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Windows Movie Maker Basics: Functions
Trim
Use the trim function to remove the beginning or the ending of a clip. Click on the clip and move the mouse to the left or right edge and when the double-headed red arrow appears, just drag it to your left on right (depending on what part you want to trim).
Transitions
Open the Transition collection and choose transitions for your clips. When using clips to create a movie, you can choose transitions to make the passing from one sequence to another more aesthetic. Preview available transitions and if you want to add them, just drag them to your storyboard. Change the transition time by adjusting the time scale (Page Up/Page Down buttons) or by selecting another value in the Transition Duration box. To create a fade effect, select the second clip and drag it over the first one. You will see a blue bar which marks when the fade effect begins.
Effects
You can also add Effects, which will change the whole appearance of your movie. To insert an effect, browse the Effects collection, and just drag the desired effect to the clip – up to six effects can be used per video clip.
Audio/Music
There are two audio tracks found in the timeline:
- the Audio track, which contains the original sound of your recorded video
- the Audio/Music, which allows you to add background music from a separate MP3 or WMA file. To add some background music, just drag the desired audio file to the timeline, and position it in your movie as you wish.
Narration
Narration can be simply added if you have a microphone connected to your computer. Align the playback pointer where you want to start the narration, select Narrate Timeline from Tools, adjust audio settings (in the window that pops up) and start recording. Choose Limit narration to available free space on Audio/Music track to prevent the narration from overriding other audio tracks, like background music.
Remember to change the sound balance between audio and video and audio/music tracks. This will give priority to the desired track, making it louder than the other. Move the slider to the left or right as you prefer.
Credits and titles
Credits and titles can be added to personalize your movie. The title editor can be opened from Tools, Titles and Credits. If you select the end of the movie, the editor will allow you to add credits.
AutoMovie
Using the AutoMovie function will permit Movie Maker to automatically create a movie from your clips. Create a collection folder with your desired clips, open up AutoMovie and follow the instructions on the screen. Select a movie style, title text and an audio file for background music.
Now that your movie is ready, we need to publish it. Click the Publish movie button to activate the wizard.
- Publish to your computer: name your file, choose your location and the quality for your movie. If you want to keep it simple, just select the first option – Best quality for playback on my computer.
- Publish to a DVD: if you have Vista Ultimate or Premium, this selection will close Movie Maker and open DVD Maker. If you have other windows version, the movie will be burned directly to a DVD.
- Publish to a CD will burn your movie to a CD.
- Publish to e-mail will open up your default e-mail program and attach the movie. You won’t be able to create very large movies (maximum 25MB) and to select the quality.
- Publish to a Digital video camera will record your movie to your digital camera with the highest movie quality.
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Windows Movie Maker Basics: Transferring data from a digital camera
If your digital camera is recording on tape, you can use Movie Maker to transfer videos to a digital file on your computer. Connect your digital camera to the PC, switch it to play, and either run Movie Maker and choose to import From digital video camera, or when the AutoPlay box appears select Windows Video Import.
The wizard will guide you through the steps of importing the files. Enter a name for the video and a location to save it, and select a format:
- Audio Video Interleaved (single file) – will save the recorded video as a single .avi file. The advantage of an AVI file is the universally support. The disadvantage is that it will take about 13 GB of space for one hour of recorded video.
- Windows Media Video (single file) – will save the recorded video as a single .wmv file. You can select this format if you want to use it with Movie Maker or with other programs that support it. The WMV format will only take about 2 GB of space for a one hour video.
- Windows Media Video (one file per scene) – will save the recorded video into multiple WMV files. The wizard will detect when the recording was started/stopped and will use this information to create scenes, which will be saved as individual files.
After you have chosen your conversion format, you can select whether to import the entire videotape or only part of it. If the first option is used, the tape will rewind to the beginning and the recording will start being transferred to your PC. You should remember that you can stop the transfer any time you want – you can tell the wizard to stop after a certain number of minutes have passed. The recording can be split into multiple clips by selecting Create Clips.
