present. And I ran the software updates, knowing there were updates already.

iWeb looks much the same, though with some new tools. Since I don't use .Mac, many won't be of much use to me. But the ability to easily change template style on pages will be nice. However, this only operates on a per-page basis; you can't globally change your website style in one fell swoop. The HTML snippet might be useful, too, for adding dynamic menus or such.

iPhoto, at first glance, is a huge improvement! I got sucked into swooshing across events, picking new key photos, and merging events that were separated at birth. The upgrade went well, and it imported my iPhoto library without a hiccup. From what I've read and seen so far, I hope that iPhoto has again taken the lead (over Picasa) for best hobbyist photo manager. I'm looking forward to using it over the holidays this Fall to import pictures in a more sane manner than previously allowed. I'm also thinking that the new Events view may reduce the need to organize in albums, saving me time. I still wish iPhoto would sensibly handle EXIF and IPTC data. Maybe for 09

I loaded iDVD and iMovie, but don't have any video projects at the moment so didn't get into it. I expect to give these a good look in two weeks, when I've got some more video.



On a side note, I also played with the new keyboard, the MacBook-esque full-size model. I really don't like it. The keys have short throws and hard stops and I must type with a fury, because I felt like I was pounding my fingertips into a concrete wall while using it. This was the most painful keyboard I've used in a while.

But if the keyboard feels comfortable to you, it's a lovely design. So svelte and lithe, like a French supermodel. I also like the little icons placed on the Function keys to indicate Expose, Dashboard, etc. Nothing new from a Windows keyboard view, but a nice update to the Apple world.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,

I have that new keyboard on order from Apple and was going
to post some thoughts on it in a few days.

You really don't like it? Now I'm wondering....

I have a $200 Logitech DiNovo keyboard that I loved using
with my PC. Problem is, it doesn't work well under Mac. There
is a software program where you can reassign the keys, however.

I may give that DiNovo another try and cancel the Apple keyboard.

 

[ErichH]

My first Mac key was the old Pro Key II. Over the years, the membrane keys from Apple seemed cheap to me, and I always had a double stroke problems on those boards. The Maitias Tactile saved the day for me. Long stroke key switch.

My niece grew up with membrane keys. She can fly on any laptop. My heavy hands are no match for her. To each his own.
The 22mm flat key looks great. Function Follows Form IMO, but who know's? I might get on it one day and change my mind.

 

[DaveF]

Huh. Thought I posted a reply, but it's not here...

The new keyboard is similar (identical?) to the MacBook keyboard. If you like that, I bet you'll like this. Otherwise...

I didn't like the MacBook keyboard, and was further reason to buy the MacBook Pro, whose keyboard I do like. And I'm pickier than most about keyboards, and long accustomed to soft (mushy) keys of regular keyboards, and especially my beloved Microsoft Natural Elite.

It's gorgeous. And I tried to like it. But it just doesn't suit me, with the chiclet keys and their short throw.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Well, it shipped and will be here tomorrow. Guess I'll put
the new Apple keyboard to use and post my observations.

 

[ErichH]

Thanks Ron

Looks like the same stroke as a Powerbook/BookPro Key, with a few keys moved.

 

[Carlo_M]

One thing about the new keyboard is to give yourself time to get used to it. The older Apple keyboards were "softer" than standard Windows keyboards. I loved the feel of them, but it did take a little time to get used to it. I eventually replaced even my work PC (windows) keyboard with an Apple keyboard. Recently I had the work keyboard replaced with the standard HP keyboard (due to having to use a scanner which needs to be connected via PS/2 port with a keyboard attached to that), and I now find myself having a hard time getting used to the harder keyboard.

I don't own a new Mac keyboard but I tried it out at the Apple store for about 5 minutes. It did take some adjustment but when I concentrated on not typing as hard (as I would on a keyboard with more "play") I found it to be preferable to even the current white Apple keyboard (which I own).

I plan on buying the new bluetooth one when they become available.

 

[DaveF]

Just did my first import into iPhoto 08, and while I don't fully understand how it handles photo imports, my sense is that iPhoto 08 got it right. It's got my much-desired preview during import and you can import selected photos only.

After import it will split into events, if that appropriate checkbox is set. It's fairly easy to split up or merge events if iPhoto doesn't get it quite right. Or if an "event" is really just a bucket of misc photos -- I have an "Outdoors" event for random pictures of snakes and mushrooms I see around the house (home ownership does strange things to a man).

The display of events basically seems right. I may stop creating albums now. This just feels better in many ways, to me. Scrolling around, looking at a representative shot for each event.

Perhaps in next year, when I've got twice as many photos I'll have issues with this method. For now, with 30-ish events, it's good.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Even more not true on Pogue's part -- you know that background piece of music? Click on the little clock in the top left corner of it to see the waveform. Scrub along the waveform and you'll see what part of your movie it corresponds to. Drag the beginning or end of the waveform to start the audio later or end it earlier. Once you've trimmed down the piece of music you can add another background audio track that can also be edited in this same way -- and they'll crossfade into each other automatically. Easy peasy.

I don't know what came over Pogue -- he clearly has no idea of how to use the software, but instead of learning how he writes an angry column about it.

 

[DaveF]

I've started using iMovie 08. Aaron's positive attitude for it seems appropriate so far. There's much to like about (built in Video Adjustments and Cropping!!!) But it feels weird initially after iMovie HD, and this initial re-learning is frustrating.

There are some obvious gaps. It feels like v0.8, not a proper release yet. I've done an Apple feedback on what I think are obvious and easily added features (mostly keyboard shortcuts to make it easier to use). If Apple provides an update soon (~Leopard) to address obvious weaknesses, then iMovie 08 should be an easy but powerful and fun app for dabbler and hobbyist.

 

[Jeffrey_Jones]

Aaron, that's the best integration of an iWeb site and a web gallery that I've seen so far and some really nice pictures.

I was excited when I first saw the web galleries but it missed the mark in a few key areas. The web gallery itself gives the user no control over look and feel, no layout options and worst of all no control over sorting, categorizing, etc. As a backup I was hoping web galleries were fully integrated with iWeb but that's not the case either. You can embed what is essentially a really cool link to a gallery but the user is redirected to the gallery on a separate site, separate URL, with no intuitive way of getting back.

I hope V2 web gallery gives the user more control or even better Apple lets us truly embed a web gallery in an iWeb site (hosted where we want it). Until then I'm stuck exporting from iPhoto and uploading to my Coppermine driven site. Too many steps.

Jeff (www.meetthejoneses.com)

 

[Craig S]

Apple today released iLife 08 updates, including a core service package and individual updates to iPhoto, GarageBand, iDVD & iMovie. Of particular note is they added some enhanced functionality to iMovie that addresses some of the early criticisms (including control over audio fades & ducking).

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Craig,

Are these updates automatically detected with normal Apple
updates or do I need to go somewhere in particular to download
them?

Thanks for this information.