Preview Window and Canvas

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Canvas In-Depth

Working with the Canvas.

Using Crop Mode

Using Crop Mode

Explore the Editor

Explore the Editor

The Preview Window consists of three areas: the Canvas, the Editing Dimensions and view options, and the Playback Controls.

The Preview Window might not always show the video exactly as it will play once it is produced.

Clip speed animations, zoom animations, visual properties animations, callouts, or transitions, etc. might not play back correctly in the Preview Window. To see exactly how a transition, callout, animation, or other effects will appear in the final video, use the Produce Selection As option.

Editing Dimensions and View Options

Editing Dimensions

The Preview Window displays a preview of how the final video will look produced with the dimensions selected in the Editing Dimensions dialog box.

Click the icon to open the Editing Dimensions dialog box.

Select a dimension for editing your video. For the best results, select the size you want your final video to be.

Choose editing dimensions smaller than the original recording to optimize your recording forSmartFocus zoom animations.
Editing dimensions of at least 640 x 480 are required for any video that will have a table of contents (TOC) or quiz.
Background color. Change the color of the canvas. The canvas is the background of your video. Therefore, the background color appears in the final video whenever it can be seen in the Preview Window.

Magnification View Options

Click the icon to change the magnification level of the video on the canvas.

This does not change the editing dimensions of the video.
Choose Shrink to Fit to view the entire video within the boundaries of the canvas.
When the view is magnified, use the Pan tool to move the video around within the boundaries of the canvas.

Canvas Tools

Toggle Crop Mode

Crop removes the unwanted outer areas of a video or an image clip.

1. Click the Crop icon to turn crop mode on.

2. On the canvas, drag the blue handles to remove desired area.

3. Click the Crop icon again to turn crop mode off.

Toggle Pan Mode

When zoomed in on the video at a high magnification level, use pan mode to move the video around within the boundaries of the canvas.

Click the Pan icon to toggle pan mode on or off.
In pan mode, the cursor turns into a hand on the canvas. Click and drag the video on the canvas to view an area of the video not currently shown on the canvas.
While in pan mode, the canvas editing features are disabled.

Switch to Full Screen Mode

Expand the canvas to fit the entire screen.
All editing features are enabled while working in full screen mode.
Press the Esc key on the keyboard to exit full screen mode.

Detach or Attach the Preview Window

Click the Detach / Attach icon to detach the entire Preview Window from the Editor.
Click icon again to reattach the Preview Window to the Editor.

Working on the Canvas

The canvas is the working area where you arrange, rotate, resize, and order the appearance of the media that is on the timeline.

The option to change the background color of the canvas is located in the Editing Dimensions dialog box. The canvas is the background of your video. Therefore, the background color appears in the final video whenever it can be seen in the Preview Window.

Selected Media

When a clip, group, or other media is selected on the timeline, it is also selected on the canvas.

Move, Resize, or Rotate Media

To move media, grab and drag to new location on the canvas.
To size media, grab a handle and drag to desired size.
To rotate, grab center handle and turn.
Press and hold the ALT key while dragging the clip for 3-D rotation.

To Select More than One Media

Press <Shift> then click on media to select.
Selected media can be moved, rotated, and resized together.

Group Media

Group multiple media clips together to make moving, editing, and saving to the Library easier. Tracks within a group can be edited like any other track on the timeline.

To create a group: Press <Shift> then click on all media to select. Right-click one of the media selections and choose Group from the menu.
To ungroup: right-click the group and choose Ungroup from the menu.

To reorder media, right-click and choose the desired order placement from the menu. Media on the timeline is automatically updated on the timeline tracks to reflect the new order of the media.

Align Media with Snapping Guidelines

Snapping is available on the canvas to assist in aligning media. As media is moved on the canvas, the snapping guidelines appear.

Non Active Part of the Canvas

A non active area surrounds the active part of the canvas. Anything on the non active part of the canvas is not included in the video.

	The active part of the canvas. Everything on the active part of the canvas is included in the video.
	The outside edges of the canvas contain boundary guidelines to help you snap media to the edge of the canvas.
	The non active part of the canvas surrounds the active canvas. Anything on the non active part of the canvas is not included in the video. The non active part of the canvas is convenient for having media appear from off the canvas and into the video via an animation. Media on the non active part of the canvas can have animations added to them.

Canvas Keyboard Hotkeys

Arrow Keys	Moves the selected media on the canvas. When in pan mode, moves the view.
Scroll Mouse Wheel	Increase or decrease the magnification view level.
Shift Key	Hold the shift key while resizing media to maintain aspect ratio.
CTRL Key	Override maintaining the aspect ratio while resizing media.
Double-click	Double-click on any media to edit it or open its tab.
CTRL Key + Scroll Mouse Wheel	Adjust scale for the selected media.

Playback Controls

Use the playback controls to move throughout the video.

Option	Hotkey	Description
Previous Clip	CTRL+ALT+Left Arrow	Move the scrubber to the beginning of the previous clip on the timeline.
Step Backward	CTRL+ Left Arrow Hold the keys down to rewind.	Rewind the video frame-by-frame.
Play/Pause	Spacebar	Start the video from the playhead/scrubber position. Click again to pause.
Step Forward	CTRL+Right Arrow Hold the keys down to fast forward.	Fast forward the video frame-by-frame.
Next Clip	CTRL+ALT+Right Arrow	Move the scrubber to the beginning of the next clip on the timeline.
Scrubber		Indicates the playback progress on the timeline.
Time code		Shows the current position of the playhead within the duration of the timeline. The time code displays in Hours:Minutes:Seconds;Frames.