Vista - Panning in Windows Movie Maker

I'm somewhat impressed by the capabilities of Windows Movie Maker. However, I
could not get one feature to work properly. I have a panoramic photo that
measures 9251x1923 that I stitched together using Panorama Factory.
Basically, when I drag it to the timeline, the picture is zoomed out so that
the whole panorama is displayed, but what I really want it to do is pan from
left to right. So I right clicked on the photo and selected Effects. From
there, I selected pan Left to Right. Then I started playback only to have it
panning correctly filling up the screen, but it looked very blurry... as if
it was a low res pic. I know that is not true since the panorama was taken
using a 6MP camera.

Is there anyway to pan left to right with the correct resolution? (ie. not
so blurry?)

Thanks.

You may find using photosotry 3 will do a better job of this as it is
designed to work with stills, rather than MM which is more for working with
lower resolution video. When finished you can export from PS3 to a movie
file and import to MM for use in your movie.

Graham

--

Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.com


"Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6BA5BE83-969D-4A07-B472-882F3157D744@microsoft.com...
> I'm somewhat impressed by the capabilities of Windows Movie Maker.
> However, I
> could not get one feature to work properly. I have a panoramic photo that
> measures 9251x1923 that I stitched together using Panorama Factory.
> Basically, when I drag it to the timeline, the picture is zoomed out so
> that
> the whole panorama is displayed, but what I really want it to do is pan
> from
> left to right. So I right clicked on the photo and selected Effects. From
> there, I selected pan Left to Right. Then I started playback only to have
> it
> panning correctly filling up the screen, but it looked very blurry... as
> if
> it was a low res pic. I know that is not true since the panorama was
> taken
> using a 6MP camera.
>
> Is there anyway to pan left to right with the correct resolution? (ie. not
> so blurry?)
>
> Thanks.

On Thu, 5 Apr 2007 23:28:01 -0700, Chris
<Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I'm somewhat impressed by the capabilities of Windows Movie Maker. However, I
>could not get one feature to work properly. I have a panoramic photo that
>measures 9251x1923 that I stitched together using Panorama Factory.
>Basically, when I drag it to the timeline, the picture is zoomed out so that
>the whole panorama is displayed, but what I really want it to do is pan from
>left to right. So I right clicked on the photo and selected Effects. From
>there, I selected pan Left to Right. Then I started playback only to have it
>panning correctly filling up the screen, but it looked very blurry... as if
>it was a low res pic. I know that is not true since the panorama was taken
>using a 6MP camera.
>
>Is there anyway to pan left to right with the correct resolution? (ie. not
>so blurry?)
>
>Thanks.

What kind of movie you trying to make? If one that you're going to try
to put on a CD or DVD, the obvious answer is your super sized
picture's overall size is WAY too big to fit the frame size of a
typical video. Example: A DVD in the USA under NTSC standards is
typically 720x480. Far smaller than the image you're trying to shoe
horn into the frame, so something has to give.

Either your super sized picture has to be shrunk way down (reduce the
picture's overall size) or you need to reduce the pan area so only
part of picture is seen at any one time which at first may sound
confussing, since you obviously only want to show part of it at a time
if your panning left to right. What I mean is whatever dimension you
aren't panning, in this case the height of the picture, if you want to
have the whole height show as you pan, (the source, the actual
picture) can't be larger than the video's frame height, in this
example 480 pixels or the pan area will be drastically reduced to only
show the portion of the picture to confirm to the limits of the frame
size cutting off a good deal of the height of the picture. Better
software can do either trick. I doubt Movie Maker can.

Panning and zooming are common effects, easy enough with the right
software. Another important factor is keeping the proper aspect ratio.
Again simple enough with the RIGHT software, but that too will mean
often if you use a photograph as a source either it's aspect ratio
will get distored or the pan/zoom range must be restricted, thus
cutting off a good deal of the source picture height or width
depending if you pan back and forth or up or down.

While I applaud Microsoft for including a very basic movie editor in
Vista, at the same time doing so is no dobut going to cause much
frustration with people attempting to use it to do things it can't do
at all or very well and thus get turnned off from video editing which
can be very rewarding with the RIGHT software.

