Creating Animation Files to turn into a Movie File

1. The first step in creating your movie is generating a set of .jpg files that can be stitched together into a single movie file. For one approach to doing that, take a look at the page of Final Programming Project Tips.

2. Use (or modify) one of your functions from the Animations lab to generate a set of files that can be turned into a movie.
   Hints:
   • You probably want to create a sub-directory of CS107Labs to contain your movie files. Then, let dir = "M:\\CS107Labs\\newFolderName" when you call saveMovieToFile.
   • Your file numbers do not need to be consecutive integers but do need to increase as your movie progresses.

Turning an Animation into a Movie File

1. Open Windows Movie Maker: Go to Start -> All Programs -> Windows Movie Maker.

2. Import your pictures into Movie Maker: Under the Capture Video heading in the Movie Tasks window, choose Import Pictures. (Or go to the File menu and choose Import into Collections.) Select all of the .jpg files you created for your animation. To select more than one file at a time, single-click on the first file you want, then hold the Shift key down and click on the last file. Then click Import.

3. Set the duration for each frame: Go to Tools -> Options. Click on the Advanced tab. Change the picture duration to a smaller time. Five seconds is too long; one second seems to be an okay value to use. You may choose whatever duration you think is appropriate for your animation. (Later, you may edit the movie so that some frames are longer than others if you wish.) Click on OK when you have changed the value.

4. Add pictures to the timeline/storyboard: Click on your first picture. Go to Edit -> Select All, then Edit -> Copy. (Or do Ctrl+A, and then Ctrl+C after selecting your first picture.) Then click on the video portion of the timeline at the bottom of the screen, and select Edit -> Paste (or do Ctrl+V). Your pictures should be added into the timeline.

5. Check that your movie plays correctly at this point: Click on the first picture in the timeline. Then click on the Play arrow to watch the movie. Make modifications if necessary.

6. Add some sounds into Movie Maker: Under the Capture Video heading in the Movie Tasks window, choose Import audio or music. Select the .wav files you want to use.

7. Add sounds to the timeline: Choose your first sound. Copy it from the Collections window and paste it into the frame in the timeline where it should start playing. Do the same for your other sounds.

8. Play your movie. Do you see and hear what you expected? If not, edit the timeline to make any necessary modifications.

9. Save your movie: Go to File -> Save Movie File. In the window that pops open, choose to save it to your computer. From there, follow the instructions of the Save Movie Wizard. Choose a name that reflects whose movie it is or what it is about.

What to Submit

• Show your movie to your Instructor or TA.

• Create or modify a web page to have a link to your movie and a description of your movie. Make sure you can access the movie page from your home page.