Crop and Export at cropped size

I have a somewhat strange (in the video world at least) workflow that I'm trying to figure out.

Here's what I want to do:

• Take a full screen recording of my desktop. (I can do this just fine with other software)
  
• Crop the video to a specific window displayed in the video.
  
• Export a video of that size window's size (as cropped), at that resolution.

I need to do this dozens of times for a given video, so I'm trying to work out the most expedient workflow.

These cropped videos will be used to create a companion text-based educational article with inline videos (at native size) of the topical window.

Thank you for any assistance.

See page 524 and onward in the manual for Resolve 14.

See page 524 and onward in the manual for Resolve 14.

I have read this, and I don't see the necessary information.

The crop tool does not appear to affect the rendered resolution. I want to crop and export with no scaling directly to that cropped resolution.

Think like cropping an image and saving it at the new cropped size. I wish to achieve that.

[Peter Chamberlain]

You need to define the timeline res, then crop.

What end format do you need?
If h264 then use Handbrake, ffmpeg etc.

If it's a screen recording you may have problems in Resolve with framerate.
Resolve is not the best tool for it as it will render into timeline resolution (after cropping it will scale video to it). You need to set timeline resolution to size of your cropped window. Start at any timeline size, crop, check final video size and set timeline to it.
With eg. Handbrake after cropping it will by default export to this final cropped size.
With Python etc skills proper approach is to find cropping values for each clip using preferred tool and then put all clips through ffmpeg in batch, so all is done automatically.

You need to define the timeline res, then crop.

Ok. This means that Resolve can not do what I need, as it would be far too laborious to go through and figure out the dimensions of each window (40+ in some short videos) and create new projects at those rates).

Thank you for your assistance, I appreciate the help from everyone.

What end format do you need?
If h264 then use Handbrake, ffmpeg etc.

If it's a screen recording you may have problems in Resolve with framerate.
Resolve is not the best tool for it as it will render into timeline resolution (after cropping it will scale video to it). You need to set timeline resolution to size of your cropped window. Start at any timeline size, crop, check final video size and set timeline to it.
With eg. Handbrake after cropping it will by default export to this final cropped size.
With Python etc skills proper approach is to find cropping values for each clip using preferred tool and then put all clips through ffmpeg in batch, so all is done automatically.

The issue is that I need to do editing and light-duty compositing on these clips, so it's not simply a matter of conversion.

For a given recording, I need to do dozens of these crops and manually figuring out the frame size and shuffling between multiple apps is far too tedious.

This is a task that I can do in a competing product that I no longer wish to use, so I am trying to find alternatives.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Its normal to set a deliver res as the timeline res then using the high quality sizing in Resolve just size the inputs from various sources to the size you need.

Are you tring to create various non standard size/aspect ratio clips?

You should look into using Virtualdub2 (Windows only). It's cropping feature allows exporting to the cropped frame size (as long as the codec allows arbitrary resolutions).

The issue is that I need to do editing and light-duty compositing on these clips, so it's not simply a matter of conversion.

For a given recording, I need to do dozens of these crops and manually figuring out the frame size and shuffling between multiple apps is far too tedious.

This is a task that I can do in a competing product that I no longer wish to use, so I am trying to find alternatives.

Well, I don't understand your problem then.
If you simply have to create in Resolve some master (at standard fixed frame size, eg HD) which has inside other videos which need positioning/cropping then Resolve is as good as any other NLE for this task.
You need to import videos and then you have crop/position option for every clip. This is of course manual job.

You just select clip in editing tab and then you have all needed options:



You don't have to use many tools, all can be done in Resolve- background video, cropping/position of screen recordings, final timeline assembly and export.

Its normal to set a deliver res as the timeline res then using the high quality sizing in Resolve just size the inputs from various sources to the size you need.

Are you tring to create various non standard size/aspect ratio clips?

Yes.

Think of cropping an image, then simply saving the crop. That's what I need to do.

My delivery resolution needs to be the size of the crop exactly, and I need to do this dozens of times (and do this multiple times per week).

The issue is that I need to do editing and light-duty compositing on these clips, so it's not simply a matter of conversion.

For a given recording, I need to do dozens of these crops and manually figuring out the frame size and shuffling between multiple apps is far too tedious.

This is a task that I can do in a competing product that I no longer wish to use, so I am trying to find alternatives.

Well, I don't understand your problem then.
If you simply have to create in Resolve some master (at standard fixed frame size, eg HD) which has inside other videos which need positioning/cropping then Resolve is as good as any other NLE for this task.
You need to import videos and then you have crop/position option for every clip. This is of course manual job.

