iCreate » iLife

Master iPhoto’s crop tool to create close-ups – iLife Tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:33:08 +0000

iPhoto has some great features for picking out specific people in your photos. You can easily find your favourite friends and family mmbers using Faces or make someone the focus of a photo using the crop tool. How about combining the two along with some if iPhoto’s powerful built-in effects to create cool close-ups of someone special at a recent party or event? You could even make a book or slideshow out of them to create a personalised gift. Start off by creating an album of the images you want to use then implement the cropping techniques shown here. It might take a few attempts to get each photo looking really great, but through trial and error you’ll eventually get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. So, load up iPhoto and let’s get started…

Step 1: It starts with an album
Click Create, bottom-right, and choose Album. Give it a name that’s relevant. Albums are great for organising photos for a specific project.

Step 2: Find a face
Use Faces to find all the pictures of the person you want to create close-ups of. Scrub your mouse over the different Polaroid-style photos to see previews.

Step 3: Drag and drop
Drag the photos you want to create close-ups of onto the album you’ve made. Try to go for ones that aren’t already close-up shots as they’re harder to crop.

Step 4: Edit and crop
Select a photo, click Edit and click on the crop button. You can either drag an area to crop to, or choose a pre-determined size from the Constrain menu.

Step 5: Done and Done
Drag and re-size the crop area as much as you want (there’s a rule of thirds guide to help – see Knowledge Base) and then click done to confirm the crop.

Step 6: Enhance your image
Click on the Enhance button for an automatic change to the contrast, sharpness and exposure. If it doesn’t look quite right, hit undo and use the manual controls.

Step 7: Straighten up
Click the Straighten button and drag the slider to straighten your photo. You could also use it put the subjects on an angle to create a quirky close-up image.

Step 8: Edit away
When you’re done cropping and straightening, click the Effects edit tab in the edit sidebar and add effects to taste. Make sure you don’t over-do it, less is more!

Step 9: Get creative
When you’ve finished editing, click the Create button on the bottom-right and choose a product to make with your cool new close-ups.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)

How to add animated graphics and sound effects – iMovie Tutorial

Stephen Ashby — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:57:28 +0000

The classic Batman TV show from the Sixties paid homage to its comic book origins by superimposing ‘Ka-POW!’ style captions over fight scenes to underscore Batman’s villain-clobbering punches and kicks. You can enhance your own fight or action scenes in a similar way thanks to iMovie’s Title browser. We’ll show you how to freeze the action on a punch and add an animated Batman-style caption to the footage. You’ll learn how to modify the caption’s font to make it look more ‘comic book’ and also learn how to emphasise the impact of each punch with one of iMovie’s percussive sound effects. Follow these nine simple steps and you’ll have a truly awesome comic book-style fight scene in next to no time.

1: Import assets

Go to File>New Project. Create a project with a Standard (4:3) Aspect ratio and a 24 fps Frame Rate. Go to File>Import>Movies and browse to Fight!.mov.

2: Add to project

Drag the movie into the Project window. Click on the icon at the top right of the Project window to display the footage as a single row.

3: Flash and freeze

Go to View>Playhead Info. Scrub forward 14 frames and right click. Choose Split Clip. Select the first section. Go to Clip>Special Effect>Flash and Hold Last Frame.

4: Shorten freeze duration

Click on the frozen frame and press ‘I’ to open the Inspector. Set Clip Duration to 1:00 sec. Tick Applies to All Stills. Click Done.

5: Add text

Click on the Show Title browser icon. Drag Sideways Drift over the frozen frame. Trim the duration of the title to 1:00 sec. Edit the text to read ‘KA-POW!’

6: Edit font

For a more comic book-style look click Show Fonts. Choose Impact. Click on the yellow colour swatch. Set Size to 9. Tick the Outline icon. Click Done.

7: Horizontal Blur

Scrub to 4:08 and repeat step 3 to split the clip, add a flash and freeze the frame. Add the Horizontal title and type in ‘SWOOSH!’ as the baddie swings his bag.

8: Add sound effects

Click the Sound Effects browser and go to the Booms folder. Drag ‘Slamming Metal Lid’ onto the ‘KA-POW!’ clip. Drag ‘Sweep Motion’ onto the ‘SWOOSH!’ frame.

9: Mix it up!

Vary the colour and title style as you add graphics, emulating the Sixties comic book look! Add music to blend the action, sound effects and graphics together.

