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Choose Output Format

You can skip this step if you want the format of your output to be the same as your input. However, to create output media that is widely viewable on many platforms, to include phones and television, you should set your format accordingly.

1. On the main timeline, use the Settings pulldown (about the 7th pulldown from the left side top) and click on Format which is the first option in that list.
2. A Set Format menu will appear that shows what the current format is for your loaded media in an Audio and a Video tab. In the United States, the Video Frame rate is usually expected to be 29.970 and usually the Color model is only changed if you have a personal preference.
3. The Canvas size is probably the only thing you will want to change here in order to get to the most commonly viewable settings. On the right hand side of the Width parameter is a down arrow. Left click the down arrow to see your options.
4. Highlight 1280×720 HD for a good common option.
5. Click OK to have this option take effect. When you do, the Compositor window may change to fit this option and may look wrong sized.

Figure A.3: Format menu to change settings

1. If the video now looks too small or too large in the Compositor, you will want to autoscale it to look correct when the new media is created. To do this, mouse over to the Resources window in the lower right hand corner and under the word Visibility, highlight Video Effects to see some plugins.
2. Mouse over the Auto Scale icon, left click to highlight the words underneath the icon, and mouse drag the icon to the timeline video track. When you see a white colored outline show on that track, drop the Auto Scale icon there and you will see that the video may now automatically scale to a new value. Click on the magnifying glass icon on the brown colored line beneath the main timeline video which opens a new window. In that window, again use the down arrow to choose 1280×720 HD, then dismiss this window.
3. If not needed, to remove the Auto Scale plugin, right mouse on the brown line and choose Detach.

Figure A.4: Effect blue bar with magnifier