Just to wet your appetite, it is possible to not only only pan a still
photograph if you follow the rules I hinted at, but also to pan at a
angle while either zooming in or out at the same time. These effects
was popularized by Ken Burns and now bears his name. Ken is well known
for many documentaries that have appeared on public television, like
his acclaimed Civil War project where is uses only photographs to tell
a compelling story of the American Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Burns

Graham Hughes wrote:
> You may find using photosotry 3 will do a better job of this as it is
> designed to work with stills, rather than MM which is more for
> working with lower resolution video. When finished you can export
> from PS3 to a movie file and import to MM for use in your movie.
>
> Graham
>
>
> "Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6BA5BE83-969D-4A07-B472-882F3157D744@microsoft.com...
>> I'm somewhat impressed by the capabilities of Windows Movie Maker.
>> However, I
>> could not get one feature to work properly. I have a panoramic photo
>> that measures 9251x1923 that I stitched together using Panorama
>> Factory. Basically, when I drag it to the timeline, the picture is
>> zoomed out so that
>> the whole panorama is displayed, but what I really want it to do is
>> pan from
>> left to right. So I right clicked on the photo and selected Effects.
>> From there, I selected pan Left to Right. Then I started playback
>> only to have it
>> panning correctly filling up the screen, but it looked very
>> blurry... as if
>> it was a low res pic. I know that is not true since the panorama was
>> taken
>> using a 6MP camera.
>>
>> Is there anyway to pan left to right with the correct resolution?
>> (ie. not so blurry?)
>>
>> Thanks.
============================
As Graham says...PhotoStory 3 would
be a better program for the task you
describe. And...yes...PhotoStory 3 will
run on Vista.

PhotoStory 3 For Windows
http://tinyurl.com/4f869

Have a look at the following article for
some ideas:

Create a Story from a Single
Still Photo with Photo Story 3
http://tinyurl.com/3q9tn


--
John Inzer
MS Picture It! -
Digital Image MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

Thanks for your suggestions. I will download PhotoStory 3 and try it out.

Basically, what I usually do is mix video and still photos to create a
vacation video. So for example, my recent vacation to hawaii, I visited
Haleakala Crator on Maui. I had both video and stills including a panorama. I
usually mixed them with transitions and music. For the panorama, I usually
pan left to right. I don't mind using another tool to create the pan and
then import it into MM. I just thought that MM would be able to do it.

I'm not sure if should create another thread for this but when I finished
making my test video in MM, I created a DVD using Windows DVD Maker. The
results were fine except for the video (esp. when it is panning left to right
or vice versa) is very jittery... I looked at the original videos in Windows
Media Player and they do not have this effect... it is very smooth. My
camcorder is an JVC MC500 hard disk camcorder which records to MPEG2 with AC3
stereo audio. I'm running Vista Ultimate.

I did a search and I found some posts from people with the same problem and
they mentioned something about bottom field first vs. upper field first. I'm
not sure what that means or if it is related but I didn't find anything in
DVD Maker or MM to change these settings.

Thanks.

bottom vs. upper field first is for video files... not still picutres....
Photo Story 3 can't use video files, so there's no concern about it... and
the WMV files produced are not interlaced, so again it's not something to
deal with in PS3.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn


"Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1F1DDEF1-F89C-405F-9DB9-761739B446E6@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for your suggestions. I will download PhotoStory 3 and try it out.
>
> Basically, what I usually do is mix video and still photos to create a
> vacation video. So for example, my recent vacation to hawaii, I visited
> Haleakala Crator on Maui. I had both video and stills including a
> panorama. I
> usually mixed them with transitions and music. For the panorama, I usually
> pan left to right. I don't mind using another tool to create the pan and
> then import it into MM. I just thought that MM would be able to do it.
>
> I'm not sure if should create another thread for this but when I finished
> making my test video in MM, I created a DVD using Windows DVD Maker. The
> results were fine except for the video (esp. when it is panning left to
> right
> or vice versa) is very jittery... I looked at the original videos in
> Windows
> Media Player and they do not have this effect... it is very smooth. My
> camcorder is an JVC MC500 hard disk camcorder which records to MPEG2 with
> AC3
> stereo audio. I'm running Vista Ultimate.
>
> I did a search and I found some posts from people with the same problem
> and
> they mentioned something about bottom field first vs. upper field first.
> I'm
> not sure what that means or if it is related but I didn't find anything in
> DVD Maker or MM to change these settings.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>
>

Hi PapJohn,

your site is very informative. I like the section you had on DVD Maker.

I think you misunderstood me on my previous post. My first question was
regarding the panorama... I will use Photostory 3 to pan it instead of Movie
Maker.

My other issue is with the resulting DVD. When I view it, the stills look
great. The panorama pan that I did with MM is fine except very zoomed in and
blurry (hopefully, this should be fixed with Photostory though). The issue is
with the camcorder clips that I added as a test. These are the ones that are
jittery. There is one particular scene where I was focused on point A and
then wanted to move slowly to point B which is outside of the camcorders
field of view. When I was moving to point b, the video was jittery... as if
parts of the video could not keep up with the movement. I viewed the original
clips in WMP and they were smooth.

Sorry for the confusion, I should have created a separate thread for the DVD
issue.

Chris.


