Fade to black between two clips

Hi,
I must be missing something...
I have two clips one next to the other (touching each other).
It I want the first clip to fade to back before the second clip starts, what do I do?
If I insert a transition between them, they will cross fade...and that is not what I want.

Please advise.
Thanks
joni

Use the fade to color transition.

As Tom says. Or for some more flexibility just add a gap clip (position your playhead between your two clips and hit Alt-W) and then put a transition between clip 1 and the gap clip. You can then adjust the transition's duration as well as the duration of black (the gap clip).

Good luck!

Alex 4D has a free transition for this:

blog.alex4d.com/2011/07/31/dip-to-bg-fcpx-transition/

Tom's suggestion is the best but in case you don't have enough media, yuse Overturf's method or can always adjust the opacity of the clips at the end and start. Or drop a black generator over the cut point and fade it up and down.

So many ways to skin a cat,

Thank you all.
Will try all these methods but all this feel like a workaround to do this basic/simple task.
(I remember in Vegas these things were so easy to do).
Hope a new upgrade brings an easier way.
thanks
joni

What was easier in Vegas than using the fade to color transition? You can add the transition to multiple clips with a keyboard shortcut in one shot. Really curious as to what was easier than that.

You can use Fade To Color, like Tom said - this will fade the outcoming clip out, then fade the incoming clip up.
If you want just the first clip to fade out, and the second the come up without fading in, either use the opacity handle, as sugggested, OR - and this is one more instance where the interaction between Motion and FCP X shines - make your own modified transition.
This particular one takes about two minutes to do in Motion.

Open Motion and create a new Transition project. It will show two sources, A, and B. If you save it right there and then this transition is a simple cut. Now add the fade in/fade out behavior to source A, adjust the fade out duration using the HUD or the Inspector, and save. Boom!

anickt, in vegas you don't need to add anything. Drag the "fader" at the end of the clip to the point in time you want it to start or end (depending if it is a fade in or fade out). I think it is much easier and intuitive this way.

So can you in FCP X.
Only need to show the Video Animation (Ctrl-V) and drag.

Lichinho,I will try to crate that in Motion. thanks

anickt, in vegas you don't need to add anything. Drag the fader at the end of the clip to the point in time you want it to start or end (depending if it is a fade in or fade out). I think it is much easier and intuitive this way.

That is what I was looking for. thanks
But it is a pity one cannot change the type of fade (curve)
abraço
joni

lichinho wrote: So can you in FCP X.
Only need to show the Video Animation (Ctrl-V) and drag.

@Schwalbach

I see. That is how audio fades work in FCP X. While it's OK for occasional fades (and the same with video fades such as the fade to color we are talking about) it's much easier to select clips and use a keyboard command to apply the effect to multiple clips at once if that's what you need.

Key framing the opacity adjustment to effect a fade (whether fading in a black generator or fading out the clip) seems a little problematic to me. It's a linear fade of luminance and our eyes don't work that way--e.g., when the fade is 50 percent in, the image still looks very bright. If we were to talk, "best practices" would you guys recommend against it for that reason?

The "fade to color" transition uses a non-linear fade. But, it seems cumbersome. Say I don't want to affect the incoming clip at all and I want to fade the outgoing clip to black over 2 seconds. I have to do the following:

(i) mark the outgoing clip at 2 seconds from the endpoint.
(ii) drop in the transition.
(iii) change the duration of the transition to 2 second
(iv) grab the transition by its midpoint and move it such that it's beginning touches the mark I set in (i).
(v) open the inspector and adjust the "hold" of the transition from the default 25 percent to zero.

A simple "S" curve on the opacity adjustment would be great. ...or am I missing something?

Or you can roll your own "Fade Out" transition using Motion. As I explained above it is very easy to do. If you can't do it, I can try and post a version of it.

Haven't taken the plunge on Motion yet, but seriously considering it : )

Check out the Alex4D transition linked above in this thread

Yup, saw the Alex4D link. In terms of ease of use, it's really the same experience as the fade to black transition provided with FCPX. They're both non-linear fades. And, they're both more cumbersome than what I hoped I was missing...something like the audio handle that changes from linear, to S-curve, to +3dB, with a mouse click. In any event, the fade to black transition is not that bad to deal with, just was curious if there was something even easier.