Thanks very much for your quick response, John. My screens don't match the tutorial, but I was able to muddle through. The images show up short on the screen (with black bars) but do display properly when I render the video. That's a little disorienting, but I can work with it.

That being said, do I have to do this every time? Is there any way to make these settings the default?

I appreciate the assistance very much!

BTW, I do not see any links to support anywhere. I've looked and looked (after I've consulted the knowledge base).

@Mary-Westheimer

Hi Mary,

I don't suggest that you ask Magix how to operate the program - that is what the manual and this forum are for.

BTW, I do not see any links to support anywhere. I've looked and looked (after I've consulted the knowledge base).

I don't know how you can miss it - on the FAQ screen, just scroll to the bottom of the page and under Other ways to find help it says Forum and Contact Support. Click on the obvious choice. You get the same choice on the next screen but with a description of each. Select the obvious one and you'll be on the message screen.

When you start the project - on the very first screen - select the format you want to work with as I show in the image above.

If you didn't, then open the Project Settings (shortcut E) and change the video settings. You have the same popdowns. You want Social Media and one of the other selections.

You are then editing your project in 9:16. If you have filmed anything in 16:9, it will show up landscape with the top and bottom cut off, as it should.

When finished, go to File, Export movie, Export as MP4 and you'll get this:

Done.

John CB

@browj2

I don't know how you can miss it 

John, it took me half an hour the first time I tried. It is not intuitive.

@AAProds

Hi Al,

Magix revised the whole thing recently. It is now very easy. I suggest that you look at it.

1. SUPPORT button at the top of the Forum
2. Select a product - Movie Studio
3. FAQ screen appears for Movie Studio - look for a solution, if none, scroll to the bottom and click on Contact Support
4. You get the screen below. SEND E-MAIL would be the answer here. This then takes you to the form to be filled in.

Any easier than that and users will bypass the FAQ screen. It takes less than 10 seconds to get there.

John CB

@browj2

John, nothing has changed, it's still a dog's breakfast. Even their own guide has 5 screens to go through.

https://www.magix.info/us/support/article/how-do-i-contact-technical-support--1513/

@AAProds

Al,

Try exactly what I said. Magix changed it as I said. Don't try to follow Magix' instructions as they probably have not updated them.

John CB

@browj2

John, fair enough, by ignoring the search box and FAQs, you are circumventing what a unsuspecting person would do, which would to type in their problem and do a search for it, then ending up down the rabbit hole.

If you do type something in, like "export" and try a search for it, then you do end up going down the 5 screen rigmarole to eventually get to that support email button. And woe be tide you clicking on the FAQ "How do I contact Support"!

@AAProds

Hi Alwyn

I have informed Magix of the discrepancy between the new support process and the article linked to.

. . . . If you do type something in, like "export" and try a search for it, then you do end up going down the 5 screen rigmarole to eventually get to that support email button. . . . .

After selecting the product on the 1st page, do not type anything in the search on the 2nd page scroll to the bottom and select Contact Support.

John EB

With all due respect here - and I do mean that, as I very much appreciate your quick response - I find nothing like you are referring to regarding the Magix site and support and I've never found a contact form (I'm glad to send you screenshots, if that helps). BTW, I've been using this product since 2011, when Sony owned it, and followed it through a number of owners and upgrades. I don't buy every upgrade, but, as I mentioned, v. 17 started acting up (videos stuttered), so I felt compelled to upgrade. Little did I know that the program is entirely different! Of course, Magix has every right and, indeed, encouragement to improve the program, but it is so different I've spent literally hours watching videos, both on the Magix site and on YouTube to better understand how to get this version to do what I've been doing for years. Again, I don't have a problem doing my homework, but even the terminology has changed - for instance, "pan and crop" are not used anywhere in the new version despite being pretty standard video terms. (It would be very helpful to have a "translator" from the old version's terminology and functionality to the new versions, BTW). Before I posted here, in addition to watching hours of videos and trying to find anything helpful in the manual, I searched the knowledgebase. While I am far from an expert on this - making videos is only part of my job, but I've made more than 600 - it should not be so hard to get help for an entirely new version. I will continue trying to get this version to do what I want (which is not a high bar LOL), but so far I am finding it very slow, and it has already crashed my computer 3 times. I'm hoping Magix is able to get the program stabilized and the support situation improved. Meanwhile, thanks again for your help.

@Mary-Westheimer

Hi Mary,

Yes, the jargon is different. That is why I recommend that new users watch my tutorial on Getting Started in MEP part 3, and Basic Editing parts 1 and 2.

Vegas vs Magix

Events = objects

Crop = Section (for some strange reason. Panning has nothing to do with cropping. Cropping is like making a cutout with scissors. Panning is what you do on a cropped or uncropped image. You move the image with respect to the viewing window, so it's the Position effect under Size/Position/Rotation.

Motion tracking = Attach picture to position in the video (it's an automatic effect that you can do manually using Size and Position

I'll have to look up size and position in Vegas to see what they call the obvious - size and position.

Did you follow my instructions about selecting the 9:16 settings on the startup page, etc?

As for Support, this should not be shown to most users as they will bypass the FAQ's and not ask questions on the forum:

@AAProds Al, this was also for you.

John CB

@Mary-Westheimer , @AAProds, @browj2

Hi

The Support article here has been modified to match the new Support pages.

John EB

@Mary-Westheimer

See also this message and the other one in which I posted a video about panning - there is a semi-automated feature in MS called Camera/Zoom Shot. To pan, you have to zoom in first, then move the image and keyframe the start and end points. Camera/Zoom Shot simplifies this.