"PapaJohn" wrote:

> bottom vs. upper field first is for video files... not still picutres....
> Photo Story 3 can't use video files, so there's no concern about it... and
> the WMV files produced are not interlaced, so again it's not something to
> deal with in PS3.
> --
> website references are to www.papajohn.org
>
> PapaJohn
>
>
> "Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1F1DDEF1-F89C-405F-9DB9-761739B446E6@microsoft.com...
> > Thanks for your suggestions. I will download PhotoStory 3 and try it out.
> >
> > Basically, what I usually do is mix video and still photos to create a
> > vacation video. So for example, my recent vacation to hawaii, I visited
> > Haleakala Crator on Maui. I had both video and stills including a
> > panorama. I
> > usually mixed them with transitions and music. For the panorama, I usually
> > pan left to right. I don't mind using another tool to create the pan and
> > then import it into MM. I just thought that MM would be able to do it.
> >
> > I'm not sure if should create another thread for this but when I finished
> > making my test video in MM, I created a DVD using Windows DVD Maker. The
> > results were fine except for the video (esp. when it is panning left to
> > right
> > or vice versa) is very jittery... I looked at the original videos in
> > Windows
> > Media Player and they do not have this effect... it is very smooth. My
> > camcorder is an JVC MC500 hard disk camcorder which records to MPEG2 with
> > AC3
> > stereo audio. I'm running Vista Ultimate.
> >
> > I did a search and I found some posts from people with the same problem
> > and
> > they mentioned something about bottom field first vs. upper field first.
> > I'm
> > not sure what that means or if it is related but I didn't find anything in
> > DVD Maker or MM to change these settings.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>

You should be pleased with what you get from Photo Story 3.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn


"Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CE33D054-75BC-4778-8DDD-ABF69A338339@microsoft.com...
> Hi PapJohn,
>
> your site is very informative. I like the section you had on DVD Maker.
>
> I think you misunderstood me on my previous post. My first question was
> regarding the panorama... I will use Photostory 3 to pan it instead of
> Movie
> Maker.
>
> My other issue is with the resulting DVD. When I view it, the stills look
> great. The panorama pan that I did with MM is fine except very zoomed in
> and
> blurry (hopefully, this should be fixed with Photostory though). The issue
> is
> with the camcorder clips that I added as a test. These are the ones that
> are
> jittery. There is one particular scene where I was focused on point A and
> then wanted to move slowly to point B which is outside of the camcorders
> field of view. When I was moving to point b, the video was jittery... as
> if
> parts of the video could not keep up with the movement. I viewed the
> original
> clips in WMP and they were smooth.
>
> Sorry for the confusion, I should have created a separate thread for the
> DVD
> issue.
>
> Chris.
>
>
> "PapaJohn" wrote:
>
>> bottom vs. upper field first is for video files... not still picutres....
>> Photo Story 3 can't use video files, so there's no concern about it...
>> and
>> the WMV files produced are not interlaced, so again it's not something to
>> deal with in PS3.
>> --
>> website references are to www.papajohn.org
>>
>> PapaJohn
>>
>>
>> "Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:1F1DDEF1-F89C-405F-9DB9-761739B446E6@microsoft.com...
>> > Thanks for your suggestions. I will download PhotoStory 3 and try it
>> > out.
>> >
>> > Basically, what I usually do is mix video and still photos to create a
>> > vacation video. So for example, my recent vacation to hawaii, I visited
>> > Haleakala Crator on Maui. I had both video and stills including a
>> > panorama. I
>> > usually mixed them with transitions and music. For the panorama, I
>> > usually
>> > pan left to right. I don't mind using another tool to create the pan
>> > and
>> > then import it into MM. I just thought that MM would be able to do it.
>> >
>> > I'm not sure if should create another thread for this but when I
>> > finished
>> > making my test video in MM, I created a DVD using Windows DVD Maker.
>> > The
>> > results were fine except for the video (esp. when it is panning left to
>> > right
>> > or vice versa) is very jittery... I looked at the original videos in
>> > Windows
>> > Media Player and they do not have this effect... it is very smooth. My
>> > camcorder is an JVC MC500 hard disk camcorder which records to MPEG2
>> > with
>> > AC3
>> > stereo audio. I'm running Vista Ultimate.
>> >
>> > I did a search and I found some posts from people with the same problem
>> > and
>> > they mentioned something about bottom field first vs. upper field
>> > first.
>> > I'm
>> > not sure what that means or if it is related but I didn't find anything
>> > in
>> > DVD Maker or MM to change these settings.
>> >
>> > Thanks.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>

On the dvd making side of things there are a few things to think about.
You start with an mpeg - a compressed lossy file.
Each time you save this lossy file as an mpeg you will lose some quality as
the compressor is looking at ways to maek it smaller.
It you work with stills a jpeg that is saved and saved again is smaller in
size, whereas a tiff saved without compression can be saved countless time
and it will always be the same.
Some software will allow you to save an mpeg file without re-compressing any
portions that you haven't saved. I'm not sure this is the case with MM and
Dvd Maker. I haven't tried it to see, sorry.

