How to crop a video and animate it

Adding video footage can bring a new dynamic to your vector animations. You can use found footage or stock videos to showcase products and services, or just add a personal touch to your videos.

When we added the video import feature to Linearity Move, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for designers, marketers, and animators like you.

One of these opportunities is the ability to crop the video frame into other shapes. Super handy for creating video collages or animated shapes.

Let’s go through the steps on how to do this with Linearity Move on an iPad.

Start a new project in Linearity Move

Open up Linearity Move and tap the + New Document card to start a new Project.

If you have downloaded Linearity Move yet, get started below:

You can also open an existing Move Project if you’re already working on something.

Import a video file

Switch from Animate Mode to Design Mode. This will let you work on your video cropping without creating animation keyframes.

Navigate to the Library tab in the Inspector on the right. Select the Photos tab and tap on the video you’d like to add to your Project.

If you don’t see your video in the Photos tab, tap on Manage and give Linearity Move access to the file you want to import.

Crop your video

There are two ways to crop your video into a different shape.

The first way is to use traditional image cropping. This lets you change the rectangle's dimensions and move the video inside the crop shape. The second method is to use image masking.

Crop your video using image cropping

Select the video footage you imported and go to the Style tab on the right. Tap on the Crop button in the Image section.

Move the blue borders until your video is cropped to the desired shape. You can also click and drag the video component inside the crop shape to change its placement.

Crop your video using image masking

Select the Shape Tool in the Toolbar on the left. We used the Circle Shape Tool to draw a circle for the video mask shape.

Long-press on the circle shape layer in the Layers panel on the left of the Scene Timeline, or simply select the circle to access the Quick Actions Toolbar beneath the shape. Select Use as Mask (or the Mask icon if accessing the Quick Actions Toolbar).

This will crop your video inside the circle shape.

Add video animations

Now, you can switch over to Animate Mode.

With your cropped video selected, add a Position Keyframe at the beginning of your Scene Timeline. This marks the start of your animation.

Then, move the Playhead to 2 seconds and move and resize your cropped video shape. Linearity Move will automatically add the relevant Keyframes in Animate Mode.

Go ahead and animate other parts of your animation, such as adding blurred text that sharpens into view.

We also animated our character to pop into the frame from below and wave at the viewer.

You can preview your animation anytime by tapping on the Play button above the Scene Timeline.

Export your animated video

Once you’re happy with your animation’s preview and you’ve tweaked your timing, you can go ahead and export it.

Head over to the main menu in the top left corner and select Export. A modal will open where you can optimize your video. Click Export to finish.

Here’s our finished animated video featuring cropped video footage:

Ramp up your marketing videos

In this quick tutorial you learned how to import video footage into a Linearity Move Project and crop it to a shape. You also learned how to animate your cropped video to create a more engaging marketing animation.

But there’s so much more to Linearity Move. You can create online ads, explainer videos, social media posts—explore more ways to animate with Linearity Move in our Academy.

If you haven’t signed up for Linearity Curve or Move yet, get started for free below. You can also check out our special pricing for education, pros, and teams.