Shape Mask across entire timeline?

Hey Luis,

Thanks so much getting back!

I've just duplicated the project to demonstrate what I'm trying to do.

This first screenshot shows the visible square area in which all clips need to be position/cropped to. I've done this manually in this first screenshot by adjusting/cropping the clip.

There are several dozen clips which will need to occupy this exact same area, all are different scales and ratios. Instead of manually adjusting each clip by eye I am trying to create a mask that will run throughout the entire timeline and which any clip can be dropped behind.

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Hey Luis, Thank you so much for all of your help! Massively appreciate it!

You've got it spot on and deactivating the crop does resolve the issue in it's simplest way. However, to demonstrate what is happening I have removed any unnecessary elements from the timeline.

There will be a static background image layer (1. Currently Black), another Gray Scale layer (2.) which acts as an extended border for the moving clips and finally a different set of clips (3.) - however these are all the same size and ratio so far easier to treat as one.

Although deactivating the crop does cut the desired hole in the correct area it then covers the entire screen which cannot work.

Is there a work around that you know of or even a plugin that could help?

Thanks so much again for all of your time!

This is so helpful, thank you so much for jumping in. Changing all clips (and Gray Scale layers) to "Behind" certainly has the mask working perfectly but the other layers aren't showing despite flipping the layer order.

Here's a screen shot with all layers set to Normal -

And here's everything set to Behind -

Really appreciate your time. Any help you're able to give from here would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hey Fox, Thanks so much for getting back - really useful.

In the example you've given is the Shape Mask effect placed on the clip itself? It looks like it is.

I'm trying to have a Mask run throughout the entire timeline that will allow a series of clips to be positioned and sized exactly the same. I have dozens of clips which are different sizes and ratios which will accompany another series of clips (Number 3 in the screenshot below).

The problem is Number 3, 2 & 1 all still need to be viewed. I just a uniform, visible square (where the hands are in the screenshot) which any size clip can be placed.

I've found that the Shape Mask position & Mask Size varies dependant on the size and ratio of the clip meaning this doesn't solve the issue.

Any plugins that might help with this?

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I have attempted to do this using an inverted Shape Mask on a Grey Scale layer but as you can see - only the edge of the intended square is showing?