Newsletter #108 - June 17, 2006
the 551 Video
Transitions
on my
Laptop
Last week we looked at the 307 video effects on my laptop to see which
package they came from. This week we'll do the same thing with the 551
video transitions.
With only one transition style allowed, the number of possibilities is much
fewer than the 837+ trillion possible combinations of video effects.
Let's take the same approach, first renaming the AddOnTFX folders to go all
the way back to the basic transitions included with Movie Maker 2, and
then turning things on one package at a time to correlate the transitions
with them.
... before getting into it
further, a few
short notes...
Notes...
Vista Corner... it's now available to the
general public for downloading... or by ordering a disc. I tested the
generational loss issue a couple days ago and found that the 27th frame is still
missing when rendering to a DV-AVI movie from a DV-AVI source file. The issue is
one I've been studying for over 3 years, and it isn't resolved in
Movie Maker in Vista.
Another follow-up note about my first
for-sale video on Google
Video... submitted on May 3... the current status is still "Video
is verified; stay tuned - it will be live shortly"... that's almost 1-1/2
months now.
The
Maximum PC issue with my 5 page tutorial about Photo Story
3 is the Summer Special, which will be on newsstands in the United
States on July 18th. The disc with the magazine will include
the story.
.... back to the main
topic...
Video Transitions on my
Laptop
Let's start by going backwards.... to
get from my 551 transitions to the 60 that came with the basic version
of Movie Maker 2.
Step 1 - Rename the
AddOnTFX folder for MM2, the folder typically used by those
providing extra effects packages, and those using custom xml files. I did
it by adding 'removed' to the end of the 
folder name.
If you do it with Movie Maker open, you
won't see a change as all the info in the folder goes into your system's
memory as Movie Maker starts up... but, by opening MM2 after doing it, it'll
skip over this renamed folded.
The 551 transitions I started with
went down to 162 with this one rename, 102 more than the starter
pack of 60 in MM2.
Step 2 - 
Rename the AddOnTFX folder for MM1... the
first Adorage package for Movie Maker 2 uses
that folder for its transitions. By renaming it the same way, the number of
installed effects went down to the basic 60.
The two new Adorage packages use the MM2
AddOnTFX folder, so they were already moved aside by step 1.
The MUI\0409\AddOnTFX
folder renamed last week to remove 14 pan/zoom effects didn't have any transitions associated
with it.
With the slate clean, I'll bring the packages
back into MM2 one at a time to see which of the transitions belong to which
package or file, and take pictures of them for the
newsletter.
The
first
Adorage Movie Maker 2 Package #1 has 102 transitions,
with semi-generic group thumbnails, with the same thumbnail used for
each transitions within the group. Here's a picture of the
6 thumbnails and the names of each transition in the group.
If you have favorites in the Blur, Color-Blur and Plain groups,
you need to note them somehow.
391 of the transitions are toggled off
and on by renaming the main AddOnTFX folder
under Movie Maker... the folder has 51
xml files, each of which has one or more effects, transitions or title
overlays.
I've explored different ways of managing this
library. For this and last week's newsletters, I created another folder
named AddOnTFX Library at the same level as the AddOnTFX... and moved
the 51 xml files to it. That results in Movie Maker not finding them at
startup... and I can copy them from the library one at a time to see what shows
up in Movie Maker when I do.
I left all the DLL and other files in the
folder. Without the xml files that call on them, they aren't involved.
Let's run down the moved xml files in
alphabetical order. I'll include appropriate links
to websites...
Custom xml files also go in this folder
As xml files can also be
for effects or title overlays, I'll spray paint those in the list that are not
for transitions.
I'll copy the xml files for
transitions into the AddOnTFX folder one at a time, and take snapshots of the
thumbnails associated with it.
The Adorage-mmaker-02.xml file is covered
above. Let's go down the rest of them in
alphabetical order...
The Blaine-Barn Doors is an
example of a custom xml file made by copying and pasting the code from a
forum post.
It doesn't have an associated customized
thumbnail, so it uses any of the built-in thumbnail numbers from
the MM2 library. In this case Blaine's choice is pretty good
for how the transition works.
You're on your own when it comes to making and
using these custom xml files.
The next one, Blaine-Blue
Screen, is another custom one from a post. I have a habit of
naming the transition after the person I got it from.
His posted xml code on the forum had it named
'Bluescreen'... I changed it to 'Blaine-Bluescreen' so I can know who to check
with if I have questions. The name that shows up in the collection in
MM2 isn't the file name... it's the internal name used in the xml
code.
My current xml files like these come and go as I
check code from forum posts. If I like the transition, I copy the code to my
personal database for future use.
The next two, DPL0 and
DPL1 xml files, are sample packages included
in Transition Maker 2 (TM2). If you don't know by
now, it's a transition making utility programmed by Patrick Leabo
and sold my myself through my website.
There's a full online tutorial about using it on
my website... the Editing > Transition Maker 2 > TM2 Tutorial
page.
Not only does TM2 create the needed
transparent png graphics files, it creates a set of unique thumbnails to
illustrate them. There are 24 transitions in DPL0 and DPL1... here's some of the
thumbnails for DPL0.
...has two transitions, both about snow.
They come from Microsoft but were made by Pixelan, as you can tell
by the logo name.
GF1.xml is another set of 19
transitions made by Transition Maker 2.
It's a sample set to help you see what kinds of transitions you can
make.
The Editing Movies > XML Persian Section at
www.papajohn.org ... has
some xml code to copy and paste into your own files. That's how I made
these.
The Persian-Chroma.xml file has 5 custom transitions
with the code in the Persian section of the website. Note that I use
Persian in both the file name and the internal transition names, to
know where they came from. As most custom xml, the icons are generic
and not illustrative of what the transitions do.
Persian-Compositing.xml has one transition...
and another generic thumbnail.
Persian-Transparency.xml
has 9 transitions... shades of transparency in 10% increments from the
fully opaque to the fully transparent end of the scale.
PIP-720x480-standard.xml and
PIP-720x480-widescreen.xml are two that I made
and used since the early days of custom xml files, before I started naming
them with the one they came from... I'll go do it now. My Grand Canyon and other
PIP examples were made with these xml files.
Rehan's PIP+ package
includes 8 dynamic Picture in Picture transitions, each using the same
thumbnail.
Has a number of transition packages for
Movie Maker 2... I have 10 of them on my laptop. Here's my visual
inventory.
BonusIII
M Pack
BonusII
Pack
Bonus
Pack
Cool FX New
Pack
Cool
FX Pack
Energy FX
Pack
Particle FX
Pack
PIP FX
New Pack
Soft FX
New
Soft
FX
The Transparent - Do Amazing Things Orange R230 G147
B74.xml file is another of my personal ones, not fully labeled with my
name. I'll do it now.
Inside it's labeled as a bluescreen
transition... which it is kind-of, except for an orange color.
Conclusions and Closing
The packages are the easiest to use... then comes Transition
Maker 2 which needs more computer skills and understanding about what's going
on.... and then custom hand coding your own xml files, for the geek in
you.
The forums at WindowsMovieMakers.net have lots of custom xml
code being passed around... there's no conclusion or closing, new ones keep
coming out for sharing and inspiration. There isn't a centralized complete
library of the custom developed ones. Get the ones you like and use them.
Have a great week...
PapaJohn
The