Transitions
The Transition effect, its keyed progress channel, and the thirty reveal styles across seven categories.
Reference
- Panel
- Effect Controls
- Section
- Add effect ▸ Transitions
The Transitions family holds 1 effect. A Transition reveals or conceals its layer over time, driven by a single keyframed Progress channel that runs from 0 to 1. Choose one of 30 styles to set the pattern of the reveal.
Transition
A Transition acts on the layer it is applied to, revealing whatever is composited below that layer as it plays. It is not applied between two clips — put the outgoing content on a lower layer and the incoming content on the layer carrying the Transition.
The reveal pattern. The menu groups all thirty styles into seven categories and shows the current style's name above its category. See the catalogue below.
How far the reveal has played. 0 is the start of the transition and 1 is fully revealed. This is the channel that is keyframed to play the transition — the slider appears only while the Transition is not animated.
The softness of the reveal edge. It shapes the reveal styles; the resample styles do not use it, and Checkerboard ignores it.
At Progress 0 the layer is fully hidden and at Progress 1 it is fully shown, exactly — the reveal styles compensate for Feather so that a feathered edge never leaves a trace of the layer visible at 0 or a notch missing at 1.
Animating a transition
Adding a Transition animates it immediately. Two Progress keyframes are laid from the playhead: 0 at the start and 1 at the end, over a default duration of roughly six tenths of a second — at least 4 frames, and never past the end of the timeline. The timeline opens and the effect's node expands so the new keys are visible.
While a Transition is animated, its card shows the duration in frames and replaces the Progress slider with these controls:
The length of the transition. Changing it re-lays both Progress keys from the same start frame, keeping the direction.
Swaps the two keys, so Progress runs from 1 down to 0 and the layer transitions out rather than in.
If every Progress keyframe is removed, the card returns to showing the Progress slider along with an Animate this transition button, which lays a fresh pair of keys from the playhead.
Re-animating replaces the keys
Setting the duration, toggling Reverse, or pressing Animate this transition removes every existing Progress keyframe and writes exactly two new ones. Custom Progress keys you have placed by hand are discarded. To retime a transition without losing shaping, drag the Progress keys on the Transition row in the timeline instead.
Scrub the timeline to preview the transition. Because Progress is an ordinary channel, its keys can be eased in the Graph editor like any other.
Effects on a group cannot generally be keyframed from the timeline; Animate this transition is the exception, and it works when the target is a group.
How the styles work
The thirty styles divide into two mechanical classes, which explains what each reveals.
Reveal styles — every style in the Fade, Wipe, and Shape categories — build a mask and apply it to the layer's own alpha. They reveal whatever sits below the layer in the composite, and they respond to Feather.
Resample styles — the Slide, Zoom, Spin, and Glitch categories — move, scale, spin, or scramble the layer's pixels instead. Where a resample style samples beyond the frame, the layer below shows through rather than the edge pixel smearing outward.
The thirty styles
The picker groups styles into seven categories. Indices are stable, so a saved shot keeps the style it was given.
Fade
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Fade / Dissolve | A uniform fade of the layer's alpha. |
| Pixel Dissolve | A random dissolve on a 48×48 grid of cells, each crossing at its own threshold. |
| Luma Fade | Brighter pixels reveal first, darker pixels last. |
Wipe
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Wipe Right | A hard edge travelling from left to right. |
| Wipe Left | A hard edge travelling from right to left. |
| Wipe Down | A hard edge travelling from top to bottom. |
| Wipe Up | A hard edge travelling from bottom to top. |
| Blinds | Eight horizontal blinds opening together. |
| Clock Wipe | A sweep around the frame centre by angle. |
| Wipe Diagonal | A hard edge travelling corner to corner. |
| Barn Doors | Two edges opening outward from the vertical centre. |
| Checkerboard | An eight-by-eight checker; the two parities cross in two overlapping halves of the progress. Ignores Feather. |
| Blinds Vertical | Eight vertical blinds opening together. |
Shape
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Iris Open | A circle growing from the frame centre until it covers the corners. |
| Iris Close | A circle shrinking toward the frame centre. |
| Diamond Iris | A diamond growing from the frame centre. |
| Star Iris | A six-pointed star growing from the frame centre. |
Slide
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Push Left | The layer slides in from the right. |
| Push Right | The layer slides in from the left. |
| Push Up | The layer slides in from the bottom. |
| Push Down | The layer slides in from the top. |
| Whip Pan | A horizontal slide with a directional blur that peaks halfway through and settles at the end. |
| Doorway | Two halves of the layer part at the start and meet in the middle at the end. |
Zoom
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Zoom In (Punch) | The layer starts at double scale and settles to its true size, fading in as it goes. |
| Zoom Out | The layer starts small and grows to its true size, fading in as it goes. |
| Zoom Blur | A zoom with a six-tap streak that resolves to a clean image at the end. |
Spin
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Spin | Exactly one full rotation about the frame centre, fading in as it settles. |
Glitch
| Style | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Glitch | An RGB channel split with block-row jitter, both peaking mid-transition and resolving at each end. |
| Pixelize | The layer pixelates up to coarse blocks at the midpoint and resolves back down. |
| Ripple Warp | A radial sine warp radiating from the centre, settling as the transition completes. |