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 (64-bit)
Blaine's Photo Album Title (32-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 64-bit or 32-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 (64-bit)
    Blaine's Torn Pages (32-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.
  • Sunday, February 18, 2007

    Custom Speed Effects for Movie Maker (XP & Vista)

    Movie Maker comes with a couple standard effects to speed up or slow down your video. If you find that you need more control over the speed, you can download these custom Speed Effects with different incremental speeds.

    Note: These effects have 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 64-bit or 32-bit version of Windows. The installer will put the necessary files into, C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared.
    Blaine's Custom Speed Effects (64-bit)
    Blaine's Custom Speed Effects (32-bit)
    After installing, you'll have new custom speed effects for
  • Slow Down in increments of 25%, 50%, 66%, x3, x4, x6, x8

  • Speed Up in increments of 25%, 50%, 66%, x3, x4, x6, x8
  • Thursday, February 15, 2007

    Custom TV Ratings Titles updated for WMM 6.0

    Are you using Windows Movie Maker to edit your home videos? Have you ever wanted to add the TV Ratings to the top of your home videos? I created a set of custom titles that can be used in Windows Movie Maker to overlay the various TV Ratings (Y, Y7, G, PG, 14, MA) to the top left corner of your video.

    Note: These titles have been designed to work with either WMM 2.1 (XP) or WMM 6.0 version.

    There are two installers depending on whether you are running on a 64-bit or 32-bit version of Windows. The installer will put the necessary files into C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared.
    Blaine's TV Ratings Titles (64-bit)
    Blaine's TV Ratings Titles (32-bit)
    To use the new titles, go to 'Tools' > 'Titles and Credits' > 'Title on the selected clip' > 'change the title animation'. Under your list of one line titles should be 6 new ones called:
  • TV Rating (Y)

  • TV Rating (Y7)

  • TV Rating (G)

  • TV Rating (PG)

  • TV Rating (14)

  • TV Rating (MA)


  • If you want an additional subtitle, type it into the text fields, otherwise just type a single space. Click 'Done'.

    Monday, June 05, 2006

    Windows Movie Maker 2.x - Effects Icons

    If you are creating your own custom effects in Windows Movie Maker 2.x, you need to specify an icon number. Rather than guessing, you can use the following images to figure out which of the standard 36 icons (0 through 35) you want to use. Click on a thumbnail to see the full image.
    Effects Icons 00-11Effects Icons 0-11
    Effects Icons 12-23Effects Icons 12-23
    Effects Icons 24-35Effects Icons 24-35