Quote: I like to shoot macro and would like to make clean HD (1920x1080) from selected crops of 4K video (my camera does 3840x2160). Example: an insect might be in the lower left of a video. I can see the 16:9 ratio is kept, but I can't see how many pixels before I click 'OK', and I'd like to lock on to 1920x1080, or choose my pixel count.

Can someone please tell me if this is possible? I looked in the Guide and couldn't find an answer. Thanks.

In my view PD12 is a video editor, when you save a video file in, will always have a fixed size as the profile you select and Produce.
Example: If you choose to have FullHD 1920 x 1080 on the video output,
even if your original file is much bigger, no matter how much you will cut. AMD-FX 8350 / 8GB DDR3
SSD SUV400S37240G / 2-HD WD 1TB
AMD Radeon R9 270 / AOC M2470SWD
Windows 7-64 / PD16 Ultimate

Playsound is correct, regardless of what the actual resolution of our cropped clip, the output will be upscaled/down scaled to whatever resolution you're producing to.

There is a grid tool in the cropping window (in the lower right of the bottom frame) that you can set to 2x2, which will at least show you how big the optimum size is. The closer you are to 1920x1080 the less obvious the video scaling will be, and the less time it will take to produce.

You can also use a paint program to create a frame that's 960x540 pixels in size (that's a 2:1 ratio from your raw source) and just a few pixels wide, then save it as a .png with a transparent background. Import that into the library and place it on the track below the clip you're trimming, and then you can move it around to frame the area you want in the Modify window, then open the the Modify window for the clip you want to trim and use the overlaid frame as a reference.

I can make a short video if that would help...

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Thank you playsound and optodata.

I think I will try out the 2nd suggestion of making a png file since, if I am successful, it would serve as a 'template' I could reuse.
I like the idea of being able to move it around via Modify. But I am new to NLE's as well (but know Photoshop ok), so rather than trouble you for a video (that's generous!), I'll see how far I can get on my own, but ask again if I have trouble

This solution would be great, because although I've been looking at other alternatives for cropping and then reimporting back into PD12, I was wary about losing quality. I tried Avidemux (they have a nice selective crop filter), but was not successful in saving the file into a readable format. I either didn't have the (daunting) preferences set correctly, or it didn't play well with my camera's (Sony FDR-AX100) files (records 4K by MPEG-4 AVC/H.264). I'll have to look at MovieStudio again (it was free with the camera) to see if they have a manual selective crop, but I like PD so much better.

Question for optodata: why not a 1920x1080 png instead of 960x540? 1920x1080 would allow me to see placement better...

I really appreciate the response.

OK. I tried a couple of ideas on my system and they didn't work out like I thought they would, but then I found the dead-simple solution

Open up your clip in the Keyframe tool, and select Clip Attributes on the left. Manually change the H scale: value to 2.000 and do the same for the V scale. Since your camera has exactly twice the pixels on each axis as HD (total of 4x resolution), scaling the clip up 2x will give you a zoomed in window of exactly 1920x1080 pixels! Whatever you see in the frame will be exactly what shows up in the produced video - no scaling or extra processing required

While you're in the Keyframe menu, you can even drag the zoomed window around to follow any motion, so with this one tool you'll probably accomplish everything you need.

Dang, I even impressed myself with this one

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote: OK. I tried a couple of ideas on my system and they didn't work out like I thought they would, but then I found the dead-simple solution
Open up your clip in the Keyframe tool, and select Clip Attributes on the left. Manually change the H scale: value to 2.000 and do the same for the V scale. Since your camera has exactly twice the pixels on each axis as HD (total of 4x resolution), scaling the clip up 2x will give you a zoomed in window of exactly 1920x1080 pixels! Whatever you see in the frame will be exactly what shows up in the produced video - no scaling or extra processing required
While you're in the Keyframe menu, you can even drag the zoomed window around to follow any motion, so with this one tool you'll probably accomplish everything you need.
Dang, I even impressed myself with this one

Bookmarked! Happing editing

Best Regards

Neil
CubbyHouseFilms
My Youtube Channel
My Vimeo Channel
PD3.5, 5, 6 & 7. Computer: Dell Dimension 5150, Intel Pen. 2.80 GHz, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 256MB, Windows XP Pro!!
PD8 Ultra v3022. Computer: Dell Studio 1747, Intel, i7 Q740 1.73 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 560v 1GB, Windows 7 Ult. 64
PD10 Ultra v2023. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD12 Ultra v2930. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD13 Ultim v3516. Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 8GB RAM, ATI Mob. Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
PD16 Live v2101 Computer: HP Pavilion dv7, Intel, i7 2630 2.00 GHz, 16GB RAM, ATI Mob.Radeon HD 6770 2GB, Windows 7 Pre. 64
Director Suite 6: PowerDirector 16 Live, PhotoDirector 9, ColorDirector 6, AudioDirector 8

Cameras: Sony(s) HXR-NX5P, HXR-NX70P, NEX-VG10E, a6300 4k, HDR TG5E, GoPro 4 Black, Canon 6D DSLR

Visit PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials, tips, free resources & more. Subscribe!
Full linked Tutorial Catalog - PDtoots happily supports fellow PowerDirector users!

