How do you REALLY crop a video

[jukka]

I'd like to crop the video.
It's 16:9 (or 16:10) not sure.. from my avchd camera
I need only to make mp4 video of custom size. I hate the crop effect tool, but did it with "Crop mode"
However, the video place is still 16 : 9 standard aspect ratio. How do I make it to show only my cropped video and no black borders.
From this tool, i don't see what are the exact dimensios...

[Davidk]

By cropping mode, I assume you mean you have applied the cropping filter to your video.
With the clip in the TL having cropping filter applied, select it, and choose the options panel. click on customise filter.
The crop panel opens and you will see 2 windows: left H one has the dotted lines of the cropping box in it - defaulted to 50% of the clip in each dimension, and the right H one shows the result of cropping actions. Below them is a management section with a timeline and several control items, including the fill colour and cropping sizes (length and width).
- the first item is to de-select the fill colour box (default: selected and black) and you will see the black borders in the RH window disappear: now it shows only the parts of the clip that are within the cropping border of the LH window.
- adjust the size of the cropping window by changing the sizes of the box (in % terms) in the control section. You don't have to maintain a square - you can and should change those length and width numbers to suit. You can maintain any aspect ratio you want this way, but more often it's desirable to use this to remove un-wanted parts of the image, like a head or other object that creeps into the image as it plays. And you can change just how much cropping is done by using keyframes at relevant parts of the timeline and altering the cropping percentage at each keyframe.
- re-position the centre of the cropping box in the LH window by click n drag of the cross-hairs to the location on the image that suits your need.

Play the result: shows in the RH window. My experience is that you may need several cycles at this to get it as you want the result to be. happy? click Ok to save it and exit back to the main VS screen.

[lata]

jukka,
Your AVCHD camera will record to widescreen 16:9 probably 1920 x 1080 frame size.

Are you trying to create a final video in 16:9 ratio (widescreen) or trying to render the video to a different shape, maybe a portrait video or indeed square video.
What are you trying to create.

Post updated 06/04/2021

If you are intending to create a video to other shapes than Widescreen 16:9 which is the default option then we have to first change the project properties aspect ratio, there is an icon adjacent to the Distort Tools (Crop / Resize) that will allow Portrait / Square profiles
There is a custom option although I do not find this useful.
The Settings – Project Properties option for Mpeg4 also has other pre-sets portrait and square

If we wish to create a banner then we have to use the Project Properties DV/AVI options, this will allow the use of User Defined sizes 1280 x 400 makes a reasonably sized banner.

With the projects aspect set correctly we can add / import our video, here we use the Distort Tools, resize and Crop combination will allow us to resize the video frame.

Share to render the project, DV/Avi and Mov may be the best options as they allow for User Defined sizes, set to same as project aspect, you should experiment with the codecs to choose the most suitable for your needs, larger file sizes using AVI compared to Mov using H.264
Mov also has an Alpha option that is useful in creating transparent backgrounds.