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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 08 Mar 2005 04:41 PM |
| Papajohn, Yes the color-key transparency is all well and good. But png and tiff files would allow much finer level of transparency via alpha channels. Essentially you can specify a per pixel level of transparency from 0 (transparent) to 255 (opaque) exactly how each pixel in the image is blended with the pixel from the background. This is not possible via any other means in movie maker. |
www.rehanfx.org - do more with Windows Movie Maker... |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 Mar 2005 01:07 AM |
Looks like some of you have been having fun with MovieMaker :-).
As you can see we didn't really go to any lengths to hide any of this stuff but it's totally undocumented and I don't see us having the bandwidth to document it at this stage. So I should point out that of course this is all unsupported and subject to change in a future version. Having said that though if you do have questions, I will attempt to answer them (though I offer no guarantees )
Cheers
Dean Rowe
(Development Lead, Windows Movie Maker, Microsoft, for those that don't know) |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 Mar 2005 01:27 AM |
Hi Dean,
Welcome to the forum.... there is one item you can help us understand.
The trouble-shooting section of the Microsoft MM2.1 FAQ page includes this:
"The video transitions and effects already in Windows Movie Maker are based on DirectShow. However, Windows Movie Maker will quit unexpectedly if more than 100 DirectShow video transitions or video effects are installed on your computer. If video programs that contain additional DirectShow video transitions and video effects are installed on your computer, this may exceed the allowable amount.
Programs that install additional DirectShow video transitions and video effects include Microsoft Plus! Digital Media Edition, Windows Movie Maker 2 Winter Fun Pack 2003, Pixelan SpiceFX Packs for Windows Movie Maker, and InterVideo WinDVD Creator 2."
As we add more and more custom effects, transitions and now text effects, how do we determine when we reach that limit of 100? I'd like to encourage more and more, but be able to help when the overload point is reached.... but I don't know what to count and how.
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... my website isn't here... it's at www.papajohn.org
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 Mar 2005 01:43 AM |
Yes, unfortunately this is a bug in a Direct Show component that is used by Movie Maker. This easiest way to see if you've hit it, is to run Movie Maker and see if it crashes on start up :-).
Unfortunately I don't think it's a straightfoward as counting the number of transitions and effects registered as there is some caching going on in another part of the registry if my memory serves which can affect the actual point when it crashes.
I will however make sure we look at this before the next release so we can make sure we at least fix or work around it.
Cheers
Dean. |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 Mar 2005 01:47 AM |
I tallied my transitions and effects the other day and saw that I had over 680 of them, and Movie Maker is working fine...
Pixelan told me they read the limit such that all of their packages combined are using only a couple of the 100...
So crashing on startup is the way to count - one crash equals over 100 :)
I think users can accept whatever limitations there are, if we knew what they were and in the case of absolute limits how to count.... |
... my website isn't here... it's at www.papajohn.org
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 Mar 2005 01:59 AM |
Yes as I said I don't think it's a simple count of number of transitions and effects installed. I'll see if I can look into the bug when I get a chance and see if I can determine the exact circumstances which cause the problem.
Cheers
Dean. |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 Mar 2005 06:21 PM |
Dean, welcome to the forums. It feels really great to have you with us. Now let me get my long list of questions... :-)
First kindly review the custom titles & credits article, and please provide some feedback or atleast point out if you find something completely off the mark.
Other questions:
1. Is it also possible to write plugins (DLL) for titles & credits similar to custom effects?
2. Any hint if the AutoMovie can be extended/customized
3. Any way to edit the project file directly (for global search and replace operations)
4. The old reverse video quesiton: is it possible soemhow to do it within MM?
5. ... (many more later  )
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www.rehanfx.org - do more with Windows Movie Maker... |
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 glow
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| Joined: 17 Jan 2005 |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 12 Mar 2005 05:46 AM |
Rehan
Just a couple of minor typos:
Background
"an year" -> "a year"
Attributes of Title Element
iconid "custom tile" -> "custom title"
InternalName "CreditsStandard" -> "CreditStandard"
Parameters Table
Entrance Duration "One can define" is incomplete
ForceCenterAlignment " Over rides any other implcit" -> "Overrides any other implicit"
InternalName "CreditsStandard" -> "CreditStandard"
LogoBitmapFilename "C:\Movie Maker\Shared" -> "C:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared"
MainEffect default "EffectNode" -> "EffectNone"
RenderOrder "iamges" -> "images"
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I use Firefox+Greasemonkey scripts for easier editing of forum posts, FAQs and displaying embedded images  |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 12 Mar 2005 08:16 PM |
I had a quick read through your article. I didn't actually go through the description of each parameter but I didn't see any obvious errors. Looks like you spent quite a bit of time looking at it.
The only thing I should point out again is that I don't know who PapaJohn spoke to originally at Microsoft about this but I don't think there was a deliberate effort to stay quiet about this. We just haven't had the bandwidth to document this and if we did document it then people would expect it to be officially supported which it isn't, so everything about it today is liable to change in a future version.
1. I haven't tried it, but I don't see an obvious reason why it wouldn't work.
2. I wasn't involved in the AutoMovie code so I really don't know if there is a way of extending this externally.
3. Not really. We have checksums in place to prevent this kind of thing. If we allowed people to edit the project file directly it would be a nightmare support scenario.
4. Not really as I mentioned on my previous blog post, effects get the frames in order from the timeline so it won't know the last frame of the clip until the effect is finished. I guess you could write an effect that caches each input frame that it gets the first time through and then plays the in reverse the second time you preview, but that wouldn't create a very reliable publishing experience :-).
5. Can't wait :-)
Cheers
Dean |
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glow
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| Joined: 17 Jan 2005 |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 12 Mar 2005 10:53 PM |
Dean/Rehan
When we put a title in the title overlay area, are we only limited to modifying the video or can we also modify the audio?
I was thinking that this might be a back door way of introducing an additional audio track if we write our own titles. Suppose I had a custom title which instead of displaying the text, interpreted it as a filename to be played up to the duration of the title.
Perhaps we could also do PIP by using the title track instead of relying on transitions?
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I use Firefox+Greasemonkey scripts for easier editing of forum posts, FAQs and displaying embedded images |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 12 Mar 2005 11:32 PM |
This is just for the video frames like the effects/transitions, so it isn't going to affect the audio.
You could theoretically write a title effect that did it's own work to overlay a video on top on the video. Let me know if it works :-)
Cheers
Dean. |
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glow
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 13 Mar 2005 09:00 AM |
That don't actually do anything, which I guess is why none of the titles use them :-). I suspect someone had an idea on what they could be used for at one stage but it was never implemented.
Cheers
Dean. |
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glow
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| Joined: 17 Jan 2005 |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 05 May 2005 05:49 AM |
| Glow, thanks for the reminder. I will be updating the document soon. |
www.rehanfx.org - do more with Windows Movie Maker... |
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Re: Can you use an XML file to alter in-built titles ?
Posted: 11 May 2005 07:50 PM |
I'm a new at this, don't know much as you guys might. But I would like to be up to page, so...here is my question. Whats with the thread? I mean the funny long language? is this hacking to make different affects? How can I put my hands on this cookie jar? please tell me.
Appreciate the assistance... |
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glow
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| Joined: 17 Jan 2005 |
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