Table of Contents

Shapes

Gareth Casey Updated by Gareth Casey

Flashback Express 7 contains a selection of shapes and templates that you can add to your video projects. As well as a selection of basic Shapes, you can also pick from a library of Arrows, Frames, Callouts and Lower Thirds.

Adding Shapes

All available shapes can be found by going to the Elements tab of the Media panel and then selecting the type of Shape that you want to browse. You can then add a Shape to your project by dragging and dropping on to either the Canvas or Timeline.

If the Shape is dropped on to the Canvas, the Shape will appear in the exact spot on the Canvas where it was dropped and it will appear on top of any other objects that have already been added to the project. A Shape object will also appear on the Timeline beginning at the current frame with a default display duration of 10 seconds.

Or, if the Shape is dragged on to the Timeline, the Shape object will begin at whatever time it was dropped at and the Shape that appears on the Canvas will be positioned in the default position in the center of the Canvas.

Resizing and Cropping Shapes

Shapes can be resized by clicking and dragging the corners of the image. The proportions of the Shape will be locked when resizing in this way, so the height and width wil change together to maintain the same aspect ratio.

Alternatively, clicking and dragging on the edges of the image will change the size in just the single direction. This allows you to stretch and squash the Shape to change its appearance

Finally, instead of manually resizing a Shape, you can either set it to fit to or fill the entire Canvas by clicking the relevant button in the Style panel while the Shape is selected. When fitting to the Canvas, the Shape will be made as large as possible without cropping any of it, whereas filling the Canvas will make the Shapee large enough to cover the entire Canvas even if that means part of the Shape get crops off by the edge of the Canvas.

Rotating and Flipping Shapes

Shapes can be rotated by clicking and dragging the icon to rotate the Shape's image.

Or the Shape's image can be flipped horizontally or vertically by clicking the and buttons in the Style panel while the video is selected.

Changing Shape Duration

Shapes will have a default duration of 10 seconds on the Timeline but this can be adjusted by clicking and dragging either end of the timeline object to extend or shorten it.

Customizing Shape Style

When a Shape is selected, either on the Canvas or on the Timeline, it's style properties will appear in the Shape tab of the Style Panel allowing you to custom the following:

Position - Quickly set the vertical alignment of the Shape to the top, center or bottom of the Video Canvas and the horizontal alignment to the left, center or right of the Video Canvas

Transform - Flip the Shape either vertically or horizontally or resize it to fit for fill the Video Canvas.

Opacity - Make your Shape appear transparent by reducing the Opacity. The lower the opacity, the more that you will be able to see through the Shape.

Color - Change the color of the Shape by picking from a selection of preset colors or create your own color.

Applying Animations

When a Shape is selected, you can also add animations for how it will appear and disappear by changing from the Shape tab to the Animation tab in the Style panel. Animations include making the Shape fade, slide or zoom.

Separate animations can be applied for how the Shape will appear using the In option and how it will disappear using the Out option with the Duration slider at the bottom of the tab setting how long each animation will be applied for.

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