Closing Circle Transition

gdog

There's an "opening" circle shape transition, but is there a "closing" circle transition? And can I position the closing spot?

[deleted]

In short no to both questions. So put in a suggestion to NCH. For a circle it may not be possible since it has to start outside the frame.

However, it is possible to create a closing rectangular transition as follows......

Proceed something like this

Place Clip 1 on Track 2
Place Clip 2 on Track 1
Overlap the clips by dragging Clip 2 to the left a suitable distance under Clip 1
Click the FX for Clip1
Select the Crop. effect This places a rectangle around the preview frame with corner handles
Move the Effects red cursor line to the right. Monitor the movement with the timeline red cursor line as they move together.
Stop when the timeline cursor reached the start of Clip 2
Click the Keyframe tab to set the crop position. (There actually won't be any cropping at this point.)
Slide the Effects red cursor line to the right.
Stop when you have reached the end of Clip 1
Now reduce the size of the crop rectangle to as small as possible keeping it central (or reducing it so it finishes on any desired position) This has to be done by guesswork.:unsure:
Click the keyframe tab again to set a second keyframe.

The appearance of the various elements should now appear something like this.......

Playing the sequence should show a rectangle starting at the outside of the first clip and gradually reducing in size to reveal clip 2.

I have suggested to NCH in the past that it would be quite useful to have other shapes for crop and mask that included ovals and circles, and a way of automatically centering the outline if required. but it's never come about yet.

Nat

[deleted]

Yes..It is a bit phaffy. However it can be made just a little easir regarding centering the mask.

Clip 2 on Track 2
Clip 1 on Track1
Place the polygon mask on Clip 2 and drag the corners out to cover the image.
Mask inside
Add Transparency of 100%
Add Scale effect
Click keyframe for start of the clip
Slide cursor to end of the clip (or end of Clip1)
Add Scale effect
In the preview scale control, drag the handle that is diagonally opposite the black dot back to the dot. This shrinks the mask down to zero and keeps it in the centre.
Create keyframe 2

This is bit quicker than trying to find the screen centre by trial and error.

A set of predefined mask shapes would be very useful for this process

Nat

[deleted]

Further to this topic. You can make a circular mask.

This has worked entirely successfully.......

Create a circular mask......

For this you need a 16:9 image of a circle. (or an image with the same AR of your clip.) I used Windows DRAW to do this and loaded it to VP... The image was created as a 1920 x 1080 jpg.
Next step is to create a mask around this shape......
Click FX and then Add Effect Mask
.Drag the mask outline regularly out to the edge of the circle until it is even all round. Enlarge the preview window to ensure all the points are regularly spaced and the mask conforms well with the shape.
Save the effect as a Chain Template by clicking the blue cassette tab. Give it a name and it will now appear in the effects Template section as a circular mask. This procedure only needs to be done once. The circular mask can be used now at any time.
Close VP

Use this mask as I described in my earlier post to create a Closing Circular Transition.

Nat

[deleted]

For those having a look at this technique; I stated...

"........ This has worked entirely successfully....... "

Well, Yes it has....But there are provisos. :o Borate has correctly pointed out that if the AR of the template used to create the circular mask is not the same as the AR of the image/clip it is to be used on, the mask will be stretched into an oval.

The template..the black circle in this case IS circular but by AR, I am referring to the AR of the template image . The mask is circular after the template is removed, but when used, VP stretches the mask frame to match the background clip. If they are not the same then the circular mask is stretched into an oval.

"....... The circular mask can be used now at any time. ...."

Absolutely correct! The circular mask can be used on any subsequent clip/image........The proviso is that the clip/image must have the same AR as the mask. In my example 16:9

(Always something isn't there! :angry🙂

Nat

borate

Aye. After more experimentation, the behavior you describe seems due to the change in handling of effects by later VP versions, and the order in which they're applied...

Take a 4:3, add the letterbox (or crop, if preferred) A/R effect, then apply the mask. Lastly, choose an insert effect - NEGATIVE in this example.

[deleted]

Provided the clips have the same AR as the mask then it works.

Set the timeline out as shown... Clip 1 on Track 1 and Clip 2 on Track 2.....

Add the mask to Clip 2 with mask inside clicked.
Add Transparency effect with Opacity set to 0%
Add scale effect starting BIG and finishing at end of clip SMALL setting keyframes (use the rectangle corner opposite the dot to enlarge and reduce the size of the mask image.

The sequence should now show a closing Track 1 and an opening Track 2 A perfect circular transition......

Nat