You just select clip in editing tab and then you have all needed options:



You don't have to use many tools, all can be done in Resolve- background video, cropping/position of screen recordings, final timeline assembly and export.

My delivery resolution is not a standard resolution. It's whatever the size of crop is.

So if I'm working with footage of a computer desktop (which I am), I need to crop to a window and output footage of that window at that resolution.

I understand that this is an uncommon workflow, but it's not so uncommon that 2 competitors of resolve can't do it (and I can use neither for specific reasons)

I'm sorry if I'm not coming across clearly, and I'm sure that's complicated by this being a somewhat odd request.

Here is a video of a workflow for visually cropping and exporting at that arbitrary resolution in Premier:

This is a result that I'm trying to replicate. (but not the same use case). The speed of doing this is important given how many times I need to do it per day.

And thank you again for everyone's assistance so far.

Resolve is bit awkward for such a task as each time you have to (before export) set timeline to your cropped frame size.
If you happy with h264 export then use Handbrake. It will be much quicker there:

[Peter Chamberlain]

How are you using the images after you finish rendering?

How are you using the images after you finish rendering?

The videos are put inline with text that explains what is occurring in the clip. Basically being used like images in a common print layout, except it's video.

The video clips are pulled from a full instructional video that is a twin to the text-based article.

You don't have to export cropped videos. Just do everything in Resolve and export final videos.

Did you check out Virtualdub2?

Did you check out Virtualdub2?

I did, however I'm on macOS, so it does not appear to be an option to constantly be rebooting for that purpose.

It does offer what I'm after though.

You don't have to export cropped videos. Just do everything in Resolve and export final videos.

How do I export the cropped section then in an expedient manner?

I want one output of the entire video. That's easy.

Then I need to go through the video and create outputs of each individual window in the software GUI, at 1:1 pixel ratio. So this needs to be cropped and exported at the size of the crop. There's dozens of windows that I need to crop to, edit, and export different videos of (at different resolutions).

I feel like you understood originally.

I know of 2 of resolve's main competitors that can do this without too much issue (one is edit->crop->export and one is crop->export->edit). Apparently I've been told another one of the major video editors can do this as well.

I enjoy Resolve's workflow, featureset and community otherwise, so I am trying to get this to work for me in the best manner possible.

"These cropped videos will be used to create a companion text-based educational article with inline videos (at native size) of the topical window."

I read it again. So once you have videos they will be added to some presentation etc.

In this case forget about Resolve and follow video for Handbrake- free and rather easy and fast to do.

In Resolve it's always going to be way more clicks.

"These cropped videos will be used to create a companion text-based educational article with inline videos (at native size) of the topical window."

I read it again. So once you have videos they will be added to some presentation etc.

In this case forget about Resolve and follow video for Handbrake- free and rather easy and fast to do.

In Resolve it's always going to be way more clicks.

I checked handbrake, and it does not seem to have any easy way to adjust the video time when cropping.

There's dozens of windows I need to make crops of in a given video over the course of the video. From what I've been able to figure out, I would need to create multiple videos in resolve, go to handbrake to crop and export to h264, re-import to resolve to do some compositing and re-export to h264 again.

----

So think of using a program with many pop-up windows that occur during use. I am creating a video tutorial of this product.

Then I go back and create cropped videos of the usage of these pop-up windows (from the original video, this is important!) and inline these with a text explanation and a time link to the original video.

This gives my customer video based educational content along with a text-based companion content that is directly linked and visually similar to the video format (with slightly different overlay and some compositing)

Once again, I really appreciate you folks talking this out with me.

There is a simple trimming in Handbrake:

How about using the Quicktime Screen recorder? Play your video fullscreen and capture the region you want while it's playing. Rinse, repeat, for the next region.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Why do the resultant images need to be 1:1 pixel ratio?

Why not?
There is no need for any black around it to fit into some standard frame size. Videos belong to bigger presentation/guide, so it makes sense to show only bits which are in the interest of user and show exact part of software GUI etc.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Sure but I guess I’m getting to, why can’t a common deliver size be selected and zoom as needed?

I assume it's part of a guide, so when you read about something and click video you want to see just a specific area of eg. GUI. This is why all videos are random sizes.

I assume it's part of a guide, so when you read about something and click video you want to see just a specific area of eg. GUI. This is why all videos are random sizes.

That is correct.

And this is inlined with text (think magazine or newspaper style). So minimizing the amount of screen space used is important.

Sure but I guess I’m getting to, why can’t a common deliver size be selected and zoom as needed?