Click Image to Enlarge

Create custom music loops in Garageband – iLife Tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:37:25 +0000

Apple’s built-in GarageBand loops really are one of the program’s best assets. Loops allow you to take a piece of music and repeat it to create interesting and individual sounds, but with more and more people using GarageBand to produce music there’s a chance that your favourite loops from Apple could be much less original than you first thought. In order to keep your songs sounding fresh, why not make use of Apple’s easy-to- use editing tools and cut the best bits out of longer loops? You can then re-arrange your selections and loop them for a more interesting and original sound. It can sometimes be a little fiddly and it requires a good ear and an even better eye to select the correct audio, but if you follow these nine simple steps, you’ll be creating a more unique sound in next to no time at all. Don’t settle for the standard but get creative and you’ll appreciate the unique songs you get as a result.

Step 1: New beginnings
When you open GarageBand you’ll be faced with this dialogue box. Click New Project and then on the Loops icon.

Step 2: Give it a name
Give your new project a name. From this dialogue box you can also set your project’s tempo, key and time signature, but these are all adjustable later on.

Step 3: Drag the beat
In the loop browser, click on Beats and browse through the selection. Click loops to preview them and drag your selection into the multi-track area.

Step 4: Click and click again
Double-click on your loop to bring up the track editor along the bottom. This allows you to edit and adjust your loops in greater detail.

Step 5: Drag the playhead
Drag the red playhead to the point where you want your loop to start. You might have to play it through a few times to get a feel for where it should be.

Step 6: Split it
In the Edit menu click Split to separate the beginning of your new loop from the rest of the original loop. Alternatively use the shortcut Cmd + T.

Step 7: Top and tail
Repeat this for the latter end of the loop you don’t need. If you look in the multi-track area you’ll see the loop you want in the middle of the other parts.

Step 8: Delete and repeat
Delete the parts of the loop you don’t want; you’ll be left with your newly cut loop. From here you can repeat this by dragging the loop from its right edge.

Step 9: Add it to the library
If you want, you can add your new loop to the loop library. Just click on it so it’s highlighted and click Add to Loop Library under the edit menu.

(Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)

How To create custom software instruments – Garageband Tutorial

Stephen Ashby — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:56:03 +0000

The software instruments that ship with GarageBand provide a decent selection of sounds, but one element seems to be missing: a sampler. This is an instrument that places short chunks of audio onto the notes of a MIDI keyboard so that you can play them into your song as MIDI sequences. On closer inspection, GarageBand does harbour a nifty hidden feature allowing you to build your own software instruments. This can be used as a basic playback sampler, playing back a set of audio samples from keys that you can assign yourself. It’s an intuitive way of arranging short sounds such as drum hits or vocal hooks as it allows them to be played in alongside the track in a more musical context.

1: Collect files

In the Finder, make a folder of sounds to use to build your instrument. These can be anything you like, as long as they’re audio files in .wav, .aif or .mp3 format.

2: Launch GarageBand

Click the ‘New Project’ sidebar and choose ‘Piano’. In the next screen, give your project a name, choose where to save it on your hard drive and click ‘Create’.

3: Select base instrument

Over to the right-hand side of the screen, in the Track Info pane, select Sound Effects>Radio Sounds from the instrument list.

4: Open Musical Typing

Select Musical Typing from the Window menu, or use the Shift+Cmd+K keyboard shortcut to reveal the Musical Typing window.

5: Set octave range

The most popular starting note for sample-based instruments is C1, so click the upper keyboard display or press the Z key until the Octave display reads C1.

6: Drag and drop

From the Finder window containing your drum samples, drag and drop them one by one onto the required keys. This initial window contains 18 key slots.

7: 18 plus

If you fill up the first 18 key slots, access the next 12 empty ones by tapping the X key to shift the keyboard range up one octave.

8: Save instrument

After placing your samples, pick a category to save your instrument in from the list and click the Save Instrument button. Type a name for your instrument and click Save.

9: Pick and play

Your new instrument’s name should now appear in the list. Like regular instruments, it will now be accessible for all your future GarageBand projects.

