How to Make a Still Image Out of the Movie Playing on Media Player
Many social networking sites and message boards give users the option of uploading an avatar to use alongside their posts on the website. Instead of using their own picture for their avatar, some people choose to use a picture of something they love, such as a favorite movie clip. In order to create an avatar for a website, or a wallpaper for your computer, you must first capture the movie image. If you would like to make a still image out of the movie playing on Media Player, you can do so using tools already included with your computer.
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Instructions
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Media Player Set-up
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1
Launch Windows Media Player on your computer. Windows Media Player can be found on Windows systems by going to the "Start" menu and "All Programs." On Mac computers, Media Player is stored in the "Applications" folder.
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Open the "Tools" menu of Media Player and choose "Options" from the list. The "Options" dialog box will appear on the screen.
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3
Click on the "Performance" tab to view the performance settings for Media Player. Press the "Advanced" button on the "Performance" tab to open the "Video Acceleration Settings" window.
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4
Clear the box next to "Use Overlays" in the "Video Acceleration" section of the window. Click the "OK" button to save the setting.
Capture the Still Image
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Go to the "File" menu and select "Open." In the "Open" window that comes up, search for the movie file on your hard drive and double-click the file to start playing the movie in Media Player.
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Pull the marker on the slider bar just beneath the screen to the spot in the movie that you want to capture. Press the "Pause" button to stop the movie at the image you would like to capture. Take a screen shot. To take a screen shot in Windows, press the "Shift" button and the "Prt Sc/Sys Rq" button simultaneously. On a Mac, press "Command+Shift+3."
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Open a photo-editing program on your computer. Pull down the "File" menu and choose "New" to start a new project.Press "Ctrl+P" or "Command+P" to paste the print screen onto the canvas in the program. The entire screen shot appears, including the Windows Media Player skin and anything that was displaying in the background behind Media Player when the screen shot was taken.
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Click on the crop tool on the toolbar in the photo-editing program. Move your cursor to one corner of the image in the Windows Media Player window on the print screen, hold down the left mouse button and drag a box around the movie image. Press the crop tool on the toolbar again and click "Crop" when the confirmation message appears.
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Save the cropped image by going to "File" and "Save as." Select "JPEG" as the "Save as type," enter a name for the still image from the movie and click the "Save" button.
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