7

Creating Transitions

Transitions Palette

Transitions Palette Menu

Dragging Transitions Between Clips

Changing Transition Duration

Changing the duration of a transition

by dragging the In Point and Out
Point
Changing the duration of a transition
by keying a Duration Value

Transition settings

To display and preview transition settings

in the Effect Controls window.

Objectives

To align transition by specifying an

option.
To simultaneously reposition both
the transition and the edit point.

At the end of this chapter students should be able to:

Understand the Transitions Palette Menu

Know the steps of viewing transition palette
Know the steps of creating and adjusting
transitions
Know the steps to preview the transitions

AUDIO VISUAL TECHNIQUE

INTRODUCTION
Transitions are how one scene switches to the next. Transitions are very important
everyone from the camera operator to the editor must have a good understanding of how
to make effective transitions. In this chapter, you will learn to add some transitions into
your montage.
7.1

TRANSITIONS PALETTE

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Transitions are available in the Video Transitions bin in the Effects window.
To view the Transitions, choose Window > Effects, expand the Video
Transitions bin.
All transitions are organized into folders. To view the contents of a transition
folder, double-click the folder or click the triangle icon to the left of the folder.
When the folder opens, the triangle icon points down.
Click the down pointing triangle icon to close the folder, or double-click the
folder again.

Creating Transitions

7.1.1

Transitions Palette Menu

The Transitions palette menu helps you locate transitions and keep them
organized.
To view the Transitions palette menu, click the triangle icon at the top right of
the palette.

Following is a description of the menu choices found in the Transitions palette

menu:

7.1.2

New Custom Bin

Choose this command to create a new folder to keep the transitions that you
are using. After you create the folder, you can click and drag transitions into
the folder.

7.1.3

Default Transition Duration

Choose this command to change the Video Transition Default Duration
settings. Example 15 frames, 30 frames or others.

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7.2

DRAGGING TRANSITIONS BETWEEN CLIPS

You can drag a transition to the edit point between two clips on the same track.
As you drag a transition to an edit point, you can control the transition alignment
interactively.
Now, we are going to use the montage.prproj file to add in the transitions.
1. Activate the Project window.
2. Click on the Effects tab.

7
3. Expand the Video Transitions folder by clicking on the small triangle icon
which is placed on the left of the Video Transitions folder.

Small
triangle
icon

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Creating Transitions

4. Identify the position where you want to add the transitions.

5. In this project, we will place the transition at 00:00:23:06.

The position which you want to add

the transition

6. Expand the Stretch folder to select a transition.

Selected transition

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7. Click and drag the Stretch transition.

8. Release the mouse when one of the following icons appears:
The End At Cut icon
clip.
The Center At Cut icon

, to align the transition to the end of the first

, to center the transition over the edit point.

The Start At Cut icon

, to align the transition to the beginning of the
second clip. Drop it at the position which you have selected.

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9. To preview the transition, play back the timeline or drag the current-time
indicator through the transition.

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Creating Transitions

7.3

CHANGING TRANSITION DURATION

You can edit a transition's duration in the Timeline window by:

dragging the end point of the transition using the In Point and Out Point
icon in the Effect Controls tab or in the Timeline window
changing the Duration value

When you change the Duration value, the duration expands outward from the
cut, corresponding to the Alignment option in the Effect Controls window:
If Alignment is set to Center at Cut or Custom Start, changing the
duration moves the transition's In point earlier in time and the Out point
later in time by equal amounts.
If Alignment is set to Start at Cut, changing the duration moves the
transition's Out point earlier in time.
If Alignment is set to End at Cut, changing the duration moves the
transition's In point earlier in time.

7.3.1

Changing the duration of a transition by dragging the In

Point and Out Point
1. Double-click the transition in the timeline view.
2. If you cant see the transition, drag the Zoom In/Out slider to the right.

Zoom In/Out slider

Transition

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3. When you double click the transition, the tab of Effect Controls appears in
the Monitor window.

4. Check(9) on the Show Actual Sources checkbox to view the actual video
clips in the Timeline.

Show Actual Sources option

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Creating Transitions

5. In the Effect Controls tab or the Timeline window, position the pointer over
the transition until the In Point icon
or the Out Point icon appears;
then drag.

The look of In Point icon in the

Effect Controls tab

The look of In Point icon in the

Timeline window

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6. Use the In Point icon and drag the transition to the left.
7. Now, the new Duration for the transition is 00:00:02:00, previously, it was
00:00:01:05.

