On Fri, 28 Dec 2001 10:54:18 -0500, C2001 wrote:

>> Anybody know of an app that will do this? Ulead Video Editor applies the
>> crop and leaves the aspect ratio the same, with black borders, in previews;
>> but distorts the cropped image to full (640x480) when it creates a file
>> (tried many formats, codecs). I suppose applying a black band to the top and
>> bottom of the screen would do the same thing. Anyone tried this, got any
>> ideas? Thanks.

>You need software with a 'mask' tool. Are you certain Ulead doesn't
>have this?
>
>I work with Avid Xpress and probably use masking as much as any other
>tool. It's often possible to improve a shot's or sequences' composition
>with masking, or to focus on a particular area of the image.

The "clip" filter in Premiere does this also - and it is also
useful for cleaning up image edges that will show
(I often recenter images, or introduce subtle pans in NLE,
which can expose edges that can be seen on computer screens,
if not on TVs...).