Prepare vertical videos and animate the camera

A piano is wider than a vertical video. For these formats, Medussa lets you choose which part of the scene goes into the file and move that framing during the piece.

All the controls are in Settings > Scene > Camera Frame, and you can also reach them from the camera button in the top bar or from the Camera section of the export panel.

Set up a fixed frame

1. In Output Format, choose 9:16, 3:4, or 1:1. Only these formats are framed from inside the visualizer; the horizontal ones use the whole scene and have nothing to move.
2. Turn on Show the camera frame on the visualizer.
3. Leave Follow the music automatically (beta) off to keep a fixed crop.
4. Drag the frame over the visualizer until it covers the area you want.
5. Play through several passages of the piece to check that the important notes stay inside.
6. Export a test section.

The shape of the visualizer on screen and the export crop are two different things. Lock the window to this shape keeps the chosen view's aspect ratio; the vertical or square crop still sits inside it.

Follow the musical activity automatically

1. Choose a vertical or square format.
2. Under Camera Movement, turn on Follow the music automatically (beta).
3. Choose which activity to favor when not everything fits: All activity, Activity on the left, or Activity on the right.
4. Adjust Frame Bias to shift the frame away from center: negative moves it left, positive moves it right.
5. Play the piece and watch how the frame moves.
6. Try passages with jumps in register and check that the movement works for your piece.

Following looks at where the notes are; it doesn't tell which hand plays each one, even if the piece has split hands. "All activity" doesn't mean following only the middle notes. The bias changes the side preference, not the height of the frame.

Turn following into editable points

1. Set up automatic following first.
2. Choose Convert Follow into Points: the camera track fills with that movement.
3. Turn on Use the camera track.
4. Click Edit to open its points in the editor.
5. Fix the moments that need different framing.
6. Play it back and save the session.

While the track is in use, its points control the movement and the automatic following settings no longer drive the framing. To go back to them, turn off Use the camera track: the points are kept.

Create a manual move

1. Under Camera Movement, choose Animate from Scratch: it places a first point at the current framing.
2. Turn on Use the camera track and click Edit.
3. In the editor's camera lane, select the camera tool with C.
4. Click to add a point, drag it to move it, and use the context menu to choose the curve between points.
5. Play from just before each transition and adjust the path.
6. Export a short test before the full video.

Clear Track deletes all the points and makes automatic following available again. Use it only when you want to discard them: to try the automatic movement, just stop using the track.

Work from the frame's toolbar

When the frame is visible over the visualizer, a small toolbar appears so you don't have to open Settings:

The toolbar's label shows which point you're on and how many there are.

Take the movement to another video editor

1. Prepare a camera track.
2. In the export panel, click Export Move….
3. Choose the output for After Effects, Final Cut, CSV, or JSON.
4. Save the movement.
5. Export a wide horizontal version of the visualization.
6. Use both files in your target editor to build the move there.

The movement file is not a video. How it's applied depends on the chosen format and the target program.

Continue with Exporting or go back to the contents.