Motion and framing
Move, resize, crop and mask a clip in the frame, change how fast it plays, and animate any of it over time.
Select a clip and the inspector at the top right shows settings for that one clip. The 'Video' tab controls where the picture sits, which part of it shows, and how it plays. Nothing here changes your original file.
Position, scale and crop
| Control | What it does | Animates |
|---|---|---|
| 'Frame' | How the clip fits the frame: 'Fit', 'Fill', 'Stretch', 'Original' or 'Custom' | No |
| 'Position' | Slides the picture left, right, up or down | Yes |
| 'Scale' | Makes it bigger or smaller | Yes |
| 'Rotation' | Turns it | Yes |
| 'Opacity' | Makes it see-through, so the lane below shows through | Yes |
| 'Crop' | Cuts away the edges, freely or to a shape such as 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 | Yes |
| 'Flip' | Mirrors it across ('H') or top to bottom ('V') | No |
| 'Blend mode' | How this clip mixes with the lane below | No |
'Frame' is also on the clip's right-click menu, as 'Fit to frame', 'Fill frame', 'Stretch to frame' and 'Original size'. Use 'Fill' when a clip's shape differs from the project's and you want no bars.
There is a blend mode for most compositing jobs. 'Multiply' and 'Darken' keep the dark parts, 'Screen' and 'Lighten' keep the bright parts, and 'Overlay' and 'Soft light' add contrast.
Opacity and blend mode are what you use to lay one clip over another rather than cut between them.
Masks
A mask limits a clip to one area of the picture, so the lane below shows everywhere else. Use one to cut a window into a shot, or to change one part of the frame.
- Select the clip
- In the 'Video' tab, click '+' beside 'Masks'. You can also right-click the clip and choose 'Add mask', or press and hold 'Mask tools' in the tool strip.
- Pick a shape
- 'Rectangle' and 'Ellipse' draw a shape you can move and resize
- 'Pen' draws a shape point by point
- 'Track subject' finds a subject and draws a mask that follows it. It uses AI and shows its credit cost before you start. See Track subject.
- 'Matte from clip' opens your assets so you can pick a video to use as the mask
While you draw, a 'Masks' bar sits over the preview with the shapes and modes. Click 'Done' when the mask is right.
To draw it, drag across the picture in the preview. Each mask then gets a card in the 'Masks' section:
- The mode button ('Mode: Add') sets how it combines with the clip's other masks: 'Add', 'Subtract', 'Intersect' or 'Difference'
- 'Invert' keeps the outside of the shape instead of the inside, and 'Hide mask' turns it off for a moment
- 'Opacity' sets how strongly it cuts, 'Feather' softens the edge, 'Expansion' grows or shrinks the shape
- 'AI tracking' finds the subject inside a drawn mask and moves the mask to follow it, from the playhead frame on. Type what to track in 'What to track', and choose whether it follows 'Position' or 'Position + Scale'. It shows its credit cost before it runs. See Make a shape follow a subject.
A clip can hold up to 16 masks. Drawing a shape yourself is free.
Keyframes
A keyframe records a value at a moment in time. Set two, and Compose fills in the change between them.
- Move the playhead to where the move should start
- Set the value you want, then click the diamond next to it
- Move the playhead to where the move should end
- Change the value again
That is all a slow zoom is: scale 100% at the start, 110% at the end. The same trick gives a title that drifts across the frame, or a clip that fades up.
Position, Scale, Rotation, Opacity and Crop all have the diamond, and so do the settings on the 'Effects' and 'Color' tabs.
How a move eases in and out is set per keyframe. 'Hold' jumps to the value, 'Linear' moves at a constant rate, 'Smooth' slows at each end, which is what most camera moves want, and 'Bezier' lets you shape the curve yourself. 'Curve editor', at the foot of the 'Video' tab, opens 'Keyframe curves', where you see and shape how each keyframed value changes over time.
Speed
Under 'Playback', 'Speed' sets how fast the clip runs. Above 1.00x is faster and shorter, below is slower and longer.
For a quick change, the 'Speed' tool (E) in the tool strip does the same thing by dragging a clip's edge. See Cut and arrange.
Using Copilot
Setting the same move on a run of clips is slow by hand. Try 'add a slow push in to every clip', 'scale these up ten percent', or 'fade this one in over half a second'.
Effects such as blur, sharpen, film grain, glow, vignette and green-screen keying are on the clip's 'Effects' tab. See Effects.
Tips
- Two keyframes make most moves. Add a third only if the motion changes direction.
- Scale above 100% on a clip smaller than your project resolution will look soft. Ask Copilot to upscale it first.
- Clicking a video clip also selects its sound. Press Shift + Cmd + L to unlink them and move one without the other.
That's how you frame and animate a clip in Compose on Morphic. Use it when a shot is right but sits wrong in the frame.
If you have any trouble or have any questions, feel free to reach out. We're happy to help. Write to us at support@morphic.com.