Along with the reason I wrote above, another issue is that some windows are very high aspect ratios, and some are very low. There's really not any 'common' delivery size.

Some windows are toolbar like, some are for plugins, some are dialogs, some are very wide timeline views, etc...

Robert, I’m not completely sure, but Avidemux (there’s a Mac version) appears to have a crop feature similar to Virtualdub’s.

Along with the reason I wrote above, another issue is that some windows are very high aspect ratios, and some are very low. There's really not any 'common' delivery size.

Some windows are toolbar like, some are for plugins, some are dialogs, some are very wide timeline views, etc...

This is why NLEs is not good choice. You need a tool which simply crops and exports, without such a thing like project frame size.
As you found- AME is good for this, mentioned Vdub2 (on PC), Apple Compressor. Other approach (more engineering alike) is to first find crop values (and IN/OUT points) for all file sand then put it through an automatic processing with ffmpeg.
If you're willing to pay small money I can write you simple app (or Apple service under right click) which would do it. You would just have to manually find crop values+IN/OUT (in any preferred tool) and store them in some text file.

Robert, I’m not completely sure, but Avidemux (there’s a Mac version) appears to have a crop feature similar to Virtualdub’s.

I am looking in to this, thank you.

Along with the reason I wrote above, another issue is that some windows are very high aspect ratios, and some are very low. There's really not any 'common' delivery size.

Some windows are toolbar like, some are for plugins, some are dialogs, some are very wide timeline views, etc...

This is why NLEs is not good choice. You need a tool which simply crops and exports, without such a thing like project frame size.
As you found- AME is good for this, mentioned Vdub2 (on PC), Apple Compressor. Other approach (more engineering alike) is to first find crop values (and IN/OUT points) for all file sand then put it through an automatic processing with ffmpeg.
If you're willing to pay small money I can write you simple app (or Apple service under right click) which would do it. You would just have to manually find crop values+IN/OUT (in any preferred tool) and store them in some text file.

It does seem like I will have to rely on on a secondary tool at this point if I wish to use resolve.

I need to investigate how well apple compressor and Avidemux handle this.

I appreciate the offer for the app, but I could do it myself if I wasn't being so stubborn

If you can then stop trying to use hammer when you need a stick
My mentioned approach will be the most efficient one. I sometimes deal with 1000s files daily, so learnt how to approach and optimise different processes

Finding crop+IN/OUT, waiting for export, selecting another crop+IN/OUT, etc. is not an optimal approach
Finding all crop values+IN/OUTs and letting then automate process export them will be way more effiecnt and also human "friendly".

If you can then stop trying to use hammer when you need a stick
My mentioned approach will be the most efficient one. I sometimes deal with 1000s files daily, so learnt how to approach and optimise different processes

Finding crop+IN/OUT, waiting for export, selecting another crop+IN/OUT, etc. is not an optimal approach
Finding all crop values+IN/OUTs and letting then automate process export them will be way more effiecnt and also human "friendly".

Yes, I agree.

It seems that Avidemux works, and Compressor works too for doing this fairly quickly.

It'd still be great if this was a native resolve capability. (Like a few competitors can do)

Well, you can do it in Resolve, but because of the way how it works it requires many more clicks.

[Peter Chamberlain]

[quote

It'd still be great if this was a native resolve capability. (Like a few competitors can do)[/quote]

Which apps are these?

It'd still be great if this was a native resolve capability. (Like a few competitors can do)

Which apps are these?

Premiere and Media Composer can do a graphic crop (with handles) to export to the media bin for easy re-import.

I posted a video on doing it in Premiere above.

So in Davinci 15 can you still not crop your exports or are you stuck with your timelines resolution?

So in Davinci 15 can you still not crop your exports or are you stuck with your timelines resolution?

Now we are on Davinci 17
and i can´t find an easy way to crop an export (e.g. in Premiere for years).

Is it only possible by creating a new timeline with diff. dimension?

Here is an answer with a picture. I had the same issue, and could not find a clear answer. Since, the answer is very easy when found!

Suppose your project is 1920x1080.
Then, crop your video. Calculate the remaining size to be used just after. Example in screenshot (see the captured crop values in picture) :
Width = 1920 - 94 - 256 = 1570
Height = 1080 - 65 - 51 = 964

Right click on the timeline in the media pool, and select Timelines > Timeline Settings...
Uncheck "Use project settings", enter your new values, and select "Center crop... no resizing"

DVCrop.jpg (123.33 KiB) Viewed 7755 times

When delivering, check that the video tab has automatically detected the custom with new Width/Height values.

That's all!

BZ