From Scanner to Story or Movie - PapaJohn's Newsletter Archive

A scanner is a great way to get high quality images for stories and movies. Let's explore the process a bit by scanning something and using it in 3 videos... a story, a video clip in a movie, and finally a custom image overlay in another movie.

I looked around my office for something to scan, picking a small clock set in decorative wood. The overall piece is a fairly small 5-1/2" wide by 2-1/2" high.

I wiped some of the dust from it, as it'll show up in a high quality scan... but left some for the scanner, so we'll have some to deal with if we need to. To make it more interesting than the usual map or picture, I went with something 3 dimensional, which scans just as well.

With this issue in the mail, I'm off to the gallery in New York City. Stop in to say hello if you're passing by. Saturday between 1 and 4 pm for sure... other times maybe.

My website pages grow kind of haphazardly... and attempts to make them easier to understand often end up making them longer... and perhaps more confusing. A few days ago I re-arranged and tried to clarify the page that started the whole site: Problem Solving > Crashes and Hangs. I'll be working on the Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page also. Of all pages, they should be the ones.

My scanner is an older HP ScanJet 4P, a flatbed type with a glass surface that measures 8-1/2" x 14".

I usually scan at 100% size, but I did the clock 7 times to get a higher quality one for a Photo Story, and some others for comparisons. This might be the first time I tried it at the maximum of 400%. The file sizes and pixel dimensions are...

Photo Story 3 handles images with lots of pixels extremely well, and there's no need to crop or resize the image before importing. We'll use the largest 25.4 megapixel one.

Crop and resize an image to be used as a video clip to appropriately fit the movie's pixel dimensions, unless you don't mind black borders.

Use an image size of 856x480 pixels for widescreen... crop and resize using IrfanView.

One such project that can use a scanned clock image is a countdown clock... add the same one second image over and over, with an Adorage transition between each... top with a Sound Dogs sound effect, and some text overlays to help with the countdown.

Overlay images automatically expand or contract to fit the video size. A round clock face would be less round if the image didn't align. To keep its proportions, use 640x480 images for standard 4:3, and 856x480 for widescreen 16:9.

Use the Title Overlay Starter Kit (see the Editing > Text > Custom Overlays page of my website), and place these two new images into the Overlay1 and Overlay2 positions.

With the same image scanned at 7 different resolutions, let's compare them to see if the higher percentage scans are actually higher quality. Is the extra magnification done optically or digitally? Does the extra file size really get you more quality?

Here's a composite of the same area of each, with the 6 lower resolution ones cropped and resized to align with the 400% scan. Yes the higher percentage scan is done optically, producing a truly higher quality image. Look at the differences in pixelization between the 100% and the 400% images.

High quality copyright free images are all around you... easy to get into a story or movie via your scanner. A theatre ticket, a seashell from the beach, a car key... lots of little things are highly suitable for scanning and using as opening or closing clips.

A very high quality image in Photo Story 3 lets you add a WOW effect just by zooming and panning. In a movie project, creatively using effects and transitions, and custom image overlays, can set the stage. You just have to follow through with appropriate content in the rest of the video.

I look forward to comments and discussion about this and other newsletters on the forums at:

I'm involved in many things that support users of Movie Maker and Photo Story, and adding more regularly. Some are free and others reasonably priced.

TheDVShow is the only weekly Podcast having more useful information about desktop video editing and production than anywhere else on the Web. Digital video editing, nonlinear editing, streaming media, software releases, tutorials, business tips, technical help, download of the day and news on the latest products to make everything easier. It's where professional and consumer desktop video users go to stay on the cutting edge.

Call the phone mail machine to get your technical question answered on the air... call (206)-203-3516

The radio broadcast is from Boston, and the website has downloadable podcast files. The June 19th 2005 podcast was the first 'bi-weekly' show with a segment about Movie Maker 2.

Movie Maker 2 - Do Amazing Things (with its online companion on www.papajohn.org), published by Microsoft Press...