Other things to look at - not sure how up you are on dvd making.
For best quality you want an hour of movie on a dvd.
Longer will lose some quality.
You must record your original at the highest quality you can - crap in crap
out is an old saying, so if you record your movie on your cam at one of the
LP settings you are not going to get better results at the end.

Graham

--

Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.com


"Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1F1DDEF1-F89C-405F-9DB9-761739B446E6@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for your suggestions. I will download PhotoStory 3 and try it out.
>
> Basically, what I usually do is mix video and still photos to create a
> vacation video. So for example, my recent vacation to hawaii, I visited
> Haleakala Crator on Maui. I had both video and stills including a
> panorama. I
> usually mixed them with transitions and music. For the panorama, I usually
> pan left to right. I don't mind using another tool to create the pan and
> then import it into MM. I just thought that MM would be able to do it.
>
> I'm not sure if should create another thread for this but when I finished
> making my test video in MM, I created a DVD using Windows DVD Maker. The
> results were fine except for the video (esp. when it is panning left to
> right
> or vice versa) is very jittery... I looked at the original videos in
> Windows
> Media Player and they do not have this effect... it is very smooth. My
> camcorder is an JVC MC500 hard disk camcorder which records to MPEG2 with
> AC3
> stereo audio. I'm running Vista Ultimate.
>
> I did a search and I found some posts from people with the same problem
> and
> they mentioned something about bottom field first vs. upper field first.
> I'm
> not sure what that means or if it is related but I didn't find anything in
> DVD Maker or MM to change these settings.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>
>

The DVD quality from DVD Maker vs the orginal source video is noticeable but
it is not a show stopper. Certainly very acceptable to me. What bothers me is
the jittery/choppy video when there is any movement (ie. like a car passing
by). It is very distracting.

I posted this question in another forum and here's what I found summarized:

GSpot said the DVD made from DVD Maker is progressive.
GSpot said the orginal camcorder videos are interlaced top field first. Same
with a DVD I made using a different program.. which I don't really like using.

Why did DVD Maker or Movie Maker turn my video progressive?



"Graham Hughes" wrote:

> On the dvd making side of things there are a few things to think about.
> You start with an mpeg - a compressed lossy file.
> Each time you save this lossy file as an mpeg you will lose some quality as
> the compressor is looking at ways to maek it smaller.
> It you work with stills a jpeg that is saved and saved again is smaller in
> size, whereas a tiff saved without compression can be saved countless time
> and it will always be the same.
> Some software will allow you to save an mpeg file without re-compressing any
> portions that you haven't saved. I'm not sure this is the case with MM and
> Dvd Maker. I haven't tried it to see, sorry.
>
> Other things to look at - not sure how up you are on dvd making.
> For best quality you want an hour of movie on a dvd.
> Longer will lose some quality.
> You must record your original at the highest quality you can - crap in crap
> out is an old saying, so if you record your movie on your cam at one of the
> LP settings you are not going to get better results at the end.
>
> Graham
>
> --
>
> Graham Hughes
> MVP Digital Media
> www.myvideoproblems.com
>
>
> "Chris" <Chris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1F1DDEF1-F89C-405F-9DB9-761739B446E6@microsoft.com...
> > Thanks for your suggestions. I will download PhotoStory 3 and try it out.
> >
> > Basically, what I usually do is mix video and still photos to create a
> > vacation video. So for example, my recent vacation to hawaii, I visited
> > Haleakala Crator on Maui. I had both video and stills including a
> > panorama. I
> > usually mixed them with transitions and music. For the panorama, I usually
> > pan left to right. I don't mind using another tool to create the pan and
> > then import it into MM. I just thought that MM would be able to do it.
> >
> > I'm not sure if should create another thread for this but when I finished
> > making my test video in MM, I created a DVD using Windows DVD Maker. The
> > results were fine except for the video (esp. when it is panning left to
> > right
> > or vice versa) is very jittery... I looked at the original videos in
> > Windows
> > Media Player and they do not have this effect... it is very smooth. My
> > camcorder is an JVC MC500 hard disk camcorder which records to MPEG2 with
> > AC3
> > stereo audio. I'm running Vista Ultimate.
> >
> > I did a search and I found some posts from people with the same problem
> > and
> > they mentioned something about bottom field first vs. upper field first.
> > I'm
> > not sure what that means or if it is related but I didn't find anything in
> > DVD Maker or MM to change these settings.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>