How to blur, spotlight or magnify part of a screen recording

Step by step

1. 01

   Add a mask

   Move the playhead to the part you want to treat, click Mask in the toolbar above the editor, and choose Add Spotlight Mask, Add Mosaic Mask or Add Magnifier Mask. You can also click or drag in the mask track on the timeline. A new mask starts at the playhead and lasts 3 seconds.

2. 02

   Frame the area

   Drag the mask’s box on the preview to move it, and drag the handles on its corners and edges to resize it. The box shows while the playhead is within the mask’s stretch of time.

3. 03

   Pixelate: Mosaic

   Choose Mosaic, set how coarse the blocks are with Mosaic Size, and shape the box with Rounded Corners. Whatever is inside turns into blocks and can’t be read in the exported video; the original footage saved in the project is left as it was.

4. 04

   Light up the point: Spotlight

   Choose Spotlight and everything outside the box is dimmed. Mask Opacity sets how dark, and Feather softens the edge. With several spotlights, Apply to All Masks gives them the same settings in one go.

5. 05

   Enlarge small text: Magnifier

   Choose Magnifier and what’s inside the box is enlarged in place; Zoom Factor goes from 1.35× to 3.0×. A new magnifier is round, and Border Color and Border Opacity set the look of its rim.

6. 06

   Set the timing

   Drag a mask clip along the timeline to move it, or drag either end to change when it starts and stops; the mask fades in as it begins and out as it ends. To set one aside for now, choose Disable (or press D) and it stays on the timeline; to get rid of it, click Delete Mask.

Masks move with the picture

A mask is attached to the screen recording: as the camera zooms in on a click or tilts in 3D, the mask moves with it and keeps covering the same spot. It applies to the screen recording only, so your webcam is never pixelated or dimmed.

If you cut part of the recording, masks line up again with what remains; a mask whose whole stretch is cut away is removed with it.

After pixelating, watch it once more

The same piece of sensitive information may appear more than once in a recording. When you choose a mosaic, the editor reminds you: Make sure the mask covers every part of the timeline where sensitive information appears. Watch the whole recording before you export and check every one is covered.