Hi everyone, I was curious if there was some way to make YouTube shorts with Magix! I don't know how to set the resolution to what ever the phone screen is, or aspect ratio. Anyone got any hot tips? Thanks in advance!
There are Movie Settings presets for "Social Media", being square and 9:16 (ie portrait video). It's a tradeoff between filling the phone screen or not zooming in as much using a square, or even 4:3, frame size. If your source material is 16:9 landscape, then you're better off with a square frame. If it's portrait ie upright, then by all means use 9:16 to fill the whole phone screen eg 1080x1920.
The very basic steps are:
-Set up your movie settings as you desire
-Bring your clips onto the timeline
-Use either Section, Camera/Zoom Shot or Size-Position-Rotation to fill your movie frame.
-Save As... MPEG 4 at frame size and bitrate (thru Advanced) that you desire; the higher bitrate the better for quality.
How exactly does one export a video using the shorts aspect ratio? I also tried utilizing the "Upload to Vimeo" and "Upload to Internet" but both of those functionalities appear to be broken and unusable.
*Edit - Also saving it as MPEG-4 with no quality options available in the dropdown results in 1280x720 which is unusable for my needed purposes.
It doesn't sound like you followed all the advice given by @AAProds. although I think it was easy to miss Al's last step.
Had you set the movie settings as Al had suggested for the project then that ratio and size should be available to you if you choose to export your video using the 'Export As' option and selecting MP4 for the export. You should not be using the 'export to device' option which is very limited quality wise. Perhaps Al's mention of using the term
There are Movie Settings presets for "Social Media"
which may have led you to believe that using the 'Export to device' was the best option. That sort of works but the quality as you found is limited, and later on in his post Al did say to use 'Export As', which is the way most of us render our projects for the higher quality export options from the drop down list that accompanies that choice and the user export settings are adjustable manually if done with care.
TL;DR - 'Re-read the instructions' fair enough lol.
"Had you done this" "Had you done that" There's really no point to chastising me after the fact because I've clearly already failed and am reaching out for further assistance, which, if you care to go back and read, was encouraged by the person offering the assistance in the first place.
Come back if you get stuck. 😉
I like to imagine most people aren't willingly ignoring instructions so that they fail on purpose, so telling them all of the if's and but's isn't really constructive in my opinion. Maybe next time, just specify which step was missed instead of taking the time to point out shortcomings. I suppose once I'd specified the aspect ratio, I perceived the step to repeat that information as redundant and dropped the step outright as it didn't really make any sense to have to tell it multiple times in multiple places what ratio you'd like, but fair enough. I overestimated the program's ability to automate something and got ahead of myself it appears.
Another note, just on my process, in my head, I perceived the issue as a problem with the creation of these shorts rather than an issue with finalizing them. I did make an assumption, and you're right that it was my fault, thanks again lol
I will go through each step and I'll report back in another 6 months or so! Thanks for the video clip too, I wasn't even aware that existed.
You are probably using the simple Export button at the top right.
Instead, top menu, File, Export Movie, Video as MPEG-4. If you set up your project correctly, you'll get the same settings by default. Check the box, Display all. Open the dropdown just above and you'll have all presets. Select the one that most suits what you want and/or change the export settings.
Thanks, John. I will re-read the first instructions, making sure I get all the steps, and then I will use your helpful instructions once I'm ready to export.
I legit had no idea there were even multiple methods of exporting. I've used Magix ... I want to say since 2008 or so, and I've never once used any other methods of exporting, nor have I ever seen anyone else doing it in various tutorial videos I've looked up throughout the years. Thanks to everyone who replied, chastising or not, you are appreciated.
I'm at fault for writing in cryptic; looking back, my instructions were a bit misleading. So, here's a better version.
- Set up your movie settings (File>Settings>Movie); use one of the Social media presets, or type in your own frame size eg 1080x1920. Set the frame rate to match your clips. The critical bit is the "ratio" which must reflect the "shape" of your frame, eg 9:16. As long as the ratio is what you want, you can adjust the "size" ie the actual frame size during export.
-Edit your movie: add video objects to the timeline and use Section Camera-Zoomshot or Size Pos Rotation to fill your 9:16 window. If prompted, make sure you click on "do not adjust", because Magix will suggest that option if your source clips are not 9:16. You want to retain the 9:16 frame, you do not want to adjust it to the imported video clip, which may not be 9:16.
-When you're ready to export: File>Export Movie>Video as MPEG 4 (ie H264/AVC) or HEVC (H265) or AV1. Don't use the top right "Export" button, or menu item "Export to device". Sorry. I said "save as" in my earlier post
You'll be presented with the Export settings box: the resolution, frame rate and ratio should be the same as your initial Movie Settings. If the "ratio" isn't what you want, the safest way is to exit the export screen, go back to the Movie Settings, and set the settings to what you want ie 1080x1920, 9:16, whatever framerate you desire. Then, back on the timeline, recheck your objects are positioned correctly, then go through the "Export Movie" process again. Your export settings will now match your movie settings.
If you want to adjust the bitrate (and to also set "Streamable" for instant/streaming play on Whatsapp), click on the Advanced button on the export box. And you can also adjust the resolution, provided it matches the ratio.
Then export away, and you should have a good 9:16 video.
The critical value that must be consistent in the Movie Settings and the Export resolution is the "ratio".
You're not to blame, AA, I genuinely appreciate that you took the time to explain. As CubeAce pointed out, it's my fault moreso for jumping the gun. Had I systematically gone through your steps, as he also pointed out, I would have hit that same hurdle, but had been able to come back here and ask for help with better precision as I'd have known which step I'd stumbled on.
Anywho, thank you all again for all your help, I'm certain I will be able to get it sorted out now!