How do I rotate source footage or change output orientation?

Smooth Operator lets you rotate your source video and choose the output aspect ratio independently. This is essential when your footage was recorded in one orientation but you want to export in another — like turning landscape footage into a vertical video for TikTok.

Rotate Source

Source rotation changes the orientation of your original video within the editor:

Open the hamburger menu on the toolbar.
Tap "Rotate Source."
Choose one of four options:
- 0° (default): No rotation. The video plays in its original orientation.
- 90° CW: Rotates the video 90 degrees clockwise.
- 180°: Flips the video upside down.
- 90° CCW: Rotates the video 90 degrees counter-clockwise.

The preview updates immediately. During rotation processing, you may briefly see a "Working..." spinner.

When to use Source Rotation:

Your video was recorded sideways and needs to be upright.
You want to use a creative rotation effect.

Output Orientation

Output orientation sets the aspect ratio of your final exported video:

Open the hamburger menu on the toolbar.
Tap "Output Orientation."
Choose one of four options:

Orientation	Aspect Ratio	Best For
Landscape	16:9	YouTube, traditional video, presentations
Portrait	9:16	TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts
Square	1:1	Instagram feed posts, Facebook
4:5	4:5	Instagram feed (taller than square)

Auto portrait detection

When you import a video, Smooth Operator automatically checks if it is portrait (vertical):

If the video height is greater than the width, the output orientation is automatically set to Portrait.
You can change this at any time by selecting a different output orientation.

Changing the output orientation recalculates all your anchor crop dimensions. This means your camera framing may shift when you switch orientations — review your anchors after changing.

How source rotation and output orientation work together

These two settings are independent:

Source rotation is applied first — it changes how the app sees your original video.
Output orientation is applied second — it determines the shape of the exported result.

For example: you can take landscape footage (16:9), rotate it 90 degrees, and export as a 9:16 portrait video. Or you can keep the source as-is and crop a 1:1 square from the center.

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