Cropping and resizing videos

[dcraftfrombr]

If I take a video that is a high resolution such as 1920x1080 and want to crop down to see only a portion of that, say 800x600. How can I crop it down to the smaller size but also modify the video size to the smaller size? I am wanting to not lose any quality. So original quality but just not all of the screen.

[Davidk]

Firstly, use the cropping filter on the photo or clip you want (choose the Fx filter tool, select from the list, click n drag onto the clip, then choose the "library and customise options panel", the middle icon at far right of window, then select the filter and choose customise the filter operation).

The controls allow you to position it (vert or horiz) and adjust the degree of size cropping, again vert or horiz: you can do that asymmetrically, but most users crop the image by the same amount in both axes to retain aspect ratio. Using key frames, you can vary the amount of cropping as the clip plays; alternatively, to have the same amount of crop for the whole clip: adjust cropping for the opening keyframe (the diamond marker at the start of the clip). Then rt click on then opening key frame and select "copy and paste to all".

There's a background colour option: keep it and the cropped image shows in a smaller 'window', background colour is black by default but can be changed; or remove it (untick) and the cropped image is 'full screen'. I use this feature to remove un-wanted elements of a video in a project - like, body parts that intrude on the scene, or something that just got in the way in any part of the clip. If cropping those parts out makes the result 'not very usable', forget cropping and just trim the original clip so those parts are all removed.

Cropping does not reduce the resolution of the image, because it is simply only playing the image section within the cropping border, but playing a smaller sized image on a larger screen size may well give the visuals of a reduced resolution - same picture shown over a larger screen area.

[dcraftfrombr]

yes, I can crop it as you suggested. But if I check the "Fill Color" box, then the cropped area has a black area around what I want to keep. If I deselect the Fill Color option, then the cropped area expands to fill the screen area and if I share the video with the orginal resolution 1920x1080, the cropped video will be enlarged and I will lose quality.
I want to crop down to a 800x600 area and export that cropped area into a file that would be 800x600. Confusing I know, but seems like it should be simple.
Thanks,
Dale

[lata]

Hi Dale
Try using the Distort tools – Crop Mode
Here we can resize / crop the frame within the preview screen.
It does not seem to lock the aspect which you would expect when dragging the corners, not sure how you would export that file?

click image for larger view