OK, I didn't have luck with the transparent PNG idea (no doubt my lack of skills atm with PD.)

I did try the idea of the 2x grid tool in the cropping window and found it 'almost' worked perfectly. By unchecking the 'snap to lines', I could pretty well nail making a 1/4 box, but the problem was it inevitably made a path for zoom/pan when I moved the desired crop size over the section I wanted. Then I found that by placing the blue circle as best as possible OVER the green triangle, I could ALMOST eliminate motion and zoom. I didn't see any other way. I don't want ANY zoom or pan effect in these types of crops.

Now, I tried the Keyframe tool suggestion and love that your suggestion of setting the Height and Width scales to 2.0 gives the perfect size crop, no fiddling. But, I still haven't solved the 'don't want any zoom or pan' problem. I don't see a little blue circle I can move over the green triangle. I did try setting the motion coordinates to 0.00, but that just moves the box back over to the start point of the 4K photo.

Is there a way to move that box to the desired section of clip, but keep motion and panning to NIL over the whole clip?

Many thanks.

Quote: ...
Is there a way to move that box to the desired section of clip, but keep motion and panning to NIL over the whole clip?

Many thanks.

Absolutely! All you have to do is make sure that you set the scale when the scrubber is at the very beginning of the clip.

To get the movements you described, you must have made the changes with the scrubber somewhere in the middle, which DP interprets as "start with a 1:1 zoom, then zoom in to 2:1 at the point where the scrubber is, then return to 1:1 zoom at the end of the clip."

If you don't need any panning, just set the scrubber at the very beginning to make the scale changes to set the scale for the start of the clip. PD will automatically place a keyframe at the end of the clip for each setting that you adjust, and the easiest way to get to the ending keyframe is to click the little white triangle above the "2.000" It will say "Select next keyframe" if you hover the cursor over it.

Enter the same settings for H and V scale at the ending keyframe and your 1920x1080 window is set for the whole clip

(Note that you can't be off by even 1 frame or you'll get an extreme zoom in or out between that frame and the actual start or end of the clip, so be sure that the frame counter reads 00:00:00:00. You can actually type in the 0s to move the scrubber if that's easier than dragging the scrubber).

Once you've set the zoom in the Keyframe tool, it's probably easier if you go back to the PiP Designer (click the Modify button above the timeline) to center your subject. Doing that step in the Pip Designer means you won't be creating any motion. You're now setting a fixed x/y offset for the entire clip and PD will have an exact 1920x1080 crop from your 4K video

Does that make sense? Hopefully you'll get it the first time you try. There are many other ways of working with keyframes, even in the Pip Designer, and the are some good tutorials from the great guys at PDToots if you want to learn more.

Good luck!

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

I just wanted to add two more timesaving steps:

Once you've edited your first clip to have the exact-size window, you can right-click on it and use the Copy Keyframe Attributes feature to Paste Keyframe Attributes onto each clip on your timeline. It takes just a couple seconds, and the only thing you'll need to do manually is use the PiP designer to center your item of interest in each clip. The crop wind is already there!

Even better, if you save a project with just a single edited clip in the library and timeline, you can use the Import Project feature every time you need the 1920x1080 window size in any new project down the road. Once you've got your new project started, simply import the original project and you'll have your original, edited clip in your new project's timeline and you can use the Copy Keyframe Attributes again, never having to recreate the cropped/zoomed window

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

I want to accomplish something very similar usind PD13.

I have video that was filmed at 1080p (1920x1080) and I'd like to crop it to 720p (1280x720), thus zooming in.

I don't care about the panning because I'll use key frames and may move the video around, I'd simply like to crop the video to exactly 1280x720 so there is absolutely no scaling in the product.

I made a PNG that's 1920x1080 with a rectangle 3 pixels wide that's 1280x720; however the overlay apparently doesn't show up in the crop video tool.

Also, perhaps the video crop tool has changed with PD13 because I couldn't find any scaling options associated with the keyframe.

Any other ideas?

Hello, Allan!

As you've likely noticed, all the other posts(barring yours and this one I'm now writing) go back over two years. In forum terms, they're old and grey, got whiskers down to their knees and walking with the aid of zimmer frames!.... and that's OLD!!!!!

Best to start a fresh post, outlining your situation so someone may be able to offer assistance.

Cheers!

Neil.