As some of you may have noticed the video format that The Sims 3 uses when it records files, is not natively supported by OS X Leopard. This thread is here to help your convert the file into something Mac and iMovie friendly.

Step One: Download VLC Player located at this address: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Step Two: Copy the VLC Player Application into the Applications folder in your Macintosh HD

Step Three: Open up VLC player and drag the desired video file onto the VLC application itself. (Easiest if VLC is on your dock.)

Step Four: Click the “File” drop down menu up near the top left corner of the screen and select “Streaming/Exporting Wizard”

Step Five: Click “Transcode/Save to file then press “Next”

Step Six: Here you select “Existing playlist item” and press “Next”. Make sure that your video file is listed in the playlist.

Step Seven: If you want both audio and video to be converted tick both of the boxes for the corresponding media you wish to convert. For the “video codec” you will want to choose “H.264 Video” and set the “Bitrate” to 2048 or higher. For audio you want to select “MPEG 4 Audio” for the codec and can be set as low as 128kbps. Then you can click, “Next”.

Step Eight: You want to select “MPEG 4 / MP4” as the Encapsulation format. Then press “Next”

Step Nine: Press the “Choose” button next to the text field under “Select the file to save to”. This is where you can name your file and save wherever you would like on your hard drive. Then click “Next”

Step Ten: On the summary page, press “Next” and the re-encoding will commence!

The file will be converted and placed wherever you pointed VLC to export the file. From there you should be able to import the MP4 file into iMovie for editing.

It worked but alas the sound didn't work. ???

Success! Thankyou mutelite, thanks a lot!

Just another place where EA failed Mac users by using a port instead of native coding. I'm sure if they had mac programmers this never would have been overlooked.

I think I'm getting disillusioned with EA... but it's nice to know that other USERS are looking out for us, at least :/

Thanks Mutelight.

Mutelight you rock, and your guide is admittedly a thousand times better than mine was. Thank you for a totally free, easy-to-use solution to the AVI issue. I never thought of using VLC to transcode before, again thank you.

A word to the wise: If you're creating videos at 1024x768, expect to have a minute of footage maximum and 4GB files. Definitely keep this in mind if you don't have a lot of hard drive space. I've admittedly been converting my videos to NTSC/720x480 standard definition for editing purposes. I really wish EA gave us a 720p HD option though--I could have a lot of fun with that.

Thanx man! I've been wondering how to do that!

Thanks a ton! I was about to give up on making movies in this game and go back to Sims 2, but this guide worked perfectly.

Thanks! I've been trying to find out how to do that for weeks! God I hate EA's so called movie maker.

Thanks! I'll try it out later though!

*Bookmarks*

I use a Mac for Sims 3, but all my editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro and Vegas) is installed on a Windows partition via Bootcamp, so I have to put everything on an external drive and bring it over to Windows to edit. This is good to know, because I do plan on getting Final Cut when it's feasible. Thanks for the info!

... Why didnt EA just make it in bloody .mov or .mp4 format to begin with?

That would be too bloody easy for Mac users thats why!

Argh! This didnt work either. Everytime I go to iMovie it says its not a valid format.

Is this going to be patched to support iMovie and Quicktime?

NewVRevis wrote:I use a Mac for Sims 3, but all my editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro and Vegas) is installed on a Windows partition via Bootcamp, so I have to put everything on an external drive and bring it over to Windows to edit. This is good to know, because I do plan on getting Final Cut when it's feasible. Thanks for the info!

Unsure of the size of your USB drive, but an easier way to do this is to use your "Users > Shared" folder and MacDrive (by MediaFour). not trying to promote anything/anyone, but i found this endlessly helpful when having to switch from one OS to the next. the program lets you read from your Windows Partition in Mac, and read/write to any 'shared' Mac folders in Windows. Nothing sucks more than having to reboot back into Windows/Mac because you forgot to copy across one essential file to the USB key.

mutelite wrote:The file will be converted and placed wherever you pointed VLC to export the file. From there you should be able to import the MP4 file into iMovie for editing.

On a side note, VLC users pls make sure you have updated your version of VLC to current. I was trying to do this with 0.86 (waaay out dated) and it would play the sound but not the video.

mutelight wrote:As some of you may have noticed the video format that The Sims 3 uses when it records files, is not natively supported by OS X Leopard. This thread is here to help your convert the file into something Mac and iMovie friendly.

Step One: Download VLC Player located at this address: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Step Two: Copy the VLC Player Application into the Applications folder in your Macintosh HD

Step Three: Open up VLC player and drag the desired video file onto the VLC application itself. (Easiest if VLC is on your dock.)

Step Four: Click the “File” drop down menu up near the top left corner of the screen and select “Streaming/Exporting Wizard”

Step Five: Click “Transcode/Save to file then press “Next”

Step Six: Here you select “Existing playlist item” and press “Next”. Make sure that your video file is listed in the playlist.

Step Seven: If you want both audio and video to be converted tick both of the boxes for the corresponding media you wish to convert. For the “video codec” you will want to choose “H.264 Video” and set the “Bitrate” to 2048 or higher. For audio you want to select “MPEG 4 Audio” for the codec and can be set as low as 128kbps. Then you can click, “Next”.

Step Eight: You want to select “MPEG 4 / MP4” as the Encapsulation format. Then press “Next”

Step Nine: Press the “Choose” button next to the text field under “Select the file to save to”. This is where you can name your file and save wherever you would like on your hard drive. Then click “Next”

Step Ten: On the summary page, press “Next” and the re-encoding will commence!

The file will be converted and placed wherever you pointed VLC to export the file. From there you should be able to import the MP4 file into iMovie for editing.

Yeah...It's not working.

First of all, there is no MPEG 4 Audio; I tried it - Wasn't there.

So how can I make my vids .mp4 if this crappy VLC app wont help?? I'm so annoyed at the Sims 3 Creators for not making these vids iMovie compatible.

Plz help!!

sadly this didnt work for me.... i did everything you said but it wouldn't import
great back to EA's "movie-maker" =(