With shorter consumer attention spans, whip, stretch, zoom, and glitch transitions can add style and pace to social media videos. But they can also be jarring if used incorrectly.
To create smooth cuts that are almost unnoticeable, you need to have a good understanding of your tracks and their structure, key, and tempo. Then you can use beat matching and phrase matching, EQ, and filters to make your clips blend together beautifully.
Set up your controller
Creating seamless transitions requires a mix of technical skill and track knowledge. The ability to smoothly blend one song into another is a hallmark of a skilled DJ and helps keep the energy in the room high and the dance floor packed. This takes a combination of beatmatching and phrase matching, using EQ and filters effectively, and applying creative techniques. Mastering these skills takes time, but is well worth the effort in order to create a truly memorable experience for your audience.
First, make sure your controller is properly set up and charged for seamless transitions between tracks and real-time effects application. Then, open PlayStation Video and connect your controller to the console via a USB cable. Once the controller is paired, the player indicator and controller indicator will light up. Once the controller is plugged in, follow the on-screen instructions to set up and configure the buttons.
The next step is to check if the controller supports automatic mapping. You can do this by clicking on the “Automatic Mapping” button on the top right corner of the screen. If the controller is not automatically mapped, you can use the “Disable Mouse Pointer Source” or “Enable Multitap” settings to enable it. Alternatively, you can also choose to use XInput, which is a newer input source that replaces DInput. However, it only supports a small subset of older or cheap controllers and is not cross-platform.
Lastly, you need to make sure the clips you want to use are aligned side by side in the timeline and that the edges of each clip match. Once you have the clips in place, click on the Transition category button and select Seamless from the Gallery drop-down menu. Then, select a transition thumbnail and preview the result in the Player panel to ensure that it matches your targeted edges. Then, drag the selected thumbnail to the timeline between the two clips.
Place the clips
A choppy, jarring transition can distract your audience and disrupt their experience with your video. On the other hand, a seamless transition can draw them in and create an almost hypnotic effect. Creating smooth shifts requires several techniques, including matching speed and direction, adding motion blur, and using a combination of complementing transitions. Thankfully, there are many Adobe After Effects presets and DaVinci Resolve templates that you can use to help make the transition process easier.
Some transitions can be dragged and dropped directly onto clips, while others work best when they’re stacked on top of adjustment layers. Stacking helps keep the effects of a transition from overlapping with each other, and it can also help make your shots look more polished. Some transitions that can be stacked include the zoom and fade to black transitions. These are great for smoothing out shot shifts when the two shots match in theme but differ in color and subject. Other options for enhancing shot shifts include motion blur and rotating shots.
To create a seamless transition, add the two clips to your Timeline side by side. Select the edge of the clip that you want to align with the next shot’s edge in the Library panel and then click a Seamless Transition in the Gallery menu. Drag the thumbnail of the transition into the Timeline to place it between the two clips. Then, click the Transition Options button to customize the transition’s settings.
The Transition Options dialog box includes the following settings:
Duration: Sets the overall length of time for the transition. Soft Edge: Adjusts the amount of softness applied to the transition’s edge. Position: Lets you align the left-right (x-axis) position of each clip. Horizontal Position: Lets you align the top-bottom (y-axis) position of each clip. Scale: Allows you to adjust the size of your clips, which can be useful for maximizing the alignment of areas that match in each clip.
Depending on the transition you choose, the next step is to add the desired effects. Once you have the desired effects added, it’s time to adjust their timing and keyframes. While keyframing can be a bit complicated, the more you practice, the closer you will get to having truly seamless transitions.
Set the transitions
Creating an interactive transition requires you to implement an animator object that conforms to the UIViewControllerAnimatedTransitioning protocol. This object is responsible for creating the animations that move a view controller’s views on or off screen in a fixed amount of time during the transition. Your animator object should always be configured to run your animations within a container view that is provided by the UITransitionContext object. You can get this information by calling the viewControllerForKey: and viewForKey: methods on the UITransitionContext object to retrieve the view controllers that are participating in the transition as well as the views of those view controllers.
Once you have all the necessary information, it’s time to set up your custom transitions. You need to specify the type of transition that you want (e.g., fade in) as well as the duration of that transition. The default duration is 2 seconds, but you can change this to whatever value you want by selecting the corresponding option from the Duration menu.
You should also define the object that will be the transition coordinator, which tracks any changes to the view hierarchy during a transition. For example, a transition can be initiated by presenting or dismissing a view controller or by changing the frame of one of those view controllers. The transition coordinator will track those changes and animate any required views as needed.
Finally, you need to define a method on the transition coordinator that will be called when the transition is completed. This method should return a boolean that indicates whether the transition was successfully completed or not. This is important because it lets the system know that your custom transition was complete and that you are ready to handle any cleanup that might be required.
Once you have all of the custom transitions in place, you can begin to create your own seamless transitions by using a combination of techniques. One important technique is beatmatching, which involves aligning the beats of two music tracks to make them match as they transition from one clip to another. Another is phrase matching, which involves ensuring that the incoming track starts at the proper point in its musical phrase to match the outgoing track’s phrase.
Save your work
Seamless transitions are a hallmark of a skilled DJ, helping to create an uninterrupted flow that keeps the energy high and the dance floor packed. Mastering seamless transitions requires a combination of technical skill, track knowledge, and creativity. By beatmatching and phrase matching effectively, utilizing EQ and filters, and incorporating creative techniques, you can create seamless transitions that take your sets to the next level.
There are many different types of seamless transitions, including zoom, stretch, and glitch. These transitions use motion-based effects to blur the change from one shot to another, creating a smooth and subtle cut. These transitions are popular for social media videos, as they provide a fast and engaging way to capture viewer attention.
Aside from reducing the number of hard cuts in your video, seamless transitions can also add style and emotion to your clips. With short consumer attention spans, dynamic transitions can draw viewers into your content and increase engagement. This can be particularly useful for e-commerce videos, as they can help to increase sales.
To create a seamless transition, select two clips in the timeline and position them side by side. Choose a transition from the Library that matches the edges of the clips (for example, one with a sky-based effect would work well with a clip with a similar sky). In the Timeline, drag the transition to the point between the two clips. To edit the transition, adjust its properties in the Effects Control panel (such as the direction of movement, edge softness, and duration). You can also create a custom keyframe by clicking and dragging the nodes in the Effects Control panel to modify the look of the transition.