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Learn great keyboard shortcuts in GarageBand – iLife Tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:55:25 +0000

Most applications for the Mac have a set of hidden keyboard shortcuts, and GarageBand is no exception. If learnt thoroughly enough to become second nature, these can substantially accelerate your workflow, which in turn can reap dividends when you just need to get that latest great idea down really fast. The most obvious way to speed things up is to master the keyboard commands for navigating your way around the song. Things flow much better if you can just press a key or two to shoot the playhead up to the beginning of a selected region, rather than dragging it there manually with the mouse. Zooming in and out and changing the part of the song currently on screen are other base level functions that can be achieved with a quick tap. In this tutorial, we’ll show you some of the most useful shortcuts, and give you the lowdown on how to discover the rest.

Step 1: (Return to) Zero
Pressing the Z key on its own returns the playhead to the top of the song (the Return key does the same thing). Alt+Z takes you to the end.

Step 2: Zoom
GarageBand’s arrange window zooms horizontally, and this is achieved by dragging the slider beneath the track list. The shortcut is Alt+Cmd+Left/Right arrow.

Step 3: Go to region start
Hitting the Function key + Ctrl + Left arrow will whizz the playhead to the start of the selected region. Tap the Right arrow to take you to the end of the region.

Step 4: Shift window
Another display trick is flicking the arrange window along by the visible width of the timeline. Hold down the Function key and flick the Up/Down arrows.

Step 5: A for Automation
Hitting the ‘A’ key at any point reveals the automation curve for the selected track, equivalent to clicking the small triangle button in the track header.

Step 6: O for over and over again
Select a region and hit the ‘O’ key and GarageBand will loop the region to fill the space up until the next region or the song’s end, whichever comes first.

Step 7: Split & Join
Regions can be cut at the playhead position using the ‘Split’ command – the shortcut is Cmd+T. To repair a split, use the ‘Join’ command – the shortcut is Cmd+J.

Step 8: Record and cycle
Hit the ‘R’ key while the song is playing to drop into and out of recording on the currently selected track. The ‘C’ key toggles the cycle mode on or off.

Step 9: Track manoeuvres
Hit Cmd+D to duplicate the selected track (but not the regions it contains) and Cmd+Backspace to delete it. Speedily create a new track with Cmd+Option+N

(Click the image below to zoom in and view the annotations)

How To create and send a pop art style email – iPhoto Tutorial

Stephen Ashby — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:55:33 +0000

The editing features in iPhoto may seem a little basic on the face of it, designed to simply correct images that aren’t quite right. While this is true for the most part, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use what’s available to create something a little bit different. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to make use of the Adjustments area of the Edit section in iPhoto to create a pop art look for your photos and how to share them in an email. Pop art works well in email form as the pictures are smaller and they are grouped together. The great thing about using this technique is that it will hopefully show you how you can make striking changes to photographs, lifting those that you thought were just ordinary into something extraordinary. So, check out the steps in this tutorial but don’t be afraid to take the tips and run with them, creating your own cool style of photo enhancements.

1: Pick ‘n’ mix

Pick out a few pictures you want to try the technique with and create an album for the pictures to stay in. Select your first picture and double-click it.

2: Edit and Adjust

With your picture selected hit Edit at the bottom and the Adjust button when the screen changes. You are now ready to create your pop art.

3: Exposure

Dial up the exposure to blow out the lighting on the shot. This may look severe now but it will form part of the coloured highlights later on in the edit.

4: Contrast

Dial up the contrast. This will make the difference between light and dark areas much more apparent. Again, this will make more sense in a few minutes.

5: Saturation

Repeat the process with the saturation slider and you may also want to uncheck the ‘Avoid saturating skin tones’ box below the slider.

6: Colours

At the bottom of the Edit panel are two more sliders that will give us our pop art style – Temperature and Tint. Begin by using the Temperature slider.

7: Combinations

Combine the Temperature slider with the use of the Tint slider to achieve all kinds of new colours and tones. Here, we’ve achieved a cool blue.

8: Repeat and send

Repeat the process with the other pictures in your album and, when done, use the Share option at the bottom of the interface and then click Email.

9: Templates

Now you can pick a template that makes your pictures look cool and send it to a friend to show off your skills. Just add a note, address and hit send.

Click Image to Enlarge

How To create a retro vibe in your video – iMovie Tutorial

Stephen Ashby — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:55:43 +0000

In these digital days we take it for granted that we can whip out our iPhone to capture correctly coloured clips with a healthy range of tones, especially if we’re using an iPhone 4 or new iPod touch with HD-quality recording capabilities. However, the downside of this very consistent quality is that it can make our footage look just like everyone else’s.

