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Important:
Please note that the procedure outlined below
applies only to situations where the element you are trying to hide is always at approximately the same place in the frame throughout the duration of the video
. (Click here to see an example of this type of video. Note that none of the student's faces are moving around much in the frame while the video is playing.) It does
not
apply to videos where either the camera or element you need to hide is moving. (Click here to see an example of a video that is not suitable for this technique.) For videos where the element you are trying to hide is moving, you have the following options: (1) find another portion of the video where the undesired element is not present, (2) re-shoot the video (this time without the problematic element), or (3) purchase a program like Corel VideoStudio that is capable of "tracking" unwanted elements as they move around in the frame, and employ the procedure found at this link.
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For videos that
do
contain a
relatively stationary
element that you need to hide, please follow these steps:
- If the video you wish to partially obscure--(which we will call the
input
video)--is not already open in Shotcut, click the
Open File
button on the far left of the Shotcut button bar, browse to the place where the file is located, and double-click on the file to open it.
- Click the
Filters
button near the right of the Shotcut button bar (as shown in
Figure 43
, below).
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Figure 43:
The image below shows the main Shotcut window with the Filters button highlighted in red.
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- Then, click the
Add a filter
button (with the
+
sign on it) at the far left of the
Filters
window that now opens on your screen. (See
Figure 44
, below.)
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Figure 44:
The image below shows the Shotcut
Filters
window with the
Add a filter
button highlighted in red.
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- Click the
Video
button with a picture of a television set on it (located either below the list of available filters if you are using an older version of Shotcut, or above the list for newer versions) in order to display only those filters that are related to the video. (See
Figure 45, below.)
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Figure 45:
The image below shows what happens to the list of filters in the
Filters
window after the
Video
button (highlighted in red) has been clicked. As you might expect, only those filters specifically related to the video are now visible.
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- Scroll down the list of available video filters (shown in
Figure 46
, below) until you find the one labeled
Text
, and click on it to select it. As can be seen in
Figure 47
(below), the selected
Text
filter's name now appears under the
Video
heading near the top of the
Filters
window on the left.
- In the preview window to the right (also in
Figure 47
), you are presented with the default appearance of the
Text
filter (i.e., a text box with white characters on a transparent background) superimposed over the bottom of the
input
video.
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Figure 46:
The image below shows the Shotcut
Filters
window
before
the
Text
filter (highlighted in red) has been selected.
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Figure 47:
The image below shows the Shotcut
Filters
window
after
the
Text
filter (highlighted in red) has been selected. Off to the right, we also see a preview of how the
input
video will look with the
Text
filter applied.
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- We will need to replace the text in the text box with empty spaces and then make the background of the text box opaque, with any color we choose--(black for this example). Doing so will produce a rectangle which we can use to hide the unwanted area of the
input
video.
- To accomplish the first of these tasks, delete
#timecode#
from the large rectangular
Text
field in the
Text
filter parameters window on the left, and replace it with two or three empty spaces (using the spacebar). (See
Figure 48
, below.) If you are unable to find this string of text, try scrolling to the top of the
Text
field to make it visible.
- To accomplish the second task, click on the tiny (square) button immediately to the right of the word "
Background
." (See
Figure 49
, below.) If you do not see this setting, try scrolling down the
Text
filter parameters window a bit to make this option visible. In the
Please choose a color
window that now opens to the right (see
Figure 50
, below), click on the color you wish to use to obscure the unwanted portion of the
input
video and then, to make the selected background color completely opaque, change the
Alpha channel
value from its default of
0
to a new value of
255
. When finished, click the
OK
button at the bottom-right to close the color picker window.
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Figure 48:
The image below shows the
Text
filter parameters window with the (now empty)
Text
field highlighted in red.
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Figure 49:
The image below shows the
Text
filter parameters window with the
Background
button (highlighted in red) before it has been clicked.
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Figure 50:
The image below shows the
Please choose a color
(color picker) window that appears
after
the
Background
button has been clicked. Both the selected color in this window and the
Alpha channel
value in the underlying
Text
filter parameters window are highlighted in red.
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- Click-and-drag on the four tiny (square) handles at the corners of the opaque rectangle that is superimposed over the preview window (shown in
Figure 51
, below). As can be seen in
Figure 52
(below), this will enable you to change the width and height of the rectangle in order to make it the appropriate shape and size to cover the area of the frame you are trying to hide. Feel free to add or remove spaces in the
Text
field of the
Text
filter parameters window on the left in order to make substantive changes to the width of the rectangle.
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Figure 51:
The image below shows the Shotcut preview window with the large opaque rectangle that will be used to cover the area of the frame we are trying to hide. Before this can be done, however, we will need to resize and reposition the rectangle within the frame.
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Figure 52:
The image below shows the Shotcut preview window with the (now resized) opaque rectangle that will be used to cover only the area of the frame we are trying to hide.
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- Once you have gotten the colored rectangle to the desired shape and size, click-and-drag on the tiny circle at the center of the rectangle and move it over the area of the video you are trying to hide. (See
Figure 53
, below.)
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Figure 53:
The image below shows the Shotcut preview window with the resized opaque rectangle moved to cover the area of the frame we are trying to hide.
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- Now play the video to make sure the colored rectangle is appropriately shaped/sized/positioned to completely obscure the unwanted area throughout the duration of the video, and make any adjustments that may be necessary.
- When you are satisfied, perform any additional operations that may be necessary (i.e., trimming, compression, etc.) and export the video as a new file. To do this, first, click the
Export
button at the far right of the Shotcut button bar. Then, click the
Export File
button at the bottom of the
Export
window. Finally, browse to the location where you would like to save the video, give it an appropriate name, and click the
Save
button at the bottom of the
Export File
window. (Click here to see an example of how this technique was applied to a video where the face of the third student from the left needed to be obscured.)
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