New duration of transition

7.3.2

Changing the duration of a transition by keying a Duration

value
1. Besides using the In Point icon to control the duration, you can also specify
a value in the Duration field.
2. Click once on the value field and type in 00:00:01:17.

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Creating Transitions

7.4

TRANSITION SETTINGS

Many transitions have settings in common. The following list describes the
settings you'll find in many transitions:
Edge selectors
Changes the orientation or direction of the transition. Click an Edge selector
arrow on the transition's thumbnail. For example, the Barn Doors transition
can be oriented vertically or horizontally. A transition doesn't have Edge
selectors if it has one orientation or if orientation isn't applicable.
Start and End sliders
Changes the initial and final appearance of the transition. Hold down the
Shift key to move the start and end sliders together (for example, to set the
start and end size of the transition to 30%).
Show Actual Sources
Displays the starting and ending frames of the clips.
Border Width
Adjusts the width of the optional border on the transition. The default Border
is None. Some transitions do not have borders.
Border Color
Specifies the color of the transition's border. Use the color swatch or
eyedropper to choose the color.

Reverse
Plays the transition backward. For example, the Clock Wipe transition plays
counterclockwise.
Anti-Aliasing Quality
Adjusts the smoothness of the transition's edges.
Custom
Changes settings specific to the transition. Most transitions don't have
custom settings.

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Preview
button
Clip A
Edge
selector

Transition
Clip B

Preview

Start and End

sliders

Show Actual
Sources

Options

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Creating Transitions

7.5

TO DISPLAY AND PREVIEW TRANSITION SETTINGS IN THE

EFFECT CONTROLS WINDOW

Do any of the following:

To play back the transition in the Effect Controls tab, click the Preview
button. This doesn't affect the Monitor window.
To see any frame of the transition in the Preview view, drag the currenttime indicator in the timeline on the right side of the Effect Controls tab.
To display all of the settings, you may need to lengthen the Effect Controls
tab.
To make more horizontal room for transition options, click the Show/Hide
Timeline View button to hide the timeline in the Effect Controls tab.

Preview
button

Current-time
indicator

Show/Hide
Timeline
View button

To lengthen
the tab

7.5.1

To align a transition by specifying an option

1. In the Timeline window, double-click the transition to open the Effect Controls
window for the selected transition.
2. In the Effect Controls window, choose an option from the Alignment pop-up
menu.

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Alignment
pop-up menu

3. Choose Center at Cut alignment and observe the timeline view which is
displayed in the Effect Controls tab.

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Old alignment
New alignment

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Creating Transitions

7.5.2

To simultaneously reposition both the transition and the edit

point
1. Now, choose End at Cut alignment and observe the timeline view which is
displayed in the Effect Controls tab. If the timeline view is hidden, click the
Show/Hide Timeline View button .

End at Cut
alignment

2. In the timeline view of the Effect Controls tab, position the pointer at the edit
point in the B track below the transition until the rolling edit tool
appears;
then drag horizontally.

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7.6

SUMMARY

Transitions are available in the Video Transitions bin in the Effects window.
The Transitions palette keeps all of the transitions organized into folders and to view the contents of a
transition folder, double-click the folder or click the triangle icon to the left of the folder.
The menu choices found in the Transitions palette menu are: New Custom Bin and Default Transition
Duration
Transition can be added into clips by dragging the transition to the edit point between two clips, and
release the mouse when one of the following icons appears:

The End At Cut icon

The Center At Cut icon

The Start At Cut icon

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, to center the transition over the edit point.

, to align the transition to the beginning of the second clip.

You can edit a transition's duration in the Timeline window by:

, to align the transition to the end of the first clip.

dragging the end point of the transition using the In Point and Out Point icon in
the Effect Controls tab or in the Timeline window
changing the Duration value

Creating Transitions

7.7

EXCERCISE

1. Transitions are available in the _______________________ bin in the Effects window.

2. To view the Transitions, choose _________________________ .
3. The Transitions palette menu helps you locate ________________ and keep them
organized.
4. _____________________ adjusts the width of the optional border on the transition.
5. _______________________ the transition, and make sure that the timeline view is
displayed in the Effect Controls window.
6. Explain the functions of icons which appear when a transition is dragged and placed
between two clips.

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7. Explain the function of Start and End sliders in transition settings.

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