PNG resizing and rotation issues

[Mothdevil]

Hello! Newbie Shotcut user, coming in from Camtasia and (to some extent) Premiere… Trying to qualify Shotcut as a free alternative to employees without video editing access.

Anyhow… I’m trying to insert transparent PNG “callouts” overtop my video track.

I’ve created my callout graphic, in this case a PNG of a small purple arrow at 72dpi, and inserted it into my playlist. However; when I place it on my timeline, Shotcut rescales the arrow to fill the entire canvas.

Ok - So, I apply a size filter, and shrink it back down… no problem. But when I try to rotate it, the arrow becomes very blurry.

TLDR; Why is shotcut rescaling my inserted PNGs? Why does Shotcut seem unable to support more than one filter (size + rotation) at a time without the image losing all its resolution?

[sauron]

@Mothdevil

However; when I place it on my timeline, Shotcut rescales the arrow to fill the entire canvas.

You need to center the png on a transparent layer equal to the resolution you are working with ie 1920x1080. Then Shotcut will not resize the png.

@Mothdevil

So, I apply a size filter, and shrink it back down

Then you will not need to shrink it.

You can have multiple instances of most filters in Shotcut.

An example using a 500x200 png centered on a transparent layer Animated with the SP and the RS filters.

[Mothdevil]

Excellent! That makes perfect sense. I’ll rebuild the arrows as you suggest. Thank you!

[shotcut]

@Mothdevil

Why is shotcut rescaling my inserted PNGs?

Because most people importing images are working with digital photos and would like them scaled to the project resolution. It treats all still images like this. Another way to prevent the scaling is to apply the Size and Position filter and set its Size mode to Fit (fit inside the rectangle instead of filling it). This assumes your image resolution is less than the size rectangle, which defaults to project resolution.

[jonray]

Hi @Mothdevil, … an alternative for a png of an arrow is to use a font with arrows. One excellent example is “PizzaDude Pointers”. Google it, downlaod (free) and install it. Then go to Open Other>text.

This is what you get when you type in abcde… (you can then change font colour and size/rotate or animate with keyframes as required).