Amazing release of iMovie 2020 version!
Don't want forced opening and ending credits? Okay, here comes the iMovie logo and the mandatory copyright information that will be added to your video at random times!
As a versatile video editing software that is popular among the masses, iMovie has always been known for its ease of use and powerful features. For video editing beginners, iMovie is indeed the preferred software for editing videos.
However, iMovie made a der🙄 move in 2020 and released a brand new 2020 version, which introduced mandatory software updates and mandatory login settings.
In the 2020 version, the long-standing mandatory iMovie logo in the opening and ending credits can finally be customized and disabled.
However, a new little brother has emerged - personalized exclusive copyright information.
When I saw that the mandatory opening and ending credits were finally canceled, I wanted to shout "iMovie is awesome!", but reality slapped me in the face.
Alright, in the 2020 version, iMovie changed from "mandatory opening and ending credits" to "mandatory copyright information." Many netizens think that "mandatory copyright information" is even more perverse because it is randomly inserted into several videos you export. And if you want to remove the iMovie logo from this copyright information, you have to purchase the Super VIP membership.
For personal use, most people wouldn't mind, but I do. So, I started my search for a cracked version of iMovie V3.5.
Contrary to my wishes, even the most famous cracking website, Wuyi Crack Forum, does not have a cracked version of iMovie V3.5, only an expired V3.0 cracked version! (I wonder if it's because of copyright issues that they dare not release it?) But as mentioned earlier, iMovie 2020 version has introduced mandatory updates, and old versions can no longer be used. And the results on Baidu are all offering V3.0 cracked versions or official original versions under the guise of V3.5 cracked versions.
Taking Action#
Since seeking help is not an option, I can only find a way to crack it myself! (I would like to thank a netizen on the Wuyi Crack Forum for their reply to a certain post, which gave me some ideas. Since this blog post was written on the second day after cracking, I couldn't find the original post)
The cracking method is simple: replace the built-in copyright effect images in iMovie with transparent images to achieve the effect of not displaying them (transparent = not displayed 😁).
After a simple search, I found that all the copyright effect images in iMovie are stored in MediaEditor\AuthorEffect.
Individual copyright effect directory structure (using the "Passionate Shine" effect as an example):
So, all we need to do is replace all the images in the Background and logo with transparent images. However, iMovie is indeed powerful, and all the files in these directories are encrypted.
What would happen if we directly replace them with empty files?
This effect... Just when I was about to give up, I suddenly noticed:
The sizes of the first 6 and the last 5 images seem suspicious?
I verified it with an MD5 Tool, and it's highly likely that these are encrypted empty image frames!
Since that's the case, let's get started!
Disabling the iMovie Logo#
Replace all the images in the logo with this encrypted empty image frame file (please make a backup before replacing):
Now let's try exporting the video!
It works!
Completely Disabling the Copyright Information#
Following the same steps, replace all the images in the background with the encrypted empty image frame file (please make a backup before replacing):
It is important to note that the author's name is dynamically generated when exporting the video, so you need to find the corresponding image in the text image directory within the project directory (e.g., D:\ME20200420101247\TextImage) and replace it. In addition, most of the files in this directory are unencrypted and can be directly replaced with regularly editable image files.
Perfectly disabled!
Tips#
During the export process, iMovie will automatically verify the files, so you may encounter three of these message boxes.
The first one appears in the second step of exporting the video: selecting the personalized exclusive copyright effect. It appears after clicking "Next".
The second and third ones appear when starting to export the video.
It seems that the second and third ones are verifying all the encrypted files in the selected copyright effect directory. I'm curious why they need to verify twice in a row?
However, this also makes it convenient for us to completely disable the copyright information.
After clicking the "Export Video" button, two of these message boxes will appear. After closing the first one, you can find the corresponding author name image in the text image directory within the project directory (e.g., D:\ME20200420101247\TextImage) and replace it. After closing the second message box, the video export will officially begin.
Summary#
There was a significant element of luck in this cracking process. If I hadn't accidentally noticed the file sizes in the directory, this cracking process might have been aborted halfway.