John CB

@browj2

for some strange reason

John, Section: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/section "a distinct part or subdivision of anything". I do sympathise, however, and refer to the "crop box" in my musings on the feature.

@AAProds

Hi Al,

I just remembered that I wanted to comment on this.

Way back when I was learning MEP and Camera/Zoom Shot, the instructions called for going from one section to another - still do. Well, then obviously I had to create a section using Section. Of course, that is completely wrong and entirely confusing. Magix should not have a Section effect and a different definition of section under Camera/Zoom Shot. I had an instant dislike for Camera/Zoom Shot that remains to this day. Now you know why.

As well, look in the manual under cropping and Magix uses it under Camera/Zoom Shot but not under Section. Cropping is what the Section effect does and this is the common way to use it. I do cropping in image software - identical to Section. Whatever is outside of the box is trimmed off.

Cropping as used under Camera/Zoom Shot for going to or from a section is erroneous, in my opinion. I am not cropping - I am simply zooming in and panning or, rather, moving the image. I am not cropping the image the way the word is commonly used.

While I'm on my rant, do you know what Magix calls the "Cookie Cutter" effect in the manual? Look up the word "Cookie" in the manual. It's not there. Magix calls it "Stamp forms." Now, I have never understood how to use "Stamp" under Chromakey. So, looking up "Stamp" in the manual, I came across "Stamp forms." I was entirely confused until I realized that the description (there is no image in the manual) seemed similar to the "Cookie Cutter." I still don't know what Chromakey Stamp does.

John CB

@browj2

Ji John

. . . . I still don't know what Chromakey Stamp does. . . . .

Stamp is the name of the group type of Chromakey effect ie the black, white, green, blue etc. Why the group is called stamp is a mystery or perhaps it was so called because traditional ink stamps are a single colour 🙃😁🙃😁.

Another quirk is Water is called 'Relief' on the object it is applied to.

John EB

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your explanations. Browj2, your glossary definitions are the best I've seen. Thank you. All that being said, I'm simply going to move to another program. Movie Studio 2023 undoubtedly does all sorts of wonderful things that I don't need, which may explain its density. In poking around, though, I've found another program that is more intuitive for me and uses more standard language, so I will see if Magix will refund for the upgrade. Nonetheless, thanks very much for your input!

@Mary-Westheimer

Hi Mary,

MMS is about as simple as it gets. However, you also have depth. You may not need it today, but one day you'll be looking for the right tool and it won't be in a "simpler" program. There are few programs out there that also come with the depth of usable content as that provided by Magix. Even just Travel Maps is worth the price of admission. You'll just be penalizing yourself.

The jargon that Magix programs use is more standard than Vegas. "Events?" I've been to some and participated in some, but never thought that an object, video clip, photo, or audio file that I put on the timeline was an "event."

BTW, your initial question was about doing a 9:16 video. I showed you that you simply set that up on the very first screen - the answer was right in front of you. It seems that you are blaming the program for your unwillingness to spend a short amount of time learning how the program works.

Good luck,

John CB

@browj2

Way back when I was learning MEP and Camera/Zoom Shot, the instructions called for going from one section to another - still do. Well, then obviously I had to create a section using Section. Of course, that is completely wrong and entirely confusing. Magix should not have a Section effect and a different definition of section under Camera/Zoom Shot. I had an instant dislike for Camera/Zoom Shot that remains to this day. Now you know why.

John, I rarely read the manual because it is mostly gibberish. I work out how to use something and if it's handy, I'll continue with it. That is the case with Section and CZS. I let what they're actually called to cloud my opinion of their functionality. Unlike you, I have always used them in preference to SPR, which when used for zooming, cropping and panning is just making life hard for oneself. Anyway, each to his/her own! 5 minutes is all it takes to understand the weird nomenclature and over that hurdle, the 3 effects work really well when applied in the appropriate scenario. That said, I use Section and CZS far more than SPR.

I saw a wise piece of prose recently:

 It seems that you are blaming the program for your unwillingness to spend a short amount of time learning how the program works.

😃

@AAProds

Hi Al,

I saw a wise piece of prose recently:...

That's just it, I did spend quite a while with the manual and it was months before I had the Eureka! moment.

In any event, I rarely do zoom-panning, the Ken Burns effect. I am most often zooming out to have a PiP, and either keyframing to go into the effect or out of it, from or to full-size.

I just posted a new tutorial on Size/Position/Rotation on my YT channel. All are invited to watch it.

John CB

Just watched your tute, John. Well done, as usual, but I do think SPR is used for effects it's not optimised for. While you have done a great job, listening to the explanation made my head spin, because of the complexity of the design.

It is a shame the nerds removed the zoom slider, because while the effect can be achieved using the tumblers (as you point out), it's not as simple for those "occasional" users amoung us. Similarly, bumping the position of the frame with the keyboard arrows was simpler than putting your mouse pointer on a small area and wheeling it.

Similarly, the new Anchor system. Previously, with uneven black side and top/bottom bars on VHS captures, I could expand the frame by dragging each edge out; the other would stay still. Now, for each drag, I have to reposition the anchor point. A nuisance because it requires more effort.

The reason I shy away from Premiere is it's just too complicated. Magix is going the same way. A shame.

@AAProds

Hi Al,

Similarly, bumping the position of the frame with the keyboard arrows was simpler than

Nooooo! How did I miss that? The fifth way - click in a box and use the up/down arrows. I'll add that to Part 2.

Thanks for pointing it out.

The % really does replace the zoom slider. Once I found that, I no longer wanted the zoom slider. It had a limit of 200%, IIRC, before you had to type in the box. Now, just keep dragging upwards.

John CB