Stupendous Software iMovie Plugins Help

Upgrades

To upgrade your plugins to the most recent versions, click here. Enter your login and order number, then download your plugins, which will be the most recent versions.

Installation

You will also find these instructions in the Readme file which came with your plugins package.

Mac OS9

Quit iMovie, if it is open.

Find the iMovie folder.

Open the Resources folder.

Open the Plugins folder.

If no Stupendous folder already exists inside the Plugins folder, create a new folder inside the Plugins folder. Name the new folder Stupendous.

Open the OS9 folder and drag its contents into the Stupendous folder.

Restart iMovie.

Mac OSX

Quit iMovie, if it is open.

On your Mac OS X hard disk, open the Library folder inside your Home folder. (Note: make sure it's the Library folder inside your Home folder.)

If no iMovie folder already exists inside the Library folder, create a new folder inside the Library folder. Name the new folder iMovie.

Open the iMovie folder.

If no Plug-ins (note spelling) folder already exists inside the iMovie folder, create a new folder inside the iMovie folder and name the new folder Plug-ins.

Open the OSX folder and drag its contents into the Plug-ins folder.

Restart iMovie

Installation Troubleshooting

Q. When I start iMovie, I get an error message: "Something is wrong with the plugin <name>."
A. This means that you have installed the wrong version of the plugin (OS9 plugin in OSX iMovie, or vice versa). There are two versions of each plugin in a download: the OS9 version and the OSX version, each in its own folder. You either installed (copied) the contents of the wrong OS folder, or you installed the whole Stupendous folder, which means both versions of the plugin were installed.

Q. I'm running OSX. I installed the plugins but they don't show up in iMovie.
A. There are two folders called Library in OSX. One is at the top level, the second is in your Home folder. Make sure you have put the plugins in this second folder.

Controls

Each effect has a number of controls which can be used to modify the look of the resulting image.

Sliders

The sliders are the most evident controls, and each effect has between zero and three sliders. Almost all sliders represent a continuous value, but some jump between predetermined settings. In such a case, the effect's documentation will indicate this, and the current setting will be displayed in the small preview window.

Effect In/Out

The Effect In and Effect Out sliders are used by many sliders to animate the extent of the effect over time. Sliders which do not have this animation capability will simply dissolve between the original image and the effect over time.

Locator

Some effects allow the user to click directly in the small preview window to choose a location. When this is the case, a crosshair will appear in the window when the mouse is clicked there, and can be dragged around. The position of this crosshair is the location at which the mouse button is released. For effects which do not have a locator control, clicking in the window does nothing.

FAQ

For general iMovie questions and trouble shooting, see the following sites:

Unofficial iMovie FAQ
Apple's iMovie Discussions Board

Q. Why does the image I get when I click "Preview" look different from when I click "Apply"?
A. The "Preview" button causes a proxy image to be generated. This image is a 640x480 image, and is different from the actual 720x480 DV image which is generated when "Apply" is clicked. Not only are the resolutions different, but more importantly the DV image is a compressed image, resulting in possible artifacts. Effects which do detailed pixel-specific operations are affected most by this. The "Apply" image is the real thing: what you'll get in the Export.

Q. Why do my images have a chunky look to them after some effects?
A. This is due to the compression inherent in the DV format. Since the human eye is much less sensitive to gradations of color than gradations of intensity, the DV format's compression algorithms throw out 75% of the color information in the image. basically, every pixel has an intensity value, but every four pixels share the same color values. And there is further lossy compression on top of that. The outcome of all this is that doing very precise color manipulations at a pixel level in the DV format is not possible. One positive point, though, is that many of these chunkiness artifacts are much less noticeable in a moving clip, than in a still image. So in summary, take it easy on effects which manipulate colors; don't crank them up all the way unless you want a certain, um, artistic look.

Q. What is the fastest land animal?
A. The cheetah.

Q. Why do the blur and glow images sometimes take such a long time?
A. The larger the blur or glow effect, the more pixels have to be averaged for each pixel of the final image. This number increases greatly as the size of the blur or glow increases. You can observe the same thing in any other image processing software, such as Photoshop.

Q. After releasing the locator, why does the small preview window go black? A. We are aware of this, and have submitted it as a bug to Apple. We are currently waiting to hear back from them.

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