Movie Maker rotation flaw?

[terrypin]

I'm a novice user. Just installed Windows MM 2.0 (on my XP SP1 PC). One of the first features I took advantage of was the Rotate 90, from Video Effects, on an MPG from my digicam. It was taken in portrait mode but was being displayed in landscape mode. So I used Video Effects|Rotate 90 to get it back to portrait. But that has now lost the proprtions, stretching the picture sideways. Is that a fundamental flaw with MM, or (more likely) am I not using it properly? How can I fix that please?

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[abc-123]

When you rotate the movie to re-encode it you must change the frame size also. Where it once was 480x720 it must now be 720x480.

[terrypin]

When you rotate the movie to re-encode it you must change the frame size also. Where it once was 480x720 it must now be 720x480.

Thanks, that looks promising. But where will I find the resize facility in MM please? Help doesn't find any hits for 'resize', and the entries under 'frame' don't mention resizing.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[dipstick]

your post is very confusing. Are you talking about a still image taken from a still digicam that was shot in portrate mode, or did you shoot video with the camera @ 90 degrees?

I'm going to guess that it is a still image, because I don't know why you would want to shoot video @ 90 degrees unles you wanted special effect or wanted to flip your TV on it's side. Import your still image into your image editor and crop it to 720 x 540 while it's viewed the way you want. Now import the image into MM.

If you really did shoot your video @ 90 degrees, then you may want to flip and resize it in Virtualdub before you import.

[terrypin]

It's an MPG. Doesn't that imply it's a movie?

I took it in vertical (portrait) mode to eliminate unwanted background.

I've installed VirtualDubMod. I used its Rotate feature which preserves the aspect ratio, unlike MM 2.0. That's progress, and achieves the immediate aim.

But VirtualDubMod's output is an AVI file. I want to continue working in MM, so I thought I needed to convert this back to MPG. I've done that with another program I installed last night called TMPGEnc. But I'm puzzled why the preview window of MM shows that distorted (squashed), yet it plays OK inside or outside MM.

And I now see I can actually work with AVI files in MM, so maybe that was a redundant step?

In short, I'm learning as I go, and would appreciate any practical help I can get please! Is there perhaps a really basic step-by-step tutorial someone can recommend, illustrating each stage of making a movie and editing it? So far, the sites I''ve seen appear to make a few general comments and then plunge right into complex technical issues. It's a few simple 'How To' demos that I need.

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Terry, West Sussex, UK

[abc-123]

That depends on what you want to do. On the left side of this page, in green, see where it says all guides? Click it and in the "how to category" search for whatever 'how to' you like. There's lots of newbie guides in there. Then read read read.

[terrypin]

That depends on what you want to do. On the left side of this page, in green, see where it says all guides? Click it and in the "how to category" search for whatever 'how to' you like. There's lots of newbie guides in there. Then read read read.

Thanks, but I'm still having trouble finding the sort of tutorial I described. Following the link you suggested, I specified Newbies, All Guides, Windows Movie Maker. That came up with only 2 hits:
1) Creating Custom Titles and Credits for Windows Movie Maker
Much too specialised

2) Windows Movie Maker Tutorials and Articles (PapaJohn)
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/Tutorials/Index.aspx
That's certainly comprehensive, but it's nothing like what I'm after. For a start, it has no progressive structure. It lists 60 topics, starting:
#1 - High Definition
#2 - Audio/Narration
#3 - Three topics, Plug-ins, Stock Video Footage and Zooming
#4 - The differences in Windows Movie Maker version 1 versus 2
#5 - Picture-in-Picture Tutorial

and finishing with

# #56 - Renaissance Handfasting Ceremony - Plus a Sword Fight
# #57 - Vlogging (Video Blogging)
# #58 - Civil War Project (Making the final movie)
# #59 - Converting MPEG-2 files - Part III (from Recorded TV to Movie Maker)
# #60 - A Source File - from Cradle to Grave

That's not the stuff I need. I want to start at the beginning? Like:
- How to assemble source files in MM
- How to understand 'Collections'
- How to trim a clip
- How to combine several clips
- What formats to work with, and possible pitfalls
- How to apply simple effects, like Rotate
- How to save and organise Projects
- etc, etc, etc

I guess I'm looking for a sort of Dummies Guide to MM 2. Maybe I'll have to buy one from Amazon...

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Terry, West Sussex, UK