Saturday, March 24, 2007

Custom Photo Album Title for Windows Movie Maker

Preview Photo Album Title OverlayHave you ever wanted to make your photos or videos look like they are part of a photo album? (See my sample album) If so, I've just created a custom title overlay that can be used in Windows Movie Maker. It makes it look like your photos or video are mounted in a photo album, with a white edge and notched photo corners.

Note: This title has been designed to work with either WMM 2.1 (XP) or WMM 6.0 (Vista) version of Movie Maker.

There are two installers depending on whether you are running on a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. The installer will put the necessary files into, C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared.
Blaine's Photo Album Title (32-bit)
Blaine's Photo Album Title (64-bit)
To use the new title
  • Go to 'Tools' > 'Titles and Credits' > 'Title on the selected clip'.

  • Type the text you want to appear below the photo as a caption.

  • Click on 'change the title animation'.

  • Under your list of one line titles should be a new one called Photo Album

  • Pick 'Photo Album', then click 'Done'.

  • Stretch the title so that it extends for the length of your photo.

  • Repeat as needed for each photo or clip.
  • Sunday, March 18, 2007

    Custom Torn Page Titles in the style of Veronica Mars, Updated for Vista

    Sample Video of Torn Pages TitleThe UPN show Veronica Mars opens with video of the various cast members and torn notebook pages showing their names. I was inspired by a post on the Windows Movie Maker forums, to create a similar look.

    Note: These titles will work in WMM 2.1 (XP) and WMM 6.0 (Vista). I've provided XML for both versions in the installers.

    Choose the correct 32-bit or 64-bit installer link below. Run the installer and it will install the custom XML code and the image files you'll need.
    Blaine's Torn Pages (32-bit)
    Blaine's Torn Pages (64-bit)
    To use the new title:
  • Go to 'Tools' > 'Titles and Credits' > 'Title on the selected clip'.

  • Type the text you want to appear on the torn page.

  • Click on 'change the title animation'.

  • Under your list of one line titles should be new ones called Torn Page (Bottom) and Torn Page (Right). Pick the one you want to use.

  • For my example, I switched fonts to a serifed Playbill font, but you can choose any font or leave it as the default.

  • Click 'Done'.

  • Stretch the title so that it extends for the length of your clip.

  • Repeat as needed for each title.