If you choose to import only certain parts of the videotape, a new window will appear, showing some camera controls that allows you to scan the tape. You can use the Previous Frame or the Next Frame buttons to make an accurate selection of the beginning of your video.
Split/Join Videos
After this procedure is finished, the preview window can be used to split or rejoin a video file. Scroll to the desired position and click on the Split button. The original file will be unchanged, so you can undo it if you got it wrong. To rejoin clips, select them and click Combine. This only works if those clips were originally split.
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Windows Movie Maker: Importing options; before you start...
The task pane is situated on the left side the Movie Maker and contains three main categories.
The Contents pane is found at the center of the window. It will contain any video, audio or image file that you import to your current project. These will be displayed in a thumbnail view.
The big black square on the right side is the Preview window. This window’s goal is self-explanatory. You will be able to play a video or audio clip and choose a certain point to modify your video by scanning it frame by frame.
Importing options
You can import files from the following sources:
- Files located on a local or network drive: select any compatible format and click Import. The items you add with Import Media dialog box are stored in the Imported Items folder.
- Import files from Windows Photo Gallery: if you are using Photo Gallery and have a collection of videos and photos, start Windows Photo Gallery, select your files and click the Make Movie button. This will open up Movie Maker and will import all selected files.
- Importing video from a digital camera: connect your camera to the PC, switch it to Play mode and in the Movie Maker task pane click on From digital video camera.
- Importing live video from a webcam or a camera: connect the webcam or camera to the computer and use Windows Video Import to start recording.
To start creating a movie, simply drag clips to the storyboard. Once on the storyboard, clips can be arranged at your own desire. Also, you can switch to the timeline and modify the clip timings, add or edit audio tracks etc.
Before you start
Switching to the Collection pane will allow you to organize your files. From here you can create, delete or copy folders as you wish.
Movie Maker will, by default, save your collections database and projects every ten minutes. This way, if Movie Maker shuts down unexpectedly, you can resume your work with the help of AutoRecover. You can even set the AutoRecover to save your data more often; just modify the current interval with the one you desire, or turn it off if you choose to.
You should be aware that if you try to import a video or audio file that uses a codec which is unavailable on your computer, Movie Maker will not import that file. So make sure you set Movie Maker to download any codec it needs on its own. To enable this, go to Tools, Option, click on the General tab and select Download codecs automatically.
Note: .dvr-ms has been introduced in the list of Movie Maker’s supported formats, and now you can record TV shows and movies. If you have a recorded show and want to strip commercials off, or make any other adjustments, now you can.
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Windows Photo Gallery Basics: View, edit and export photos
Editing and Viewing
To start editing, select a picture and click on the Fix button. The image will open and a menu with the editing tools will appear on the right side.
Start editing using whichever tool suits you. If you make a mistake, you can undo it by pressing the specific button located on the right side, at the bottom. Click on File and select Make a Copy to keep a copy of the original picture.
When you want to view your pictures, use the slide show for a more pleasant experience. If you have the Home Premium or the Ultimate edition of Vista, and Aero interface enabled, you can double up that pleasant experience. Take advantage of all those neat effects like Collage, Fade, Spin etc.
Exporting your pictures
1. If you want a tangible proof of your photos and if you have a printer and some quality paper, you can print them by selecting the Print option. In the window that pops up, select a layout which is best suited for you. Also, check the options for Paper Size, Quality and Paper type
2. You can also export pictures on a CD or DVD. Click on the Burn button and choose whether you want a Data or Video Disc. The Video DVD option will make a video with your pictures, useful if you want to watch your pictures on your DVD player.
3. Selecting the Make a Movie button will also create a video out of your pictures, but this will be accomplished with Windows Movie Maker, which has a vast series of customizing tools.
4. At last, choose the E-mail button to send your photographs to friends or relatives. If you use high resolutions pictures, you should remember that this will cause the photos to take up more space. Attachments have a limited amount of space; in this case you can make use of the appearing dialog box and rescale your picture, or if you think it will fit as an attachment, leave it unchanged by selecting Original Size.
