The Transition Builder hand-builds a Custom transition. You set how the outgoing and incoming clips move, scale, turn and fade, and give each clip its own stack of optical effects — zoom through a point, blur, RGB split, lens distortion, an exposure flash, an opacity dip and camera shake. It works for a cross transition and for a layer entrance or exit, and the result plays the same in the editor’s preview and in the export.
Open the builder
- In the transition browser, click Builder in the footer. It opens for the slot you are on: Cross, In or Out.
- In the inspector’s TRANSITIONS section, click the builder icon on a transition row. Its tooltip reads Transition Builder, or Edit custom transition when the slot already holds a Custom transition.
The builder opens with the slot’s current Custom settings. On a cross that has none, it starts from a simple move: the incoming clip slides in from the right while fading in, and the outgoing clip fades out where it stands.
The builder shapes the move. Its length and easing come from the transition’s Timing in the browser, or Duration and Easing in the row’s cog — see Transitions.
The layout
- Preview — pinned at the top while the columns scroll. Two sample plates, A and B, play a close approximation of the transition on a loop. Use the play/pause button, or drag the scrub bar to hold any moment; the percentage shows where you are.
- Layer columns — a cross has two: Prev Layer (the outgoing clip, indigo) and Next Layer (the incoming clip, orange). An entrance or exit has a single Layer column.
- Saved Presets — your own saved looks, below the columns.
- Footer — Reset, a readout of the effects each layer is using, Cancel and Apply Transition.
Movement and transform
| Control | What it does | Range / default |
|---|---|---|
| Movement pad | Drag to set the direction and distance the layer travels. It snaps at 0, ±100 and ±200%, and the label beside it names the direction with the numbers, for example Up-Right (155%, −110%). On both columns the arrow shows the way the layer moves. | −200% to 200% of the frame on each axis |
| End Scale / Start Scale | The scale the outgoing layer leaves at (End Scale) or the incoming layer arrives from (Start Scale). | 0.1–3x, 1.0x |
| End Opacity / Start Opacity | The opacity at that same end of the move. | 0–100%, 0% |
| Rotate X / Rotate Y | Tilts the layer in 3D. | −180° to 180°, 0° |
| Rotate | Rolls the layer. | −360° to 360°, 0° |
| Transform Origin | The pivot that scale and rotation turn about, from a nine-point list. | Center |
| Mirror Tile | Fills the area the layer leaves with mirrored copies of it, across the whole frame, instead of leaving it empty. | Off |
The effect stack
Each column has an Effects stack. Every effect starts at 0, which is off, and its section’s dot lights up once it is doing something.
| Effect | Controls | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom Point | Zoom pushes in (positive) or pulls out (negative) through a point. Set the point on the small pad, with X / Y, or by dragging its marker on the preview. Equal amounts on both layers read as one continuous zoom. | Zoom −300% to 300%; X / Y 0–100% |
| Blur | Strength and Type: Gaussian, Directional or Radial (radial streaks aim through the zoom point). | Strength 0–60 |
| RGB Split | Amount and Along: Motion, Horizontal or Radial from the point. | Amount 0–300% |
| Optics Compensation | Strength of the lens bend, with Pin the corner. | −200% to 200% |
| Fisheye | Amount, Lens model (Spherical or Barrel), Lens centre (Zoom point or Frame centre) and Pin the corner. | Amount −200% to 200% |
| Exposure Flash | Strength and Color — white flashes, black dips, anything between tints. | Strength 0–200% |
| Opacity | Dip lowers the layer’s opacity, following the layer’s Over time setting. | Dip 0–100% |
| Wiggle | Camera shake that moves and rolls the layer itself: Amount, Frequency and Rotation. | Amount 0–100%; Frequency 1–40 hz; Rotation 0–8° |
Pin the corner keeps the frame’s corners where they are while the lens bends the middle.
Over time
One timing envelope per layer shapes all of that layer’s effects. It is the list beside Effects in the builder, and Effects over time in the cog.
| Setting | What the effects do |
|---|---|
| Build to cut | Rise toward the cut. Offered on Prev Layer, and the default there. |
| Settle from cut | Are strongest at the cut and fall away after it. Offered on Next Layer and on an entrance or exit, and the default there. |
| Peak mid | Rise and fall, strongest halfway through — what a blur or a flash on a cut usually wants. |
| Constant | Stay at full strength for the whole transition. |
The default pairing — the outgoing layer building to the cut and the incoming one settling from it — makes a cross read as one gesture across the cut.
Save and reuse
- Apply Transition (or Enter when you are not typing in a field) writes the settings and sets the slot’s type to Custom. Cancel, Esc or a click outside the window closes it without changing anything.
- Reset returns the columns to the starting move.
- + Save Current under Saved Presets names the current settings and keeps them. Click a saved preset to load it into the builder, or its × to delete it. Cross presets and In/Out presets are kept apart, and presets are stored in the app on this computer, not in the project.
- Custom only appears in the transition browser’s list for a slot that already holds one — you make it here. To take it off, use Remove in the browser or the delete button on the row.
Edit a Custom transition later
You don’t have to reopen the builder for small changes. Click the cog on the Custom transition’s row in TRANSITIONS. It holds the same controls, ranges and numbers as the builder, without the pads:
- A cross shows the list twice, under Prev Layer and Next Layer. An entrance or exit shows it once.
- First come Move X, Move Y, End Scale / Start Scale, End Opacity / Start Opacity, Rotate X, Rotate Y, Rotate, Transform Origin, Mirror Tile and Effects over time.
- Then the effects, each under its own folding heading: Zoom Point (Zoom and Point — the point can be picked on the preview), Blur, RGB Split, Optics Compensation, Fisheye, Exposure Flash (with Colour), Opacity and Wiggle.
- Order (cross only), Easing and Duration sit at the top of the same cog.
To go back to the full builder with its preview, click the row’s builder icon (Edit custom transition).
Where to go next
- Transitions — the ready-made catalogue, Order, length and easing.
- Advanced Zoom and Advanced Movement — point-aimed moves with the same kind of blur, lens, flash and shake built in.
- Keyframe Builder — animate a layer beyond its entrance and exit.
- Timeline Workflow — moving and stitching clips that carry crosses.
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