Topic: Windows Movie Maker

[jww41005]

Hello Pals,

Got a problem with the WMM on Vista Home.

I transfered a video from a digital camera, the video cassette type, to my PC. No problem.
I opened it on WMM and edited it. I can now see 13 clips on WMM.
I want to save it a complete WMV film. Apparently this is done by clicking on File-Publish movie.
The problem is that 'Publish Movie' doesn't work when I click on it. It doesn't seem to be an available option. 

Any ides please

John

[Sandra]

When I use WMM John, I use the options on the left under Tasks. There are 3 headings Import, Edit and Publish to. The Publish to has options for This computer, DVD etc.
Mines greyed out until I have added video clips or images and dragged them into the Timeline/Storyboard at the bottom of the window.

[GillE]

I have never been able to get WMM to work on any computer or operating system I have owned since it first came out with Windows 95.  It will usually let me import a movie and add it to the timeline, then... nothing.  It stops.

It has to be one of the most awful pieces of software ever produced, IMHO.  I have some proprietary software from Ulead which I use instead, but rather than use WMM I would choose the open-source VirtualDubMod package which is included with Gordian Knot

[Sandra]

I have only used WMM on XP and vista. XP appears to have a limitation on the number of images or video clips it can manage at one go and I have had to save the movie or slide show as seperate clips then reimport them and join them again. Vista doesnt appear to have that size limitation and anything I have done has been managed in one go.

[jww41005]

Hello Sandra,

Thanks!!!! You should work for microsoft. You managed to explain in a few words what they can't in several pages.
Anyway, I managed to edit without any problem. The next stage is to add some music, two tracks, one at the beginning and one at the end.
My intention is to fade the music in and out and totally removing the sound on the video recording. This doesn't seem possible with 'publish movie'. I'm working on it at the moment. If you have any ideas please let me know.

AND, when I've done it I'll post the link here.

Thanks

John

[Sandra]

Ok John,
You may need to delete the original soundtrack from your movie clips before importing them to wmm.
You need to get the music that you want to use edited in something like Audacity, use an mp3 or wav file. I see what the length of track in total is by looking at the time line and make it that length and fade the end over about 3 seconds.
Import the edited file into wmm as you did with the film clips or photos then drag it into the timeline, for audio you have to have it set to time line and not storyboard by clicking on the option just above the filmstrip at the start.
Then do the same with your second track and when happy with the results click on pubish the movie, either to pc or to DVD or mail or whichever option you want.
Personally I would always publish to pc at a highish quality and save the project as well then if you dont delete or move teh location of the files that you have used you can always open the movie again in wmm and make any changes you want or select another option to publish as.

I have just done this with a slide show that I made last year and reduced the quality so that I could email it you to show you what I did using wmm last year for my brother and sister in law.

Hope this clears up a few things for you, anything you think I can help with or I havent explained then ask again  

Edited to add that I have just had my email returned as your inbox is full John, can you either clear some of it or give me an alternative address that can take an email with a 6mb attachment.

[jww41005]

Thanks Sandra,

It's going to take a while for me to get my head around that, but I can see where you're coming from.
I am familiar with audacity. I used it to make digital copies of my LPs.

Until I sit down with this and spend some time on it, which I will, I have set the audio levels on WMM to an acceptable level. What I would really like to be able to do is control the audio level while the film is being published.

Anyway, so that you can see what I'm woking on, it isn't a wedding video, I'll post a link on General Chat within the hour, hopefully.

Thank you!

[Sandra]

The audio level that it plays at when playing it in wmm will be the same level as when its published John, no matter which format you select.