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Video Cropping Help?!!??!

H

helios16v

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 1, 2008
149
0
Earth
I've been searching for hours trying to figure this out and I cant find any clear information on how to do this.

I have some 1080p videos that are in 16:9 aspect ratio. After all the editing I want to crop the videos from 16:9 into 2.39:1 aspect ratio for the final video but I cant figure out how to crop videos on iMovie, Final Cut Express, or Adobe After Effects.

The only thing I could find on changing the aspect ratio was Xilisoft Video Converter(normal and platinum versions) and the only thing that did was stretch the video out.

I'm not trying to change the aspect ratio, I'm trying to crop the aspect ratio.

Please help, I've been searching countless hours without finding a thing.
 
FCE and AE have Mask tools, which you can use. Make a mask and overlay it over the footage. In AE you might even be able to create a custom sized composition (2.35:1) and insert your 16:9 footage in there.
 
problem solved...
took for ever and it was a huge pain in the ass but its done with.

for anyone who cares to know how i did it, this is the process.

Install VMware Fusion.
Install Windows XP Professional.
While using Windows XP Professional I downloaded Virtual Dub.
After Extraction, run Virtual Dub.
Drag and drop the video from the Mac desktop onto the Virtual Dub window within Windows XP Professional.
Click on Video and then Filters.
On the window that comes up click on the Add button.
Select null transform then click OK.
Click the Cropping button.

Now the video is ready for cropping.
To get the proper aspect ratio for the video I opened my video up in VLC on the Mac desktop and paused it right at the beginning, I then made mental markers at the top of the screen after I had cropped it on vlc (a tiny bit of the grille of the car and just under the side marker light) so then on Virtual Dub I dragged the top of the video down to crop it out right up to the points on the video I made as my 2.39:1 ratio.

Repeat that step for the bottom half until both videos are the exact same size. Works out that I just need to crop out 90 on both top and bottom on the numbers that come up on Virtual Dub.

Now that I figured that out I could crop video. Keeping in mind the 90 I said.

NOW! on After Effects just before you render your clip, theres a crop setting and it works the same way but without preview so i have now figured out the 2.39:1 aspect ratio as cropping 90 off of the top and bottom so now for every clip i edit i just crop out the 90 from the top and bottom of the video before i complete the rendering process.

so now if anyone else wanted to do this feel free to follow my steps for finding any aspect ratio you want.

-Ben
 
helios16v said:
problem solved...
took for ever and it was a huge pain in the ass but its done with.

for anyone who cares to know how i did it, this is the process.

Install VMware Fusion.
Install Windows XP Professional.
While using Windows XP Professional I downloaded Virtual Dub.
After Extraction, run Virtual Dub.
Drag and drop the video from the Mac desktop onto the Virtual Dub window within Windows XP Professional.
Click on Video and then Filters.
On the window that comes up click on the Add button.
Select null transform then click OK.
Click the Cropping button.

Now the video is ready for cropping.
To get the proper aspect ratio for the video I opened my video up in VLC on the Mac desktop and paused it right at the beginning, I then made mental markers at the top of the screen after I had cropped it on vlc (a tiny bit of the grille of the car and just under the side marker light) so then on Virtual Dub I dragged the top of the video down to crop it out right up to the points on the video I made as my 2.39:1 ratio.

Repeat that step for the bottom half until both videos are the exact same size. Works out that I just need to crop out 90 on both top and bottom on the numbers that come up on Virtual Dub.

Now that I figured that out I could crop video. Keeping in mind the 90 I said.

NOW! on After Effects just before you render your clip, theres a crop setting and it works the same way but without preview so i have now figured out the 2.39:1 aspect ratio as cropping 90 off of the top and bottom so now for every clip i edit i just crop out the 90 from the top and bottom of the video before i complete the rendering process.

so now if anyone else wanted to do this feel free to follow my steps for finding any aspect ratio you want.

-Ben
Click to expand...

I'm glad this worked for you, but there's an easier way if you're already using final cut. What was wrong with Final Cut Filters->Matte->Widescreen and selecting the ratio you want? spinnerlys Alluded to this did you not check?

Granted it does not have 2.39 as a preset, but 2.35 as the closet option, and then you can pad the border to get it exact if you want.
 
if you didn't mind having that black space over and under our video, just import to your project a image file with two rectangle black boxes and place it on top of the video.
now, if you want the aspect of the video file to change than, this wont help much.
 
fremachuca said:
if you didn't mind having that black space over and under our video, just import to your project a image file with two rectangle black boxes and place it on top of the video.
now, if you want the aspect of the video file to change than, this wont help much.
Click to expand...

Read his original post... he does not want to change the aspect ratio.
 
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