Combining video clips with static wallpaper images...Can it be done?

from WinCustomize Forums

Let me start by explaining exactly what it is I'm wanting to do.

Some of you may have seen the Dream that I created and recently uploaded called "Star Trek Ship and the TARDIS" (https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/dream/4108/). For the most part I am quite happy with how it turned out; but, as one commenter has already noted, the resolution (720x404) of the video is rather low and therefore if you expand the Dream to fill the whole screen (like especially in my case where my screen is set to 1680x1050) then the image becomes rather blurry and pixilated. Unfortunately this could not be avoided, however, as I was constrained by the low (pre-HD) resolution of the original video sources from which I derived my clips. Of course one could always choose to center the Dream on the screen, so that the video is shown in its original resolution, all sharp and clear, but if you do that then you just have a video playing in a relatively small rectangle in the middle of the screen. This leaves the rest of the screen black, empty, and in a word, boring.

What I wish I could do is have a static wallpaper image behind the centered Dream as it's playing in it's little rectangle in the middle of the screen. This wallpaper would not only fill the rest of the screen and but would serve as a frame for the video. But as far as I can tell, there does not appear to be a way to do this. DeskScapes allows you to select either an animated Dream or a static image on your desktop, but not both at the same time. I've even looked into what can be done using hybrid Dreams, but from what I can tell they’re basically just for adding the equivalent of an animated .gif (or more specifically an animated .png converted into a .nwa) to a static background image, and not whole video clips like I'm wanting to do.

So my question, simply put, is this…is there a way to combine a video (or any other kind of animated Dream) with a static wallpaper background image using DeskScapes or DreamMaker and if so, how?

Thanks.

2,612 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You can create a hybrid dream. Here's some information on how to create them.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Hi CarGuy1,

Actually I have already read that page, and as I stated in my original post, from what I can tell hybrid Dreams are only for adding small animated elements (like the Jack-O-Lantern in the example on that page) which are composed of .png images which are then converted into .nwa files. These .nwa files are the only animations that can be used in constructing a hybrid Dream, and the only kind of files that the converter will except to make .nwa files are .png images. Therefore, unless you know some trick that I don't, there is no way to incorporate, let's say, an .avi video into a hybrid Dream. This is why I had already ruled out hybrid Dreams as an option for doing what it is that I’m needing to do.

Thanks anyway.

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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You could do this in DesktopX. Just a WMP video window in the middle of the screen. Done. :-D

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

You can take your avi and render it into individual png images and create a nwa from it.

Althought you should make the images as large as the original, the size of your animation can be adjusted in the .hybrid file to make it what you want.

Here's a hybrid that I created by this method... Jack-O-Lantern Hybrid

Feel free to take it apart and use it for reference.

You can PM me if you need to, I normally check the boards daily and will get back to you as soon as I can.