Stuart,
A simple split screen can be accomplished with the Picture in Picture
transition included in the DirectX programming. The transition is already
there, you only need to point WMM in the right direction and supply the
parameters for the transition. If you want to read up a little on custom
transitions and effects look at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/html/MovieMakerSFX.asp.
For information specific to this transition, look at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...rectx9_c/directx/htm/compositortransition.asp.
This transition places video cropped per your specifications inside a window
on top of another video clip. The window size and location is also up to
you. If the second clip (the one inside the window) is not cropped to the
same size or aspect ratio as the window in which it is placed, the video
will be zoomed or stretched to fit. For a split screen application, this
means that one of the clips could be squashed to fit. If you want both sides
of the split screen distorted to fit, you would have to run it once to
create a clip with video in a window on one side, the re-import the clip to
be used as source and place a second window on the other side.
One final note before the step by step instructions. Unfortunately, the
locations for cropping and the window must be defined as pixel coordinates
rather than percentage of the video. This results in several complications.
First, I have only worked with full size DV-AVI (720x480) files for all
source files and also for the destination file. I do not know if WMM fits
the source video to the destination size before sending it to the transition
engine or after (perhaps PapaJohn can help us out with this), so if you are
working with different resolutions, you will have to experiment to see what
works. Second, WMM previews in a reduced 360x240 mode, so for my tests, the
dimensions entered appeared to be twice as large as I was expecting in
preview mode. The rendered video file was fine. I have since learned to
define 2 transitions, one with all the values divided by half which I can
use to preview and see if the window is in the right spot, etc. I then have
to remember to apply the rendering transition before the file is created.
This is getting rather lengthy, sorry 'bout that. On to the nitty gritty:
1. Copy the following text and save it as a text file in the
"c:\ProgramFiles\Movie Maker\1033\AddOnTFX\" folder with a .xml extension.
The actual directory may be different depending on your language (1033 is
for English) and installation. You may also have to create the folder
AddOnTFX.
=========.xml file======
<TransitionsAndEffects Version="1.0" >
<Transitions>
<TransitionDLL guid="{BB44391D-6ABD-422f-9E2E-385C9DFF51FC}">
<Transition name="PIP Preview" iconid="88">
<Param name="SrcOffsetX" value="0" />
<Param name="SrcOffsetY" value="0" />
<Param name="SrcWidth" value="360" />
<Param name="SrcHeight" value="240" />
<Param name="OffsetX" value="180" />
<Param name="OffsetY" value="120" />
<Param name="Width" value="180" />
<Param name="Height" value="120" />
</Transition>
<Transition name="PIP Render" iconid="88">
<Param name="SrcOffsetX" value="0" />
<Param name="SrcOffsetY" value="0" />
<Param name="SrcWidth" value="720" />
<Param name="SrcHeight" value="480" />
<Param name="OffsetX" value="360" />
<Param name="OffsetY" value="240" />
<Param name="Width" value="360" />
<Param name="Height" value="240" />
</Transition>
</TransitionDLL>
</Transitions>
</TransitionsAndEffects>
==================================
The parameters I have given are for a screen split in the center with the
second clip squashed into the right half of the screen (DV-AVI resolution).
The right half of the first clip will not be seen. The parameters are
defined as follows:
SrcOffsetX distance from the left edge of the second clip to place in the
PIP window
SrcOffsetY distance from the top edge of the second clip to place in the
PIP window
SrcWidth width of the portion of the second clip to place in the PIP
window
SrcHeight height of the portion of the second clip to place in the PIP
window
OffsetX distance from the left edge of the first clip to place the PIP
window
OffsetY distance from the top edge of the first clip to place the PIP
window
Width width of the PIP window
Height height of the PIP window
The parameters beginning with Src define how to crop the second clip. You
will probably have to play around with the values to get it to work how you
want it too. Make sure to resave the .xml file after you make changes.
2. Restart WMM. Custom Transitions are loaded at run time, so you must
restart WMM before the transition will be visible. This also applies to any
changes/tweaks you make to the parameter values later on, you must close and
then restart WMM.
3. Place the background clip on the timeline. If you are going to run this
twice to put a window on the left and the right, the background clip will be
covered up and so just a still should work fine.
4. Place the video you want to be in the window on the timeline after the
first clip.
5. Grab the newly created "PIP Preview" transition from the Transition
collection and drop it over the second clip.
6. Preview and make any changes.
7. Render and check to see that it all worked out OK.
8. If you want, re-import the new video to use as source and place another
window on the other side.
Hope this helps, let me know how it works out.
Ken
