Digital Commons at Penn State

This tutorial will show you how to import a number of sequential image files so you can create animations at various frame rates.

Download Sample Files

Video normally plays back at 30 fps (frames per second). This means that 1 minute of video consists of 1800 individual frames (30 x 60 sec). For this workshop, we are going to create an animated image sequence at 10 fps. 1 minute at this rate will need 600 images.

1. Final Cut Pro lets you set a default video size for imported images. We need to set things so that an image is imported to play as 3 individual video frames. This will give us a playback frame rate of 10fps.
To set this import size go to the top menu and select user preferences from the Final Cut Pro menu.

2. Select the editing tab (second item) in the user preferences and change Still/Freeze Duration to 00:00:00:03. Click OK.

3. Import the folder of images. These should be sequentially named and 720X480.

Adobe Presenter 7 Basics

Capturing footage from an iSight into iMovie

Capturing from an iSight works the same as capturing from any other source. First you need to switch to capture mode and then select Built-in iSight from the drop down menu.

Next click the Record with iSight button

You will now see your footage added to the clip window.

GarageBand 09 comes with a wide array of jingles and sound effects to make your podcast pop. To add an intro, outro or sound effects:

1. Click the Eye icon to open the Loop Browser.

2. Select a category, like Jingles, and then choose from the subcategories.

3. Click on a sound’s name to hear a sample.

4. When you’ve found the correct sound, click its name and drag it to the Jingles track in GarageBand.

5. Let go and the Jingle track will render. You may need to move your audio tracks around to accommodate the new addition.

Ducking

It may be necessary to lower the volume of backing tracks to more easily hear the spoken narration or dialogue. Lowering the volume of some tracks to make others easier to hear is called "ducking." GarageBand 09 automatically gives your vocal tracks priority to any underlying sound effects. However, you may want to change the order of ducking if you have two vocal tracks or need a sound effect to stand out.

Setting Up a Podcast Project
1. Open GarageBand

2. Select New Project on the left and Podcast on the right. This will open GarageBand in a podcasting configuration.

Setting the GarageBand Audio Source

1. When GarageBand has launched, choose GarageBand > Preferences.

2. Click the Audio/MIDI tab and then choose Audio Input.
Note: Make sure it is set to your microphone if you are not using the Built-in Audio (as a line-based microphone or internal mic.)

3. Check the input and monitor settings for the track you want to record into. Double-click on the track and adjust the input and monitor settings in the bottom right area of your GarageBand window. Recording Levels are also set here.

iMovie 09 allows you to smooth out or stabilize a clip, in other words if your footage is really shaky it will help smooth that out. The following tutorial will help you find and smooth out your clip in iMovie 09.

Once you have some footage in your timeline you are ready to smooth it out. To do so simply hover your mouse over the footage and you will see a "Gear wheel" appear over that specific clip, click this "Gear Wheel" and choose the option "Clip Adjustments."

Once "Clip Adjustments" has been selected you will see an "inspector window" pop up on screen.

You will see a check box at the bottom of the inspector window that reads "Stabilization: Smooth Clip Motion" check that box and iMovie will automatically analyze the clip, this may take a few minutes depending on the clip.