Digital Camcorder Movie to Still Images

Aspiration

I don't know if this is the right forum to post in but sure, here goes...

In college for a multimedia project, I've to use a digital camcorder to record a few video clips and make still images from the clips. Does anyone know how to go about doing this?

I've been looking all over the internet for a program to make this happen to no success. Ideally, I should have a camera with a fast shutter speed but I simply can't afford to go off and buy a camera just for this project. Preferrably, I'd like to use some freeware but from the looks of things, I'm probably going to have to pay so if someone could point me in the right direction, it'd be great?!

Mods, I'm going to post this in the Digital Art and Design forum too, if you don't mind, so feel free to remove it from whichever forum and leave it in the more appropriate one?!

Thanks in advance,

Sophie

mathias

Okay this is a really cheap and cheerful way to do it , keep in mind that most camcorders have really low res compared to a still camera so dont expect miracles from the stills , they will be less than 1 megapixel resolution per frame on most common camcorders ,

Take your footage , then play it back on whatever screen you have , make it fullscreen but so that you can still see the taskbar along the bottom , and pause at the picture/frame you want ,

Now use this program , its free by the way ,

http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm

Once installed it has a logo in the task tray down beside the clock and its shaped like a hand.
Double click on that , along the top of the window that opens is a " rectangle" option , click on that , the window will disappear leaving you with your paused frame , right click and drag the rectangle to cover your screen , grab it with the rectangle , and save in any picture format you want , easy as pie !!

esquier

Try Moviemaker in XP.

"On the Tools menu, click Take Picture from Preview.
-or-

On the monitor, click the Take Picture button.

In the File name box, enter a name for the picture file, and then click Save."

Aspiration

Thanks mathias and esquier. mathias, the only thing is i need sequential frames... I know the quality won't be as good but i'm at wits end at this stage!! esquier, i've tried Moviemaker... and again, i need sequential frames as opposed to just one here or there.

Thanks anyways guys!!

esquier

If you use the frame forward or reverse buttons then you can
capture sequential frames. Perhaps the link below will explain
it better.

http://millie.furman.edu/mll/tutorials/moviemaker/05edit.pdf

Aspiration

Cheers esquier, because yourself and another poster suggested Movie Maker, I went back to it once more and it worked. What happened was that it wasn't allowing me to import the video clip which was a .vro file. My ripper didnt rip the clip properly. Anyways, I rerecorded it and used a different ripper and it worked!

Also, I didn't think there was a frame forward and reverse button, so thanks for telling me!

Thanks everyone!