Configuring the Canvas

Before you start working on a project, it’s a good idea to configure your canvas—determine the frame size of your published project, pick a background color, etc.

Click the Canvas button to view and configure your canvas properties (Figure 22).

Figure 22. Empty Canvas Pane Without Any Elements

When canvas controls are displayed, you can’t use the canvas. Click the button again to hide the controls. Click the green check mark to save your settings and close the canvas control bar.

Table 5. Canvas Properties

Control	Description
Canvas (Width and Height)	Enter the width and height values on the Canvas X and Y fields to change the video frame size. (When canvas controls are hidden, you can also click and drag any corner of the rectangle to change its size.) The size cannot be set to a value larger than the original recording.
Background Color	Click the Background Color button (to the right of the Canvas height and width fields) to choose the background color of the canvas (default: black.) If your visual elements don’t obscure the background, it displays as part of the video.
Snap to Front Window	Check to highlight a foreground window in your recording when you want to crop the area outside of that window. This helps you to crop the canvas around the foreground window. When you start your recording, no window is selected. So during your recording you need to click on the window you want to highlight. After the recording, you need to move the scrubber to where you clicked to highlight. Now you can click on the canvas button, move the sides and they will snap to your highlighted (focused) window.
Preset	select one of four canvas sizes, or select Custom which allows you to enter size values manually.
Reset | Cancel | Apply	Use these buttons to: reset the settings to the default values (arrow icon), cancel changes you’ve made (x icon), or apply the changes you’ve made, before hiding these controls (check icon).