What's a good free Windows video editor that crops out data in the MP4 video frame?

He who is harry newton said on Thu, 28 Sep 2017 13:40:55 +0000 (UTC):

What's a good free Windows video editor that crops out data in the MP4
video frame?

I dropped this project last week because all the tutorials sucked but I
finally picked the task up again today when I found a good Shotcut
tutorial.

Following only that one tutorial, I easily figured out how to do everything
I needed in Shotcut opensource Windows/Linux/Mac/etc. freeware, which turns
out to be a great program, once you get the hang of it - to obscure any
number of disjoint sections of any given video.

If you're interested in using Shotcut freeware on your platform, then read
on - otherwise the information below will not likely be useful to you.

I think one problem learning how to use Shotcut is that everyone customizes
their interface such that it's not the default that a new user sees, and,
that Shotcut has a ton of command items that don't show up explicitly on
the text pulldown menu bars.

Those two problems above show up in spaces in almost all the Shotcut
tutorial videos, most of which seem to be made by Shotcut experts who have
long since forgotten that what's obvious to them isn't obvious to a noob.

So far, this is the *only* video I've found yet that doesn't make the
mistake of assuming you already know how to use the entire Shotcut GUI.
https://youtu.be/sphcVAUWM4Q
Where the video shows how to add text to desired sections at time 430:
https://youtu.be/sphcVAUWM4Q?t=430

But even that video above makes a few mistakes that I tried to rectify
below for other noobs to leverage in my footsteps.
a. I reset the shotcut GUI to the defaults (so we all start the same)
b. I let people know the version that I tested (which can matter)

With those caveats, here's a quick tutorial for using Shotcut freeware on
any platform to obscure sections of the video which might include faces or
street signs or house addresses (or whatever) in certain sections of a
video.

Since the video that I followed used 3 components, I will suggest those
three components, but all you really need is a single short test video.

Here's the tutorial written sufficiently detailed for you to reproduce!

Collect any 3 short test files (2 videos with or without audio & 1 audio):
video1.mkv (the file format is up to you)
video2.mp4 (optional)
audio.mp3 (optional)

Start Shotcut & let people know the tested version (where mine was)...
Help About Shotcut 17.09.04 OK

Reset Shotcut to the default layout for consistency in using this tutorial:
View Restore Default Layout (almost all tutorials omit this step)

You will need a timeline so now add the GUI for the timeline at the bottom:
View Timeline (almost all videos assume this step)

This next step is not intuitive - and most tutorials simply gloss over this
step - but without this simple step, you're doomed.

You must add a "blank" V1 video track to the timeline:
{Leftmost Timeline Hamburger} Add Video Track
(Or just press the "Control + Y" keystroke to add a blank video track.)

Optionally, add another blank V2 video track to the timeline:
{Leftmost Timeline Hamburger} Add Video Track

Optionally add a blank A1 audio track to the timeline:
{Leftmost Timeline Hamburger} Add Audio Track
(Or just press the "Control + U" keystroke to add a blank audio track.)

If desired, resize the windows so all blank timeline tracks are visible:
(Note that Control+Z is the undo keystroke (you'll use this a lot!).)

This next step is critical, and also very often glossed over in tutorials!

Open the desired first video file and drag it into the V1 timeline:
File Open File filename.mp4
Drag it to the V1 time point you want this first video to start playing.

Open the desired second video file and drag it into the V2 timeline:
File Open File filename.mkv
Drag it to the V2 time point you want this second video to start playing.

Open the desired audio track and drag it into the A1 timeline:
File Open File filename.mp3
Drag it to the A1 time point you want this second video to start playing.

Test your newly assembled video by pressing the PLAY button above the
timeline.
(Get used to the video playing features by clicking about.)

Select a section of the V1 track to cut from the video (leaving zero space)
In the timeline, select the desired video track V1
Place the timeline vertical bar at the beginning of what you want to cut
out
Press the "Split at Playhead (S)" icon in the timeline toolbar
Move the timeline vertical bar to the end of the section you want to cut
out
Press the "Split at Playhead (S)" icon in the timeline toolbar

Once the section is selected, you have three main options for "removal":
Pressing the timeline "minus" icon will "ripple delete" leaving no space
Pressing the timeline "scissor" icon will copy to clipboard & "ripple
delete"
Pressing the timeline "caret" icon will "lift" the section, leaving a
space

Now add text to a selected section of the video as shown in this video:
https://youtu.be/sphcVAUWM4Q?t=430

Define the section of the timeline that you want to add the overlay text:
In the timeline, select the desired video track V1
Place the timeline vertical bar at the beginning of what you want to text
Press the "Split at Playhead (S)" icon in the timeline toolbar
Move the timeline vertical bar to the end of the section you want to text
Press the "Split at Playhead (S)" icon in the timeline toolbar
Then click on that portion of the video to "select" it for operating on

Add a black box over the desired redaction area:
View Filters Add a Filter Show Video Filters Text
NOTE: Add a Filter is the plus symbol.
NOTE: Show Video Filters is the TV symbol.
The default text box will be the entire video screen.
Drag the textbox center and/or corners over the area to be redacted
Click the "Background" box to set the background color to black (or
whatever)
Click the "Font" box to set the font color to the same color as the
background

Save the resulting file to any desired video format:
File Export Video Export File (dig around for the button) filename.mp4

This will redact that selected area during the selected section of the
video, where my next hurdle will be to find a no-registration video-upload
web site.

Does anyone know of a no-registration video (i.e., large file) upload site?