Before you dive into this how-to with a bunch of old pictures, take a moment to go out and get a new set of images. The changes between each image should be minimal. You might just want to do this by taking a quick walk around the block – if so, take a fresh image at least every few steps if not on every single step.

Windows Movie Maker still comes bundled with many systems, so before you go out and download anything take a quick peek and make sure you do not already have it. If you find it under start, go ahead and fire it up. If you do not, follow this link to Microsoft’s website. There you will be able to download a copy of Windows Live Movie Maker – the process for creating stop motion videos from images should be pretty close to the same as this traditional method.

If you have not done so already, take a moment and move your images from your digital camera and onto your computer. Then, click on Import Media in the top left corner of Media Maker. This will open up a new window that will allow you to find the images you have taken from your digital camera. Once you have located them all, simply highlight them all and click Import. They should now all be found on the main interface of the program.

Next, go to Edit and locate the Duration parameter in the menu. Here you need to drop down the picture duration considerably from the default seven seconds per image, changing it to something around .175 to .250 seconds. This will allow your images to play in rapid succession. Make sure you mark all of your pictures before you change the speed setting. Click OK.

The latest version of Windows Live Movie Maker adds all imported photos directly to the animation. You can rearrange the photos and images if you like if they appear out of order.

Once you have everything in order, take a moment to review your video by clicking the large play button. The video should play in the large video box. If anything seems out of order, change the order on the right and replay the video. If everything seems correct, click the Save Movie button under the Home tab and pat yourself on the back. You have just created a stop motion video!

The Windows Live team had similar thoughts as they launched a new website for Windows Live plug-ins. Plug-ins are small extensions of Windows Live programs that add a new feature to one of the Windows Live applications.

The Windows Live Plug-ins website is currently listing plug-ins for Photo Gallery, Movie Maker and Writer. The interesting part is that Microsoft welcomes developers to develop and submit plug-ins for Windows Live which could be offered on the official site eventually, if they pass some form of quality assessment.

A total of 191 plug-ins are currently offered at the Windows Live Plug-ins site, the majority of them (177) for Windows Live Writer. Lets take a closer look at the categories:

• Windows Live Photo Gallery: Plug-ins to publish photos (and videos) on image (video) hosting sites including Facebook, Youtube and Smug Mug.
• Windows Live Movie Maker: Only three plug-ins to upload to Youtube, Facebook or Smug Mug.
• Windows Live Writer: Many plug-ins for post publishing, formatting, content insertion or photos and videos.

Windows Live Writer users are most likely to find plug-ins that will improve their workflow.

It remains to be seen if Microsoft can entice developers to code plug-ins for Windows Live. Lets hope it does not end up similar to developing browser plug-ins for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (which is more or less non-existent).

Windows Live Movie Maker in its current form is a stripped down version of Windows Movie Maker. It lacks features like overlaying text on video or timeline and audio edits.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista users do however have an option to download Windows Movie Maker. Microsoft has made available Windows Movie Maker 2.6 for Vista users. And this Movie Maker version is also compatible with Windows 7.

Windows Movie Maker 2.6 can be downloaded from the Microsoft servers. Windows 7 and Vista users who want to give the new Windows Live Movie Maker a chance can download it as part of the Windows Live suite from the Windows Live homepage.

It should be theoretically possible to download and install both movie maker versions to directly compare them on the computer system.

Have you been working with Windows Movie Maker or Windows Live Movie Maker? If so, which do you prefer and why?

The updated Windows Live Movie Maker is part of Windows Live Essentials and can therefor be downloaded by downloading the Windows Live Essentials installer from the Microsoft website. Microsoft’s main focus was to make the Windows Live Movie Maker as easy to use as possible. One of the project manager demonstrates that it is possible to create a movie that includes photos, video clips and a sound track in less than 30 seconds.

Microsoft has added new features to polish movies that are created in Windows Live Movie Maker. This includes more transitions, effects and video editing features. A total of 60 transitions, 18 pan and zoom options and 20 visual effects are available in the latest version. Video sharing and has also been made easier. The new version of Windows Live Movie Maker features an import to Youtube link right in the main menu. It is also possible to publish to Facebook and Microsoft promises to add other popular services later on as plugins.

Videos can also be burned directly to DVD or saved in high definition format to be played on computer systems and high definition TVs or low definition formats for mobile devices and email. Windows 7 users do get some extra features like increased capabilities for creating HD movies and additional file format support.

Windows Live Movie Maker offers an easy way to create movies in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

The reason why Windows Live Movie Maker is not available for Windows XP:

You’d like to use Windows Live Movie Maker on Windows XP. Given the technical requirements, unfortunately we won’t be able to support Windows XP at this time. But Windows Movie Maker 2.1 for Windows XP is still a great option if you’re still using Windows XP. As we mentioned in our initial post about Windows Live Movie Maker last October, we’ve built a new engine for Movie Maker that makes use of some of the latest and greatest technologies available on the Windows platform. Introduced in Windows Vista (and supported in Windows 7) is a new graphics driver model, which brings more reliable and stable support for high-end graphics. We’ve also built our new engine on top of DirectX, which improves speed and enables even more advanced capabilities over time. Finally, we’ve also built Windows Live Movie Maker on top of the new Windows 7 Scenic platform (and have brought it to Windows Vista as well) which makes our new user interface possible.

To be more precise, the plugin is currently working with Windows Live Photo Gallery or Windows Live Movie Maker. It works by selecting one video in one of the supported applications and initiating the upload from the Publish > Live Upload To Youtube menu. A popup will appear asking for a Youtube username and password.

If the login is successfully a new window will be shown with options to enter a title, description, keywords, a category and permissions for that video. A progress bar will be displayed after sending the information that is showing the status of the uploaded video.

The Windows Live Movie Maker menu is called Publish On Web instead of Publish but it provides the same interface after that point.