HELP
Stabilize shaky footage
Smooth handheld shake with the Stabilize effect, choose how much to correct, and know where it shows: in the exported master, not the preview.
Stabilize is free. This is the Mac and Windows app.
Add it
Select the clip, open the Effects tab in the Inspector and choose + Effect, then choose Stabilize in the shelf. The card is marked NOT IN PREVIEW.
Set it
- Smoothness is how long a window each correction looks across. A slow, deliberate pan longer than that window survives; shake inside it is smoothed out. At 0 nothing is stabilized.
- Motion model: Position corrects side-to-side and up-and-down drift; + Rotation also corrects roll.
- Rolling shutter straightens the lean a fast pan leaves on many cameras (it does not correct wobble). It is off until you raise it, and works only while Smoothness is above 0.
- Crop to fit is on to start with; turn it off to keep the whole frame.
Where it shows
The timeline plays the clip unstabilized. Stabilize is applied when the master is rendered on our servers, and the export window reminds you. An export of a Local project on your own computer leaves it out.
Stabilize follows one clip’s own motion, so it cannot go on an adjustment clip. ⌘Z undoes any change.