By using iMovie’s colour-grading tools, you can give your movie clips a retro makeover, adding 1970s-style artefacts such as washed- out tones and garish colours. This will help your video clips look like they were captured using Seventies film or home video equipment. It may look a bit strange, but at least it will make your footage stand out from the crowd!

1: Project properties

Go to File>New project. Set Aspect Ratio to Standard (4:3) – there was no widescreen TV in the Seventies. Choose a less smooth film-like Frame Rate of 24fps.

2: Import clips

Go to File>Import>Movies. Import SeventiesSource.mov to a new Event. Drag the clip to the Project window. Click Don’t Change to reduce the clip’s frame rate.

3: Tweak composition

Our widescreen clip doesn’t fit into the standard-def screen. Tick the Crop icon. Reposition the green crop window to include the horse and dog. Click Done.

4: Adjust tones

Click on the clip in the Project window and Press I to open the Inspector. Click on Video. Drag Contrast to -42 to create washed-out-looking shadows.

5: Colour hue

For a warmer colour tint, drag the White Point control towards the magenta end of the spectrum. This helps to add film-like cross-processed colours to your clips.

6: Boost saturation

To create more garish colours, pop saturation up to 151%. This removes the more faithful colour reproduction of modern digital cameras.

7: Add vignette

To mimic the dramatic fall-off of light at the edge of a film camera’s frame, go to the Clip Inspector, click Video Effect and choose Vignette.

8: Export clip

You can’t add more than one effect at a time using the Inspector. To work round this constraint, go to Share>Export Movie. Tick Large. Click Export.

9: Add second effect

Go to File>Import>Movies and import the vignetted clip. Add it to the Project. You can now go to the Clip Inspector and add another filmic effect like Film Grain.

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How to add a voice-over to your iMovie project – tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:55:18 +0000

Filmmakers like George Lucas say that “sound is half the experience” when we watch a movie. Sound can evoke atmosphere through ambient sound effects or manipulate emotion through music. In the following project we’ll edit three video clips together. Initially they don’t make a smooth-flowing sequence due to their different sound tracks. One clip even suffers from wind-produced microphone distortion. We’ll show you how to remove poor-quality audio and replace it with iMovie-sourced sound effects. We’ll demonstrate how to blend clips together with a split sound edit. You’ll also learn how to add a voice-over to provide extra information about the clips’ content and knit them together into a smoother sequence.

Step 1: Import clips
Create a new project with a frame rate of 30fps and import our three source clips into a new Event. Drag the clips into the Project window.

Step 2: Replace wind noise
Click on Clip02 and choose Clip>Mute Clip. Go to the Ambience folder in the Sound Effects browser. Drag Big Waterfall onto Clip02.

Step 3: Trim clip
Drag the end of the Big Waterfall audio clip so that it finishes when Clip02 does. Press I to summon the Inspector. Click Audio. Reduce Volume to 15%.

Step 4: Bridging sound effect
Drag the Sports Car Passing sound effect onto Clip01. The sound of the passing car overlaps the sharp cut and creates a smooth sound bridge to the next clip.

Step 5: Split sound edit
Click on Clip03 and choose Clip>Detach Audio. Drag the purple audio clip to the left so we hear the sound of the car before we cut to the third clip

Step 6: Select clips
To blend the clips together, plug a microphone into your Mac. Click in the Project window and press Command+A to select all of the clips.

Step 7: Set levels
Click the ‘Record a Voiceover’ icon. Set the Input Level slider so that the sound almost peaks into the red. This will produce a healthier sound level.

Step 8: Record voice-over
Click at the start of the first clip and start recording your voice-over after the countdown. Tap the space bar when you want to finish recording.

Step 9: Fine-tune sound
Click on the Voiceover clip and go to the Audio Inspector. Experiment with the presets in the Equalizer menu to see how they can improve your voice-over.

Click on the image below to zoom in on the annotations.

To complete this tutorial, you’ll need to download the Issue 97 tutorial files.

How to share your iPhoto albums on Facebook – iLife tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:55:47 +0000

The thing we love the most about Apple is that it has an unrivalled ability to make things simple. The Facebook integration in iPhoto is the perfect example. We’ve all loaded photos manually onto the social network site and, in the past, it has required creating a folder, dropping images into it and then uploading and tagging. It was a bit of a pain. In iPhoto 11 this has all changed. Not only can you quickly share an entire album but you can view comments, likes and tags as well as all of the other cool information that iPhoto provides. It’s a great system that puts the power of social networking in the hands of your favourite photo tool. Here’s a quick guide.

