Transition Confusion

[Jack Knapp]

Some transitions do not appear to be working in the preview monitor. For example, I insert the Dip to Black and it works perfect everytime. But if I insert Cross Dissolve there are times where the transition seems to have no effect. I have the same problem with the Wipe and Iris transitions.

I do however have in this Project cases where the Cross Dissolve is working as expected so I must be missing something in the cases where it is not working correctly.

I am using Premier Elements 3. All transitions are placed where I have inserted a Split Clip into the timeline.

I would really appreciate any help as this is getting very frustrating. Thanks

[ATR]

I can supply more basic information on transitions, but, first, have you attempted to edit your transitions on the Timeline when these problems occur?

Expand Timeline so that you can better see what is going on.
Double Click Transition
Look over to Properties Panel to Right
You should then see the editing options for that Transition, such as:
Duration
Alignment: Center at Cut, Start at Cut, End at Cut
Start/End Points
etc.
Premiere Elements 3 should have some basic details in its Help.

Please let me know if that helped so we can judge where we go from here.

ATR

[Chuck Engels]

If you simply cut a clip and then insert a cross dissolve you will not notice anything. The dissolve goes between two identical clips that way, it is dissolving to itself an identical copy. You need to cut some frames to get the cross dissolve to work so the two clips are different enough for the dissolve to display a change in images.

[Jack Knapp]

Chuck,

You may have hit on the problem. When I captured the original video individual scenes could not be detected. So my Split Cuts were made where I detected a change in action. I just tested by removing more frames and in some, but not all cases, it is now working.

What now appears to be happening is frames I cut out are reappearing depending on which transition effect I select. This is very strange to me. If I remove the transition the scene change looks good - add a transition (like Paint Splatter) and then the removed scenes appear. Enlarge the transition then even more of the cut out scene appears.

Could there be something to do with hidden frames that are used by certain transitions?

I really apprecaite your help.

[ATR]

Jack Knapp,

I have been following along your discussion with CE.

I have a question. In the additional details that you supplied to him, you say that in capture the video was not split into scenes. I am assuming that you had Scene Detect off or perhaps you were dealing with HD video and not using a Scene Detect by Content feature. But, you go on to say that your "Split Cuts" were made where you detected a change in action. I am assuming that you did that yourself and did not employ a Scene Detect by Content feature. How and where did you do this? Did you trim the video into clips in Premiere Elements using the In/Out points or did you place the video on the Timeline and click on the Split Clip icon for a cut point of the video on the Timeline?

It could be subject for discussion, but my understanding is that, if you used the trimming with IN/Out points, the transition would use the trimmed frames (were not really deleted in the trimming process); whereas, if you just cut the clip and there were no trimmed frames, the transition would repeat frames on either side of the cut.

Did you get a chance to check out the Premiere Elements Help? Besides the transitions editing details, there should be some helpful graphics there to demonstrate these points.

I will continue to follow your discussions and contribute if and when necessary.

ATR

[Chuck Engels]

All transitions use cut frames, either that or Premiere Elements will duplicate enough frames for the transition. If you have a 2 second transition it will use 1 second (or 30 frames NTSC) for the left side and another 30 frames for the right side. If no frames have been cut from either side it will simply duplicate the first frame over and over again, that is when you see no transition.

If you cut 30 frames from each clip Premiere elements will still use those trimmed frames for the transition, they are not really gone. Now if you trim off 50 frames it will still only use the 30 frames it needs for the transition.

I have done multiple detailed video tutorials on transitions for Muvipix.