Animation Part 2: Using Windows Movie Maker for Voiceovers and More Duncan Whitehurst ICT Advisory Teacher Pembrokeshire County Council

Transcription

1 1. To edit an animation produced in I Can Animate click Start, All Programs and find Windows Movie Maker. 2. In the Movie Tasks pane click Import Video. 3. Go looking on your computer for your animation. I ve saved mine in My Videos in a folder named Animations. Select the animation and click Import. 4. The animation now appears in the Collections pane in Movie Maker. 5. Drag the animation file down onto the Storyboard at the bottom of the widow and drop it into a box. 6. Now click Show Timeline to switch from the simpler Storyboard view to the Timeline view to do some more detailed editing. 1

2 7. Click on the little + sign next to the Video track on the timeline. 8. This gives an expanded view of the tracks you can work with. 9. Click on the magnifying glass to Zoom In on the timeline. 10. Always add the title before you record your voiceovers. Click Make Titles or Credits in the task pane. 11. Select Title at the Beginning of the movie. 12. Type in some text for your title. Change the appearance of your title by clicking on Change the Title Animation. 2

3 13. Click on Change the Text Font and Colour to do just that. 14. The controls here are self explanatory if you re used to using Windows - if you re not, just click some stuff and see what happens. 15. I ve chosen Comic Sans and a classy black background for my title. Click Done. Add Title to Movie. 16. The title drops in as a new scene at the start of the movie. Now click Show Storyboard. 17. I m going to add a transition between my title and the animation. It s easier to do this in the Storyboard view. Click View Video Transitions in the tasks pane Choose a transition - not the cheesy ones - a simple fade is best and never dates. Drag it down into the little box between the two scenes.

4 19. To record a voiceover plug a microphone into your computer (Preferably a good quality USB microphone like the Logitech USB desktop mic or Samson CO1U) and click on Show Timeline. 20. Click on the microphone icon above the timeline. 21. If you don t switch to the timeline view you will get a message like this and the program will switch to the timeline view anyway. 22. Move the Playhead to the point where you want to start your voiceover (when the model s mouth moves in this case). 23. Click Start Narration. 24. Record your voiceover. 4

5 25. Click Stop Narration when you have finished. If you are not happy with your voiceover don t save it (click Cancel in the save dialogue box) and try recording a new one. 26. Give your voiceover a name and save it in a sensible place (like the Animations folder I made earlier). 27. Click done to finish. 28. The voiceover will have landed in the Audio/ Music track on the timeline. Click Play to see if it fits with the animation. If it doesn t, you can move the voiceover around in the timeline by dragging it. 29. You can also adjust the volume of the voiceover. Right-click on it and select Volume. 30. Wiggle the slider around and click OK. 5

6 31. To add a sound effect to your animation click Import Audio or Music in the tasks pane. 32. Browse to the folder where your sound effects are saved. If you want to download some sound effects for your animations try Choose a sound effect and click Import. 34. The sound effect will be added to your clips collection. Drag it down to the timeline and drop it where you want it to start playing. 35. You can drag it around on the timeline until it s in exactly the right place. 36. Don t forget to save your project regularly. Click on the Save icon, 6

7 37. Give your project a name and save it in My Videos. After you ve done this, all you need to do is click on the save icon to save future revisions. 38. To export your animation as a finished movie that can be watched in Windows Media Player click Save to My Computer in the tasks pane. 39. Give your movie a name and choose where you want it to be saved - I m sending mine to the desktop - and click Next. 40. Here come the quality settings: select Other Settings and choose High Quality Video (PAL) from the list of options and click Next. 41. The video is saved to the desktop. 42. Click Finish. 7

8 43. You can then close Movie Maker and you ll see your movie file on the Desktop. This can be copied onto a memory stick or a CD. 44. If you click twice on the movie file it will play in Windows Media Player. I hope you have found this set of notes useful. If you have any comments, need help with your animation or would like to arrange a training course for your school, please contact me by at duncan.whitehurst@pembrokeshire.gov.uk 8

9 Export an I Can Animate Project For Windows Movie Maker I Can Animate works much the same on the Mac as it does in the Windows version, so you can follow the Mac notes to get used to using it. However, when it comes to exporting the finished animation there are differences, so for exporting in Windows you will need to follow the steps below. 1. Click on File then Export and choose the file format you would like to export your animation as. For editing later in Movie Maker the best choice is WMV. 2. Choose a place to save your animation file where you can find it easily later. I ve made a folder in My Videos called Animations. Give your animation a name and click Save. 3. You may have to wait a few minutes while your animation is saved as a WMV file. 4. When it is done you ll get a message to tell you that the movie was successfully created. You can close this message, save your work, exit I Can Animate and go to Windows Moviemaker to add your voiceovers. 9