Overlaying still images on a video

amaethu wrote on 10/8/2021, 11:59 AM

Hello, I have a very basic query but can't find the answer in the manual. I have a Zoom recording, and to liven it up I want to add images that illustrate the talks. However I'm finding that I can't get the image to fill the screen - there are always bits of the video showing at the top or the sides. I've worked out how to resize the images under Effects, so that they cover the video, but some of them are logos that can't be tweaked like that. Is there a way to blank out the background video altogether? Thank you and sorry for such a basic question.

Comments

AAProds wrote on 10/9/2021, 3:38 AM

@amaethu There are a couple of ways of dropping the video level to "blank out" the underlying video.

1. Use the Video Effects>Chroma Key>Video Level effect to set keyframes to drop the video level then bring it back up again as needed (points are adjustable);

2. Make a cut where you want to drop the level, then make another cut where you want it back up, then drag down the video level line on the video part of the object itself. This method is trickier because you have "ungroup" the video from the audio, if you don't, the audio will be lowered as well. Once you have set the video level, you should re-group the 3 video objects with the audio so you stay in sync.

Shout out if you need more help with the above.

amaethu wrote on 10/11/2021, 9:12 AM

Thankyou AAProds - that's very helpful. I had an idea it was something like that, just hoped there might have been an easier route! Do you know, is there an easy way to crop images to the right aspect ratio (16:9) which would save this bother?

AAProds wrote on 10/11/2021, 7:10 PM

@amaethu Oh, there's always a way! 😀

Use the Section effect and from the dropdown, choose 16-9 landscape. You can then drag the corners to select the area you want in your cropped image.

After you've done that, click on Preview to see your crop.

If you want, you can then resize (as opposed to crop) that cropped image. Go to the Size/Position effect and resize and position your cropped image.

amaethu wrote on 10/12/2021, 3:17 AM

thankyou, I will try that out!