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Windows Photo Gallery Basics: Importing and Organizing Photos
Importing files
To import pictures, simply drag them in the Photo Gallery window, or copy them in the Pictures folder of the current user (this will automatically add them to the gallery). If you did not download your pictures yet, plug in your camera and select the Import pictures option from the AutoPlay window. This will automatically import all your pictures to the Gallery.
You can edit the settings used for importing pictures by going to File, Options, and clicking on Import. You have several options:
- change the default import folder
- how folders and files are named
- whether to prompt for a tag
- erase the files after importing them
- rotate pictures and open the photo gallery after import
Use the same techniques if you are importing pictures from USB sticks, CDs or DVDs.
Organizing
A new feature introduced in Photo Gallery is tagging your pictures using keywords. This makes it easier and faster for you to organize your pictures. Also, you can rate your pictures using stars or you can add captions.
Other options are available, like editing the date or hour at which pictures were taken, which is useful if mix ups occur.
To edit any of these settings or add new ones, simply select a picture, and in the right pane, hover over and click on the details to modify them. If you have more than one picture that contain incorrect date stamps, right click on them and choose Change Time Taken. These options can be also accessed from Windows Explorer, by right clicking on a picture, selecting Properties, and clicking on the Details tab.
If you want to add other pictures to a certain tag, select and drop the files in the desired tag.
To search through your collection, click on Search and use dates, folders, filenames or created tags as keywords.
Other features that help you organize your photos are the Group by and Sort by options that can be accessed by right clicking on a blank spot and selecting the desired fields. Also, when right clicking, choose Table of contents to enable a detailed appearance of picture groups.
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Windows Media Player Basics: Burn CD/DVD
Use Windows Media Player to quickly burn audio CDs or DVDs. Its user friendly interface will give you no headaches and it will save you time.
How to burn a CD/DVD
Open Windows Media Player and click on the Burn button. Insert the CD or DVD and drag songs, albums or playlists to the burn list.
Windows Media Player will notify you of the space available on the disk and the elapsed time of all the tracks that you have added. If you exceed the available space, a Next Disc marker will be displayed, notifying you that you will have to insert a new disc.
If you don’t want to burn an Audio CD or DVD, but instead you want a Data one, click on the arrow bellow the Burn button, and choose Data CD or DVD.
Selecting Volume Leveling Across Tracks on audio CDs will automatically equalize the volume of tracks across your playlist. This is done by detecting the music peaks across music tracks, and adjusting the volume of each track accordingly.
Click on the arrow bellow the Burn button and select More Options. Here you can select the Burn Speed. It is recommended not to use the fastest speed, but instead use the medium one. Also you can fit more music by converting to a lower bit rate, but this will reduce the sound quality.
You will need space for caching files, especially if your are burning DVDs. In order to adjust the temporary space used, go to Options, click on the Devices tab and press the Advanced button. Here you can change the path for the temporary files to be stored - in case you do not have enough space at the default location, which is the partition on which Vista is installed. You can also use the Delete Files function to delete cached files.
Click the Start Burn button when you are ready. Windows Media Player will check all files for any usage rights and will start converting them into WAV files. After this process ends, files will begin to be copied on the CD or DVD. The status bar will display the burning progress.
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Windows Media Player Basics: Libraries and Playlists
Library items
Music files are automatically added to your library each time you open a song or rip a CD. Files that are present in the Music, Pictures and Videos folders are also automatically added to your library. If you want to modify these options, go to Options, select the Library tab and click on Monitor Folders. If you want to access music files from other users of you computer, you will need to select My folders and those of other that I can access. Also you can click on Advanced Options to have a detailed look at what is monitored.
When you delete a file from your library, a window will pop-up and ask you if you want to Delete from library or Delete from library and my computer. If you choose the first option, that file will be automatically added again by Windows Media Player. You can change this by deselecting Add files previously deleted from library.
Playlists
A playlist is like an index to a group of music files. That index can be customized to your needs. The playlist appears on the right side of the player and to add music files to it you can simply drag and drop the desired media files.
