Why did Apple drop the red, green, and blue sliders in iMovie after version 9.0.4, and with which version?

Rich839 wrote:

The RGB slider controls were useful. In iMovie 10 color controls are simplified for consumer level, as might have been the case with the update from iMovie 9.0.4 to iMovie 9.0.9. However, Apple may have had other or different reasons for the change. The professional level Final Cut Pro apparently has retained the sliders, and has much more precise color controls. But then costs much more than the free iMovie app.

Use expanded color controls in Final Cut Pro - Apple Support

-- Rich

Actually, I was playing with FCP just now, and the equivalent of the iMovie9.0.4 RGB sliders can be done in the Color Curves panel. Pick a color, and move the upper-right control left or down. If you really just want one of the colors to move, uncheck the Preserve Luma checkbox. I think it's the same. There are no video scopes in iMovie9.0.4 and the screen on my old Mac isn't working all that well, so I can't tell for sure. But some quick experimentation with a title with white letters on red poster board, with the letters kind of on the orange side, seems to show that this is indeed the case (with the Preserve Luma checkbox unchecked).

I have used both versions, and the RGB are absent in 9.0.9. You can see that in the video on YouTube. Search for

iMOVIE '11 COMPLETE TUTORIAL (VER 9.0.9) + ADVANCED FEATURES | 2020

and FF to 14:51.

I was just curious why this was dropped and how it affected existing projects from 9.0.4. When I upgraded to it, I think I already had too new an OS to use it. Things got progressively worse for iMovie 9.0.x with macOS upgrades to the point that on my current Mac running Mojave, I can't even run it.

I'm guessing this had to do with a macOS upgrade deleted some essential item iMovie needed. But why? QT7 was still working. QT7 even works on Mojave!

My old machine is running Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and the highest version of iMovie I can run is 9.0.4.

Again, I am just curious.

Yes, I have Final Cut. Had a lot of trouble with iMovie 10, which is one reason I went with Final Cut.

iMovie 9.0.9 has only the White Point color wheel (seems color pie is more like it!). They simply dropped the RGB sliders without any replacement! Yuck.

I was able to experiment with how color correction maps from 9.0.4 to 10.1.14, but 9.0.9 doesn't even give you a user interface at all in Mojave. Just the menu bar! I had to use 9.0.4 on my old Mac, which is running macOS10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).(It can't run any newer version of iMovie.) The mapping just completely ignores the RGB sliders. Exposure and Brightness are both mapped to Brightness. Brightness is the same in both, which isn't really brightness. It's the equivalent of Midtones in FCP. Contrast also seems to be mapped well -- assuming you don't move the brightness slider in iMovie 10, which I didn't try. Saturation maps fine. Color Temperature in iMovie10 seems to be the projection of the white point in the color pie (wheel? Looks like a pie), making it pretty much useless. They might as well have dropped it altogether.

I'm guessing it's something with the OS, as iMovie became worse and worse with macOS upgrades to the point where, at least on Mojave, doesn't work anymore at all!

Just curious, y'all! (^_^(

keywords: iMovie9 iMovie9.0.4 iMovie9.0.9 iMovie10

Re

Use expanded color controls in Final Cut Pro - Apple Support

This is for titles and generators, not your footage. From one level up in the Table of Contents:

"Intro to color and gradient controls in Final Cut Pro

"The color and gradient controls appear in an inspector when you have the option to apply a custom color or gradient to a selected item, such as a title or generator in your project.

"Use color controls to set the color of objects such as shapes, text, and

gradients. Use the gradient editor to change gradient parameters,

such as color, opacity, direction, and so on."

NTL, I am grateful for the advanced color correction effects added in FCP 10.4.4. They are much better than what's in any version of iMovie I know about. Before that, FCPX had only the Color Board. Incredible.

Rich839 wrote:

Contributors to this forum are users of Apple products just like yourself. We have no knowledge of what reasons Apple may have for changes in its software.

I really don't know, but I would guess that iMovie 9.0.4 RGB settings would carry over to 9.0.9. It would be a bit chaotic if settings didn't carry over.with an update. Perhaps someone on this forum who has updated from 9.0.4 to 9.0.9 will chime in here.

-- Rich

From "Apple Support Communities Use Agreement"

"Apple may respond to questions but does not formally provide technical support on the Site."

On top of that, your answer was "Apple recommended." I assume an Apple employee did that.

Also, sometimes a mere user might know why something was done, as you yourself wrote.

Rich839 wrote:

Contributors to this forum are users of Apple products just like yourself. We have no knowledge of what reasons Apple may have for changes in its software.

I really don't know, but I would guess that iMovie 9.0.4 RGB settings would carry over to 9.0.9. It would be a bit chaotic if settings didn't carry over.with an update. Perhaps someone on this forum who has updated from 9.0.4 to 9.0.9 will chime in here.

-- Rich

Well, Apple employees contacted me directly via email two or three times about either posts in this "support community", feedback, or both. So it's not just "users of Apple products."

Also, whoever chimed in with "Apple recommended" certainly wasn't just a "user of Apple projects."

Unfortunately, searching for quoted phrases, like "file system", is beyond the capability of many a search engine. Even Google.

Rich839 wrote:

Sorry that the feedback site wasn’t helpful.

— Rich

To be honest, I've had mixed success. I told apple that I, uh, didn't care for [biting my tongue here] their hold music. It should be something like this: Thank you for calling Apple. . . . For good music, press, 1. For bad music, press, 2. This is why they give you a choice of three types of music, all of them, uh, not so good, and the best option, silence. You'll know if the call drops. . . . You're welcome!

They fixed that overly sensitive notification screen pull-down thing that made it really hard for me to get the video scrubber instead. I'm on the train watching an exciting episode of Star Trek TOS, want to back up a tisk to re-hear something I couldn't make out, but no. I'd get the notification screen instead. They fixed it! In iOS 5.1, IIRC. The developers and QA people at Apple must have matchstick fingers to work the thing. Now I have the same problem with the voice mail scrub bar or scrubber or whatever they call it. I find it almost impossible to work.

I think there was something else they fixed at my request, but I can't recall it at the moment.

Oh, I remember one. I like classical music, and the titles of songs are really long. So on the app there isn't room for the entire title. So it has to scroll, or crawl. And it was way, way too slow. Painfully slow. I asked them to speed it up. And finally they did! It's almost good now. Just a wee bit faster would be better yet.

But with other things, they just ignore me.