Dan,I have done something similar with a custom Picture in Picture
transition. In my case, it was for a video window playing inside another
video clip. I believe that it would work the same for a video window on top
of a still shot. You could create a pure black (or whatever color you want)
image in MSPaint and then import it for the first clip.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.NOTE: the actual
directory may be different depending on your language (1033is for English)
and installation (you may have elected to install to alocation other than
"Program Files"). You may also have to create the
folderAddOnTFX.=========.xml file==============<TransitionsAndEffects
Version="1.0" >
<Transitions>
<TransitionDLL guid="{BB44391D-6ABD-422f-9E2E-385C9DFF51FC}">
<Transition name="PIP" iconid="88">
<Param name="SrcOffsetX" value="0" />
<Param name="SrcOffsetY" value="0" />
<Param name="SrcWidth" value="180" />
<Param name="SrcHeight" value="120" />
<Param name="OffsetX" value="90" />
<Param name="OffsetY" value="60" />
<Param name="Width" value="180" />
<Param name="Height" value="120" />
</Transition>
</TransitionDLL>
</Transitions>
</TransitionsAndEffects>
=================================2. Unfortunately, the parameter values are
in 2 pixel increments instead of percentage of the video. The documentation
for this transition
(
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/directx9_c
/directx/htm/compositortransition.asp) indicates that the parameter values
are in pixels, but when I was testing it, I found that they are actually in
2 pixel increments. 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 into
the PIP window. It will not automatically insert the full frame of the
second clip, you have to set that manually. If SrcWidth, Width, SrcHeight,
and Height are not the same, the transition will stretch/zoom the portion of
the second clip to fit the PIP Window. You will probably have to play around
with the values to get the transition to work. Make sure to resave the .xml
file after you make changes.
3. 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 transition after trying it first. You must
close and then restart WMM.
4. Place the background clip or still on the timeline.
5. Place the video you want to be in the PIP window on the timeline after
the first clip/still.
6. Grab the newly created PIP transition from the Transition collection and
drop it over the second clip.
7. Preview the transition, make any changes to the .xml file and restart
WMM.
When I used this transition, all of my source files were the same resolution
(DV-AVI), so I am not exactly certain how it behaves with sources of
different resolutions. Please let me know how it works out for you.
Ken
P.S. for documentation on creating custom effects and transitions go to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwmt/html/MovieMakerSFX.asp