Movie Maker 2 - Zero to Hero - with support on the publisher's forum - Friends of Ed

MaximumPC's winter 2005 quarterly special... had a 7 page tutorial 'Make a Killer Home Movie with Maker 2'. The special edition of the video made for it is now on my website as a file download.

The November 2005 edition of Maximum PC had a well done reworked 6 page reprint of the same article, starting on page 42 after the Happy 20th Birthday article for Windows.

Learning VirtualDub - published by Virtual Dub

Packt Publishing, is the first book about VirtualDub software. I wrote the first chapter about downloading and setting up the software: VirtualDub, VDubMod and AVISynth.

Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 - www.papajohn.org - the site's 3 goals are: an online companion to the Do Amazing Things book, a detailed tutorial for PhotoStory 3, and helping you solve Movie Maker 2 problems.

Forums are open to all for viewing, but require registration of those who want to post. Moderators actively participate to ensure the forum discussions move forward and stay on track.

Newsgroups are wide open for all to view and post... moderation is collective by the participants.

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story newsletter. The annual subscription is $20 and the link to subscribe is on the main page of my Movie Maker website at:

Newsletters that were distributed more than 6 issues ago are posted by Rob Morris to an Archive Site at his Windows Movie Makers' website. Links from my website pages to specific newsletters make it easier for viewers to see the content of both while browsing a topic.

Drop an email to suggest a newsletter topic... I can use more requests rather than fewer.

Transition Maker 2 (TM2) is a utility for the ultimate in making your own personal and custom transitions for Movie Maker 2. It's a joint product from Patrick Leabo, the programmer, and myself. Version 2 was released a week ago and I'm still working on updating the online tutorial.

I've beta tested some of the Pixelan packages and think very highly of their people and products.

Managing your personal information is more of a challenge as hard drives get bigger and the internet more robust.

My personal database has been an ongoing project over many years, and is now available to others. A tutorial about using it is on the Managing > Personal Database page of my site, and more info is in the database package itself.

It's free for the asking to regular newsletter subscribers... send an email request and I'll return it with the zipped file, which is less than 1 MB.

To others it's $10. To order, use the button on the top of the Managing > Personal Database page.

An online gallery that fully aligns with the main priority of the website is the 'PapaJohn Expert Zone' at neptune.

Check it at Neptune and the Distributing > Neptune page of the website, where there's a developing tutorial about how to use the service.

in conjunction with the Portage, Michigan library, I offer two free training sessions about Movie Maker and Photo Story, an intro session and a workshop. The upcoming scheduled sessions are:

If you can't save a movie because your project has become too complex, e-mail a copy and I'll divide it into manageable sub-projects, and provide detailed instructions about how to render the parts and assemble them into your final movie. $49.95 (no cost if it's not the right solution or doesn't work) - for details, see the sidebar on the Problem Solving > Can't Save a Movie page of www.papajohn.org

Movie Maker 2/Photo Story training and support services start at $50 per hour - send an email - PapaJohn@CharterMi.net and I'll help you determine your needs, and work with you to plan and implement them.

Wedding combo website/video packages - check the bottom branch of the Movie Maker 2 website for a sample of what you can expect for the online portion of the package.

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

About John 'PapaJohn' Buechler from Microsoft.com

John "PapaJohn" Buechler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., goes by PapaJohn online. An avid user of Movie Maker since its first release, and a regular supporter of the community of Movie Maker users, John received a 2003 MVP award from Microsoft for that support. In March 2003, he started a comprehensive website about Movie Maker 2 at www.PapaJohn.org. He maintains the website, writes books and articles, teaches, and provides support services - all for the community of Movie Maker 2 users. An engineer by formal education, John is a computer database and multimedia expert by business and personal experience. He co-authored the first book about Movie Maker 2 and is actively working on a second one. You can find his advice in the Windows XP Movie Maker newsgroup and in the Windows Movie Makers Forums.

This newsletter is republished with permission of John "PapaJohn" Buechler.
Please note that this is an archive of newsletters and some information may become outdated. PapaJohn, and the webmaster of this site, provides this information "AS IS" with no warranties.

Visit - PapaJohn's Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 2 Newsletter Index

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