Get the A1st images and sound into a MovieMaker2 Collection

1. Open MM2
2. Create an A1st Collection
   • Right Mouse Button click on Collections
   • Select New Collection
   • Name it "My1stGM2" or "A1st" or whatever you like
3. Import the A1st Files - CatA, DogB, JingleBellsS, Blk, Blu - They will be found in the c:\Program Files\GradientMaker2\A1st folder
   • File->Import Into Collections->TheFile - 5 times
     or
     
   • Open the A1st Folder, select the 5 files and drag them to the My1stGM2 collection.

Start a Slide Show

1. Select Show Timeline - if needed
2. Drag the 5 slides to the Timeline as shown

Start with Fade To and From the Black Spacer

1. With the LMButton, drag the Blk Slide left about halfway into the DogB Slide
2. With the LMButton, drag the CatA Slide left about halfway into the Blk Slide
3. Play this movie. You will see the Dogs fade out to black, then the Cat fade in from black.

Add Some Titles

The Blu slides were put there both to assist later in transitions, and to be a background for some titles.

Add a starting and ending title by:

1. Select the Blu slide - Click on it
2. Click on Tasks (top toolbar), then select Make Titles or Credits
3. Select "Add Title on Selected Clip"
4. Type in "My Furry Friends"
5. Choose A Title Animation - Titles Two Lines, Fade, In and Out
6. Select Done, Add Title to Movie
7. Repeat the process on the last slide - "Aren't They Wonderful"

Add Some Music and Adjust Length

Now, drag the JingleBellsS audio file to the Audio/Music track.

The Video will be longer than the music, so shorten the video length by overlapping slides more, and or shortening some of the slides.

Preview your video. Pretty nice, but it will be better with personalize transitions from GM2.

Save Your Project and we'll get back to it later.

Finish the A1st Project in GM2

Build a CatAIn Transition

Open the A1st Project - File->Open Project->A1st

1. Go File->Open Source BMP,JPG,Png...
2. Navigate to the A1st Folder - Probably "UpOneLevel"->DblClick "A1st"
3. Select CatA.jpg and then click OK
4. This particular image works better if Source Image BB (Black Border) is selected
5. Now choose Invert Gradient to make it an "In" transition
6. Insure that Scan Direction is Radial and Feather Edge is Checked
7. Preview the transition - Click the Preview Button, then the Animate Button on the Preview screen. Click the Big Screen menu item to see a larger preview.
8. Save the Transition as "CatAIn.jpg" in the A1st Folder - File->Save Gradient As JPEG...

Build a CatAOutSB Transition

1. Now deselect Invert Gradient to make it an "Out" transition
2. Insure that Scan Direction is Radial
3. Check Single Border
4. Check Invert Gradient to make it an "Out" Transition.
   Note: The In/Out label is some times incorrect. It depends on the source Image. Check it out with Preview.
5. Preview the transition - Click the Preview Button, then the Animate Button on the Preview screen. Click the Big Screen menu item to see a larger preview.
6. Perhaps adjust Slope to 8
7. Perhaps adjust Clipping Level to Low - File->Clip Level->Low
8. Save the Transition as "CatAOutSB.jpg" in the A1st Folder - File->Save Gradient As JPEG...

Add CatAIn and CatAOutSB Transitions to the A1st Project

Open the Project Editor - Project Edit... on the upper menu line

Add CatAIn.jpg

1. Click on none in the last column, then Select JPG/PNG Images...
2. Select CatAIn.jpg, then OK
   Note: At this point, if you don't like the autogenerated Button image, you can select (1st Column, then fiddle with the Thumb Clip Level/Make Thumbs until it looks OK. Then be sure to uncheck Sel.

Add CatAOutSB.jpg

1. Click on none in the last column, then Select JPG/PNG Images...
2. Select CatAOut.jpg, then OK
   
3. Add a small green border
   • Click On <none> in the BdrClr column
   • Select Green then OK
   • Enter 7 in the coresponding BdrSz Column - ~7%

Now save the Project - File->Save Project.

There are also entered offsets to offset the center of the transition to the faces of the pets. Unfortunately MM2 previews a little different than it renders the movie. The preview uses 100 to represent offset from center to border, while the rendering uses 200 to get to the border. In the final rendering, the X Y offsets were set to 100 to catch the pets faces.

Publish the A1st Project to MovieMaker2

Close the Project Editor

Publish the Project to MM2 - File->Publish Project to MovieMaker 2->A1st

Find the GM2 Transitions

After the GM2 Publish process, the next time Moviemaker2 is started, the new transitions will be available. Double click on one to preview it in MM2.

Replace the Fades with GM2 Transitions

Open Your Project and we'll use the GM2 Transitions.

Just drag the 4 GM2 transitions on to the transition line, replacing the existing transitions, and adjust the various lengths to match the audio length.

Preview and Save Your Movie

Here is one saved in "Video for LAN (768 Kbps)"

The snowflakes were from the Winter Fun Pack from Microsoft. MS Winter Funpack