Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker, also known as WMM is a editor by Microsoft that used to come with old versions of Windows. It has been deprecated since Windows 8.

Because it came bundled with Windows for free, it was very popular in the early days of tennis. However, as technology evolved and the meta shifted towards programs like Vegas, using WMM was looked down upon due to being overshadowed by practically any other editor.

In modern times, WMM is often used for more "ironic" YTP/Tennis, intentionally lower effort works that focus more on comedic value. It also has seen use as a way to test one's abilities - how far you can push its limited capabilities to make a video "similar" to what is common with more sophisticated editors today.

There was one major tournament that limited players only to WMM, the Windows Movie Maker Master tournament (WMMM).

Versions

WMM 1.0

The first version of WMM, built in with Windows ME.

WMM 2.1

This version of Movie Maker was bundled with Windows XP. It is the only version to support 3D transformations.

A screenshot of Windows Movie Maker 2.1.

WMM 2.6

This version of WMM served as an upgrade of 2.1 for newer hardware (up to Windows 7).

A screenshot of Windows Movie Maker 2.6.

WMM 6.0

The version of WMM bundled for Windows Vista. The first major redesign, many systems were revamped. 3D plugins were no longer possible (pseudo-3D still worked), and time stretching no maintained the audio pitch (all other versions do not do this).

The "6.0" represents Vista's NT version, 6.0.

A screenshot of Windows Movie Maker 6.

Windows Live Movie Maker

This version of WMM was bundled with Windows Live, a plugin package released for Windows 7. The second redesign of the software, which unfortunately dumbed it down quite a bit and removed almost all plugin support. However, it is the only WMM to have MP4 support, along with a way to upload directly to popular streaming sites (which no longer works).

A screenshot of WLMM 2012.

Modern Versions

WMM no longer exists in its former state. Around the time of Windows 8/10, it was replaced with a "Movie Maker" app, which eventually merged into the "Photos" app. Despite the names being similar, they are generally considered different programs due to it being a complete re-write.

Effects and Transitions

The effects and transitions of each version of WMM vary wildly, due to changes in architecture between versions.

Effects

The full list of WLMM effects.

The full list of WMM 6.0 effects.

Effect	Description/Presets	Image	History
3D Ripple			6.0, WLMM
Blur			6.0, WLMM
Brightness, Increase/Decrease			6.0
Ease	In/Out		6.0
Edge Detection			6.0, WLMM
Fade	from/to Black/White		6.0, WLMM
Film Age	Presets: Old/Older/Oldest		6.0
Film Grain			6.0
Grayscale/Black and White	Four presets in WLMM: * Default * Orange * Red * Yellow		6.0, WLMM
Hue, Cycles Entire Color Spectrum			6.0, WLMM
Mirror	Horizontal/Vertical More in line with a horizontal/vertical flip		6.0
Pan	* Down and Zoom Out * Left to Right * Upper Left to Upper Right * Upper Right to Upper Left		6.0
Pixelate	Video transitions from normal to heavily pixelated		6.0, WLMM
Posterize			6.0, WLMM
Rotate	90/180/270 degrees		6.0
Sepia Tone			6.0, WLMM
Sharpen			6.0, WLMM
Slow Down, Half			6.0
Speed Up, Double			6.0
Spin 360			6.0, WLMM
Threshold			6.0, WLMM
Warp			6.0, WLMM
Watercolor			6.0
Zoom	* In/Out, Upper/Lower Left/Right * Focus Upper/Lower Left/Right		6.0
Cyan Tone			WLMM
Cinematic	Default, overlay left/right 1/2		WLMM

Plug-Ins

While most commercial plug-ins do not work/ have versions for WMM, there are many custom plugins unique to WMM that exist, along with a select few professional plugin sets that work with WMM.

• Rehan ShaderTFX - a commercial plug-in building library, allowing for much more sophisticated plugin creation.
• Pixelan SpiceFX

Building Custom Effects/Transitions

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/legacy/bb331634(v=vs.85)?redirectedfrom=MSDN

Plugins in WMM are built in two parts:

• The shader file (*.fx) which does the actual effect work
• The preset file (*.xml) which sets parameters and loads them into WMM

Building Shaders

WMM shaders use DirectX 9.0 (for WMM6). They are programmed in HLSL (High Level Shader Language), which is similar syntax to C.

Building Presets

Effects

The basic XML skeleton for an effect looks like this:

Transitions

The basic XML skeleton for an transition looks like this: