Transitions

Transitions are a special type of effect that is used to string two layers together, linearly. When working with transitions you are usually working with two pieces of footage, the initial footage (or "A") and the footage to transition into (or "B").

Transitions are common in almost all editors and provide a crucial element to editing all types of film.

Usage

In Vegas

Simply drag two pieces of footage on top of each other to create a transition. By default, this is a "fade"; it can be changed by dragging a new transition overtop (overwriting the old one).

In Premiere

Footage cannot be overlapped like in Vegas; one will just over-write the other. Thus, you have to line up the footage how you want them to look, then add the transition to "glue" them together. If you drag a piece of footage away from the other, the transition will disappear.

In After Effects

Transitions exist in After Effects in concept only. As AE is a video compositor rather than an editor, footage is meant to only be edited in one "composition" at a time. Therefore transitions work a bit differently:

• They are functionally the same as any other effect. Transitions don't "tie" pieces of footage together like in other editors.
• The "completion" of a transition is (usually) completely dependent on a dedicated keyframe. While this means no transitions will move automatically, it also means you get much more control how they play out.

In Windows Movie Maker

Transitions are especially important in WMM as they are the only way to work with picture-in-picture (PIP) within the software. While some effects allow for Replication, all versions of WMM only have one video layer in their timeline making PIP otherwise impossible. As a result many "multi-layer" effects in other software (like chroma keys, special crops, etc.) in more sophisticated software appear as transitions within WMM.

Types of Transitions

Wipes

A wipe is usually where one piece of footage fades into another, often non-linearly or in a specific shape. For example, the "star wipe" transition creates an outline of a star made of the new footage, which slowly fills in the screen.

Push

A push "pushes" one frame away into the next.

Slide

A slide is similar to a push, but the original footage does not move. The new footage simply slides overtop.

Other

NewBlueFX has a wide variety of transitions, many of which have seen popular use throughout the years.