After you have created a playlist, you can arrange any song in any position that you want by dragging it up or down, or you can remove it by clicking on the red X. If you click on the drop-down button (containing the name of the playlist) located in the list pane, you’ll find that you can sort your files or you can just shuffle them. From this menu you can also save your playlist, to retrieve it later.
You can use Auto Playlists to let the player automatically create a playlist based on your own criteria. Click on File and select Create Auto Playlist. In the window that pops up, you can give a name to your new auto playlist, and define the criteria after which songs will be added. Note that you can add more than one criterion in a group.
If you have more playlists saved and want to play them, go to File, click on Open and browse to your playlist.
Playlists can be used on different devices too, so when you save them, be sure that the default extension for Windows Media Playlist (.wpl) is compatible with that device. The most popular playlist extension is .m3u.
To export your playlist you can easily press the Save Playlist button located in the list pane. Your playlist will be saved in the Playlists subfolder found in the Music folder of the current user, with the default extension (.wpl). If you want to select another extension or another location, click on the drop-down button in the list pane, and select Save Playlist As.
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Windows Media Player Basics : Rip CD, add and rename tracks, change bit rates
Changing bit rates and audio formats
Bit rates usually mean the quality of the track. A lower bit rate will mean a poorer sound quality. You can choose the bit rate by clicking on the arrow under Rip. The higher the bit rate, the larger the resulting file, and of course the quality will also be high. Poorer bit rates will affect the sound quality in order to shrink the files. Choose the bit rate best suited for you. The default is 128 Kbps.
Audio format involves many things, from the compression of the track to its quality (lossy or lossless) and to compatibility. The most compatible format is MP3. To select the audio format, click on the arrow under Rip. The default audio format is MP3.
Naming and storing tracks
If you have an Internet connection, Windows Media Player will automatically connect to the Windows Media online database and will get whatever information is available regarding the CD. If it cannot connect to the internet, tracks will be saved containing only Unknown information, and you will not be able to know which one is which.
You can avoid this by manually adding necessary information before you start ripping. Right click on the corresponding columns and select Edit in order to modify the information. You can select what information to be contained by the files by clicking on the arrow under Rip, selecting More Options, and then pressing the File Name button.
Files are saved by default in the Music folder of the current user. If you want to save them in a different location, click on the arrow under Rip, select More Options, click the Change button and select the desired path.
Ripping CDs
You can use Windows Media Player to copy music from your favorite CDs to your computer, being able to store them on the hard drive or to compile a CD. The process is called ripping.
To rip a CD, go to the Rip section. If your CD is inserted, then all the tracks will be displayed on the right, along with various information like Length, Rip Status etc. Select the tracks you desire to rip and press Start Rip.
Do not worry if the CD starts playing when ripping. Note that you don’t have to wait and let the whole track play in order for the CD to be ripped.
Renaming files already ripped
If you have some ripped albums which lack the correct information, you can have Windows Media Player rename them. Click on the arrow under the Now Playing button and select More Options. Go to the Library tab and check Rename music files using rip music settings and Rearrange music in rip music folder, using rip music settings. The first option renames files using the settings from File Name Options and the second one creates new folders using the information retrieved from windowsmedia.com.
Manually adding details
If you could not retrieve information regarding the current CD from the internet, you can add it yourself using this method: go to the Rip tab, right click and select Find Album Info. Now all you have to do is add the appropriate information. When you are done, click Finish. If you are going to rip the CD for which you entered the information, the files will be named appropriately.
Additional information
You can also add additional information to your library if you like. Right click on a sorting column and select Choose Columns. You can use the Advanced Tag Editor to edit metadata tags. To use it, select one or more files from the library, right click and select Advanced Tag Editor. Add and edit details through it if you can’t change them in the Library screen.
Adding lyrics and pictures
If you want you can add lyrics to a song and have them displayed as you play it. Select a song and right click on it, choose Advanced Tag Editor, go to the Lyrics tab and type in or paste the lyrics.
