Cropping Video Frame

Quite often, it becomes necessary to crop out unnecessary parts of the frame. For example, when an accidental person got into the frame from the edge :) This is solved by cropping function. We will tell you how to do it in Bolide Movie Creator step by step. As usual, with the additional useful tips.

How to crop unwanted parts of the frame

Suppose that the desired video is already in the timeline. Here's how to crop a portion of a frame in Bolide Movie Creator.

• Place the playback cursor on the clip (or select its block) and click the Arbitrary crop and zoom button on the timeline toolbar (it is highlighted in the screenshot) or press Ctrl+W. The same item is also in the right-click menu of a video or photo block. If several blocks are selected, the one closest to the playback cursor is cropped.
   
  
• Use the mouse to stretch and move the rectangle to the desired place in the frame in the preview area. To stretch, you need to drag the red squares on the frame. The squares in the corners change the scale while maintaining the proportions of the original frame (so that the cropped frame can occupy the entire project area). The squares on the sides of the frame change only its height and width without preserving proportions.
• To give the cropped frame exact proportions, choose them in the Aspect ratio of the crop area drop-down list at the top of the preview window: Same as project (the cropped part fills the whole frame of your movie without black bars), Same as source, or a standard ratio such as 16:9, 9:16 (vertical, for Shorts, Reels and TikTok), 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 3:2, 2:3, 5:4, 4:5 or 21:9. The frame is rebuilt with these proportions and keeps them while you drag its corners and sides. Current aspect ratio locks the proportions the frame has now, and Free aspect ratio (the default) removes the lock. The program remembers your choice for the next crop.
• At the top of the preview window are the Switch between an ellipse and a rectangular selection area button and the important Done (green checkmark) and Cancel buttons. After you have set the cropping rectangle to the desired part of the frame, press Done to apply the crop.
• If the cropped area has not stretched across the entire area of the frame, you can easily stretch it by double-clicking it in the preview area.
• To cancel cropping or change settings (size and position of the selection frame of the desired area), click on the effect icon in the upper right corner of the desired block in the timeline:
• In the pop-up menu, choose Edit Mode to return to the crop settings or Delete this effect to cancel cropping.
• Cropping can be combined on the same block with rotation and flipping, Pan-zoom and Virtual Screen. If the clip is rotated, the crop frame already shows the rotated picture. Effects from the Effects tab can also be combined with cropping, see Video Effects.

Back to Video Editing Guide.