Movie Maker
Managing Source Files
Source files can be all over the place... hard drives, CDs, DVDs, floppy discs, external hard drives, ZIP drives, memory cards and sticks, digital camcorder tapes and drives, etc. Anyplace you can store a digital file.
When you 'import' a source file, Movie Maker doesn't make a copy of it. It gets some info about the file's name, drive and folder location, and makes a little thumbnail image if it's a picture or video file.... and adds the info to the collection database. It doesn't hold the source file open, but the source file needs to remain in place so it's there if and when needed again. In one sense (getting summary info and a thumbnail image), the process is an importing one. In another sense, it's more of a dynamic 'linking', opening the file only when it needs additional information.
Info about the source file flows from the collection database into project files (MSWMM extension) when you drag a clip to the storyboard or timeline... the project file needs the source files to remain in place until you've produced your final movie and are completely finished with the project.
Although the project file needs the source files, it doesn't need any more info from the collection database. Deleting the clips from the collections doesn't effect the continued use of the project file or the ability to render a movie from it.
PapaJohn's Products and Services
It's possible to fix or edit source files without effecting their use in a project. It's even possible to re-capture a DV-AVI file from your digital camcorder tape to replace a corrupt or deleted source file... as long as the starting points of the original and newly captured files are aligned. You can easily make an adjustment after the capture... if you know where to start the file.
Newsletter #60 is about a source file from cradle to grave. Click the image to read it.
Newsletters are published weekly to subscribers only, but posted online for open viewing a couple months later. Use this link to the Products and Services page for more info and to subscribe.
... and newsletter #75 takes you through the details of re-capturing a DV-AVI file from a camcorder tape, and syncing it up with the originally used source file in a project. Click the image to read it.
In newsletter #110, I create a project using a DV-AVI source file captured with the WinDV utility, and then re-capture it with another WinDV session or a Movie Maker 2 capture session... without starting the tape capture at the same point, and resulting in the replacement file aligning perfectly with the original, without opening or tweaking the project file. Click the image to read it.
PapaJohn Comments Video files use lots of hard drive space... but rendering movies from source files is not a real-time process, something that you can use to great advantage to help you manage space.
I'll illustrate it by making a movie without using any hard drive space on the computer that is running MM2... not for the source files nor the rendered movie:
• I'll make a new movie project using my laptop, connected to my home computer network via a wireless connection. • For video source files, I'll reach accross the network and import them from one of the secondary hard drives on my main desktop computer, which is running Windows XP.
• I'll edit the project on the laptop without having the main source file on it.
• Then I'll save the movie to my computer, but instead of saving it on the laptop running MM2, I'll reach across the network again to a third computer, an older desktop that is running Windows 98, and render the movie to it's hard drive.
And, as the rendering is going on, I'll use the laptop to surf the net, read my email, work on my website, play a game of Spider Solitaire, etc. When the rendering is done, I'll check the new movie and verify that it plays back perfectly... it does.
Organizing
You can move a source file from one drive to another, rename the file or folder, or move the file to another location on the drive. MM2 will let you re-establish the link between the file and the collection or project. I've been able to almost totally confuse it by doing all of these at the same time, but I was still able to recover.
Newsletter #142 is about Microsoft Expression Media...
... which is evolving from iView Media Pro software, one of the more popular apps used by professionals to manage their multimedia library files.
Movie Maker is very tolerent of changes to your video source files... to the point that you can get yourself in trouble if you're not careful.
Here's what my testing shows so far with DV-AVI source files:
• It allows (1) using MM1 to convert it to a type II DV-AVI file, even doing some editing in MM1 like clipping out a couple frames, (2) using Virtual Dub to apply a filter (I used the Emboss one) and make a new type II file, (3) using Virtual Dub to make an uncompressed file that is 9 times larger than the original one.
• MM2.0 won't allow (1) using a different file type with the same file name (like you can do with a still picture), (2) renaming the file, (3) capturing the same part of a tape with your camcorder and using the same location and file name - thinking it might replace a deleted source file.
• Testing on 2/16/05 and 4/25/05 show that MM2.1 collections and projects accept a recaptured DV-AVI source file from a digital camcorder, to replace a deleted original... provided the file name is the same and it's in the same drive/folder as the original.
You need to be precise with the starting point but not the ending point of the tape, you can do either auto clip splitting or manual splitting in the collection after import, you can trim and do normal editing tasks in the project.... a fresh import from the camcorder tape will result in a replacement source file if you've deleted the original. You just need to be organized enough to know what drive/folder and file name the original file had... or look at the properties of the clip with a red X, which includes the path and file name.
When testing on 4/25/05 I mixed various things you can do when capturing. One used camcorder controls to play the tape, and the other MM2. One used auto clip generation and the other was manually split into clips in the collection. I totally rewound the tape before the 2nd capture and just approximately got the same footage - from the 7 minute mark of the tape to the 15th.... the recorded tape had a mix of standard and widescreen shots. One capture was to an external USB2 hard drive and the other to the internal C drive. When the replacement file on the C drive wasn't accepted by MM2, moving it to the original folder of the external drive resolved the broken links.
Further checks show that any DV-AVI (type I or II) or WMV file (movie or PS2 story - not PS3 story) will be accepted as a replacement for a DV-AVI source file if it has the same file name and extension, and is in the same folder as the original source file... even if the video content is totally different. Take care to ensure your footage appropriately aligns whenever a replacement file is used.
It handles WMV source files a bit differently.
• It allows (1) renaming the file, including the extension. Like picture files, it allows the use of common video file extensions. It accepted renaming the extension to mpg and asf without relinking. But it started to get a bit fussy when I changed the extension too much, not allowing me to return to the original wmv. It let me continue to use it with the asf extension. (2) changing attributes, setting markers and indexing with the Windows Media File Editor. It even lets me change the size/length of the file - you can significantly crop a file to reduce it's size and it'll still play in a collection or project... but you wouldn't want to cut out frames that are actually being used... it'll let you and you'll see blackness and hear nothing in the part of the movie that was eliminated, (3) substituting a story - either PS2 or PS3.
• It won't allow (1) substituting a DV-AVI file as a replacement (no error messages... the clips or project just doesn't preview).
MM2 is very tolerent of changes to still pictures, but not tolerent of changed locations.
It uses the thumbnails and properties of the picture that are embedded in the collection database or project file, until something causes it to need to open the file and update the information. Two events that trigger the update are previewing the picture in the collection, or rendering a movie.
You can edit a picture that has been used as a source file. Change it's dimension, edit it with PictureIt or Photoshop, even change the file type (but keeping the same name and extension).
If you copy or move a project to another computer that has the source files in different folders/sub-folders, and try to relink them, you might not be successful... setup the file structure to align with that of the original computer. The properties of the clips in the project gives you all the information needed.
Music Files can be renamed after being imported. The collection database and project is automatically updated. But you can't substitute one file type for another, such as using a WMA file for an MP3.
Backing Up
I store many of my source files on CDs to free up space on my hard drives, and have the source files available for different computers. I'll copy it back when it's needed for a project, and let the big red X's sit on the thumbnails until then. Backing up is a matter of making another CD. This includes smaller DV-AVI files.
Backing up large video source files in full DV-AVI format is a challenge because of their large file sizes. Exporting them to a camcorder isn't really backing up a source file, as the re-captured file may be slightly different from the original source files.
Check the Intro page of this Managing section... there's a utility you can use to determine which source files you've used for a project.
