Although arguably an outdated piece of software that’s not even supported by Microsoft any longer, Windows Movie Maker is still in use all around the world, and for a good reason. It is a simple tool that’s incredibly easy to master, while still offering quite a bit of editing options.
One of these features is also the image overlay, an option that allows you to combine image and video files in order to achieve the effect of one slowly fading in on top of the other. Here’s how to use it:
Using the image overlay
To utilize the image overlay feature in Windows Movie Maker, just follow the simple steps below:
- On your computer, open the Windows Movie Maker app.
- On the left-hand side, press on the Import Video or Import Image option to include either a video clip or a picture into your movie.
- Search through your computer for appropriate videos or images, and then double-click on any files you would like to include in your movie.
- Once all necessary files have been imported, drag, and drop a video or picture down to the timeline. It should be the first image you’d like to appear in your movie.
- Then, drag and drop another video or picture down to the timeline. This should be the second image you’d like to appear in your movie.
- Finally, click on the second image/video and drag it to the left, into the first one. Now, you should see the beginning of the second clip overlay with the first one in the timeline. When you finally watch your movie, you will notice that the first clip slowly fades into the second one, creating an overlay effect.
And that’s it! Creating an image overlay in Windows Movie Maker is as simple as completing a few quick steps, but can go a long way towards creating a more polished video.