Step 1: Click them, share them
Select the photos you want to upload and then click the Share button at the bottom of the interface. Then click on Facebook in the menu.

Step 2: Log in
Use the window to log into your Facebook account. You need applications enabled on your account and will have to agree to terms and conditions.

Step 3: New menu, new album
A new pop-up will appear where you can choose to create a new album or add your snaps to an existing one. Or to your wall if you want.

Step 4: Fill in the blanks
With your choice made, a new pop-up appears. Here you can name the album and decide on what level of privacy it should have. When done, click Publish.

Step 5: Waiting game
Your photos are now being uploaded to Facebook. A progress bar will appear. The speed of uploading will depend on connection speed and picture size.

Step 6: Get the info
With your pictures uploaded they can be viewed and commented on by friends and family. Click the Info button to see if this has happened.

Step 7: Sharing info
In the panel on the right you will see a list of the comments and likes that have been added to your picture, as well as geolocation, tags and photo info.

Step 8: Manage albums
Back in the album view, you can manage the pictures by using right-click on your mouse or trackpad (Option-click if you don’t have right-clicks).

Step 9: Change the privacy
You can change the privacy of an album by using the info button and choosing from the drop-down menu. This only works on an album-by-album basis.

Click on the image below to zoom in on the annotations.

How To Trim and Share Video in iPhoto – Tutorial

Stephen Ashby — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:40:35 +0000

We may think of iPhoto as just a tool for photos but it is possible in iPhoto 11 to view and edit video files too. This means that not only can you import the entire contents of your camera, you can also edit and use that content. Incredibly the inspiration for the trimming system comes from iOS when the 3GS was released with video capabilities. Not only does this make it incredibly familiar but it also makes it very simple. This means that you can tidy clips up in literally a couple of minutes and then instantly share them online without the need to worry about rendering, format types or anything else. You can also add the newly trimmed video to your existing iPhoto projects. It’s a great extra tool in iPhoto’s considerable armoury and one that is well worth utilising after an import. This tutorial takes you through all you need to know to use video content effectively in iPhoto.

1: Locate a video

The videos in your library can be identified when a video camera icon appears at the bottom left of the image. There’s also a time stamp in the other corner.

2: Use the transport bar

When the video begins to play you will see a black transport bar appear in the centre of the screen. It’s here that you can access the trim function.

3: Get trimming

Click the settings cog in the transport bar to reveal a drop-down menu. Click on Trim to bring up a new kind of transport bar that will let you edit your clip.

4: Drag it

The new transport bar appears with a yellow surround on the frames. Drag the yellow bars left and right to select a trim region.

5: Hit it

When you’re happy with the trim region selected, hit the Trim button on the right of the bar. Your video will then become the length of the region.

6: Check it

Play your movie and you’ll see that it adheres to the region you selected. Check to make sure it’s the right length and contains all the right bits of action.

7: Go back

You can undo the trim by using the same Settings cog on the transport bar as before. Now you will see a Reset Trim option. Click this to reverse the edit.

8: Time to share

With your clip fully trimmed, you can use the Share option at the bottom of the iPhoto interface to show off the event, place or people in your video.

9: Or just add it

You can also add the trimmed video to a project you are working on. Just pick from the available options and the trimmed version will make its way over.

Click Image to Enlarge

Change the key cover photo in iPhoto’s events view – iLifie tutorial

Freddie Harrison — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:30:32 +0000

Apple has spent such a huge amount of time making iPhoto look the business that it can be a little bit irritating when you import your photos, view the Events and see a bunch of shots that don’t represent the cool photography you are used to taking. Or, even worse, the picture shown on the front of the event is the one random blurry effort from a night out or birthday party that you’d really rather stay hidden away among the rest. Luckily there is a really easy way to pick out the very best photograph from your set and have that as the main or key photo when events are on display. It only takes a mere couple of clicks and in no time your Events page will be bursting with the best photos you have ever taken. We show you in these two extremely simple steps how you can get those great snaps to the top of the pile.

Step 1: Enter the event
Double-click into the event you want to change and then right-click on the picture that you wish to make the key photo. Click on the Make Key Photo option.

Step 2: Return and admire
Return to the Events page in iPhoto and you will see that the picture you selected is now the front cover of that event. You can repeat this step with every event if you wish.