If you wish to have karaoke lyrics, click on the Synchronized Lyrics button after you have already inserted the lyrics. Use Play to hear the song and drag the indicators so each line appears at the correct time. To turn lyrics on, select the Play menu, go to Lyrics, Captions, and Subtitles and select On if Available.
You can also use the Advanced Tag Editor to add pictures to the chosen songs. Go to the Pictures tab and add how many pictures you desire.
Ratings
The rating category gives you the ability to sort your music by ratings. The rating system is composed of 5 stars. The rating will increase if you listen to the entire song. If you skip it, the rating will drop.
You can manually rate songs by selecting them and choosing the Rate option or by selecting a star from the Rating column.
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Windows Photo Gallery Basics: Features & Interface
Using images in Windows Vista is much easier with Windows Photo Gallery, so let’s have a peek inside!
Getting to know Windows Photo Gallery
Since everybody says that "a picture is worth a thousand words", I guess that this is the truth. Just look around and see how many image viewing and editing software applications are available and you'll know that I am right! The interesting part is that, until now, Windows didn't came with a serious image viewer built in, but now things have changed.
Windows Photo Gallery, the application that comes with all Windows Vista versions, gives you a wide range of tools that allow you to enjoy themed slide shows or burn video DVDs with your pictures, and even more. The only drawback for some of you is that Windows Photo Gallery misses some advanced features in the Home Basic, Business and Enterprise editions.
To open the program, simply press the Start orb, and then click the Windows Photo Gallery shortcut located inside the All programs menu. Now, let's see the main elements of its interface...
- Once the program is started, it opens in Gallery mode. This mode shows a thumbnail view of all photos in your collection.
- The contents of the Pictures and Videos folders belong to the active user profile, as well as the Public Pictures and Public Videos folders.
- In the upper part of the window, you can notice the Command bar, which includes various useful commands, and the Back/Next buttons, to its left.
- Below the Back/Next buttons, the Navigation pane was conveniently placed to help you browse your computer for the pictures/video to view.
- The largest area of the interface is taken up by the Thumbnail View area, located in the center.
- To the right of the Thumbnail View, the Info pane takes care of showing you all the relevant information about a file.
- Below the Thumbnail View area, the Navigation bar gives you the power to work easily with the entire gallery above.
- This interface can change depending on the task you want to perform, so prepare to notice some changes when trying to edit pictures, but we'll talk about that in the future
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Windows Movie Maker Basics: Features & Interface
Windows Movie Maker has a name that says (almost) everything about it, but there's always more to find out from us than what you already know.
Windows Movie Maker's History
Windows Movie Maker has been around for 7 years now, since its first version shipped with Windows Millenium, back in 2000. A year later, version 1.1 was included in Windows XP, having support for creation of AVI and WMV8 files. This version also featured DV video support.
In the meantime, the version number jumped from 2.5 to 6, to match the player’s version number with the operating system’s. Windows Movie Maker 6 comes with all Windows Vista editions, with only one exception, the Starter one.
Now that you know some things about the past of this program, let's see what Windows Movie Maker has to offer at this time.
Getting to know Windows Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a video editing program included in Windows Vista that makes movie editing and deployment easy for every user. When talking about movie deployment, apart from sharing your movies online, the ability to burn your DVD movies fast is a nice feature to have, and Windows DVD Maker is exactly the little tool designed to help you with this task.
Although Windows Movie Maker is available in almost every edition of Microsoft's last operating system, its companion, called Windows DVD Maker, can be found only in Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. To make a short story even shorter, you have to know that Windows DVD Maker was designed to enable the creation of DVD movies in Windows Vista.
The interface of this program is nicely done and well organized, containing a storyboard/timeline, collections for organizing the imported videos and, of course, a preview screen.
Now, check some of this program's features
- Windows Movie Maker can work easily with the next file types: WMV, JPEG, GIF, PNG, WMA, WAV, and MP3.
- Capture from HDV type camcorders is supported.
- Windows Movie Maker comes with over 130 titles, effects, transitions and credits built in, ready to use at once using a drag and drop interface!