Publishing Fade In/Fade Out to FCPX

So I get what Tony Gallardo is saying with his "war on keyframes" post about using Motion behaviors in X. Great idea.

One thing that has always bugged me about X is that there is no direct way to add a fade in or out to the video. Either add a dissolve (which forces a secondary storyline) or expand the clip and get into the opacity layer and drag that little button to ramp the opacity up or down. It's both cumbersome and not very precise.

In the spirit of Tony's method, I thought I'd try to publish a fade in/fade out behavior, perhaps on a blank title as an adjustment layer. But I can't seem to make that work. The fade forces the underlying clip to start in black and fade up, rather than fade the opacity of the layer under it. Nor can I modify Alex 4D's adjustment layer to add the fade behavior - same thing happens.

I realize I don't know Motion well enough to deal with this. Any kind soul here have any thoughts on whether this is even possible?

Image Samba wrote: …there is no direct way to add a fade in or out to the video. Either add a dissolve (which forces a secondary storyline) …

wot?! A dissolve doesn't add a 2ndary??

Image Samba wrote: … or expand the clip and get into the opacity layer and drag that little button to ramp the opacity up or down. …

then, the clip is opaque but not black (?)

Image Samba wrote: …… perhaps on a blank title as an adjustment layer. But I can't seem to make that work. The fade forces the underlying clip to start in black and fade up, rather than fade the opacity of the layer under it. …

yep, that's how Adjustment Layers are intended to work.

No, to create a fade-in-from-black you need, as for any transition, TWO clips: black and the following clip:
opt-W, cmd-t, done.
Or, use the Fade-To-Colour transition, which comes pre-set to black …

Completely lost in your 'wish list' … what are you looking for:
a 'stretchable' Transition (black2clip), or an Effect (opache2clip)?

both can be done in Motion in minutes (I guess )

I often need to fade to black in one clip, then the next just start without a transition. Typical in broadcast series. Doing this in the Primary Storyline means inserting a Gap Clip, adding the Crossfade to the first clip & Gap clip, then shortening the Gap clip. Opacity handles, like audio fade handles, would be fantastic to have on video clips. I offend miss the opacity line from legacy FCP.

So yes, a transition that allows for adjustable fades on each side independently would be good, that allows us to NOT fade one side or the other. Also being able to change a transition from Left, to Center, to Right like in legacy FCP would be very welcome.

Personally I've submitted feedback pages for these more than once.

Sorry for any confusion, Karsten. FCPX.guru has the right idea.

Dissolves are always centered on the cut point, which makes them clumsy to work with. Simply ramping up the opacity of the connected clip from zero is an easy way to accomplish a dissolve starting at the cut point. (Same goes for a fade ending at the out point.)

The "wish" I have is that these opacity ramps could be added directly, as is now possible (as of 10.3) with audio fades. For now, video fades can only be accomplished by opening the video animation view and then twirling open the video opacity view and then pulling the little button over. It's cumbersome, and it's not precise. In fact, with the 10.3 update, the fade rate now shows apparent fractions of a frame, instead of being limited to frames. Obviously, this doesn't make sense - no such thing as video subframes.

I was hoping that a "fade in" behavior could be published from Motion, in the same manner as Alex4D's "grow/shrink" effect. Either as an effect or as a title. But no such luck. I thought there was a way to make certain transitions affect only the connected clip, rather than the clip underneath as well. Something to do with titles with empty drop zones or some such thing.

Anyone?

You might want to check out Hawaiki Super Dissolve plugin on FX factory. I think this does what you are asking.

$50 is steep for what we're looking to do. For that product, probably worth it, it is a great product, but more than what I'd personally ever really use for paying work.

ok, thanks everybody for explaining me your needs …

hmm, nice challenge for my Motion-skills. First results are promising - guess, 'keyframeless' is of high priority, right? …- tricky part is the 'asymmetric' design of such a transition.

Plus, the limited arsenal of controls in M5 … for Hawaikis tool you need the SDK …

… hmm, fun project, makes brain hurt! :silly:

… meanwhile, just a few hours later:



You CAN create a keyframe-free Fade2Black with Motion5, AND make it asymmetric:
in my video you'll notice, the black part can be much shorter than half of the transition...

But … a slider in the Inspector ? … Simon's UI is a far far away dream for me <sigh> , I'm too stupid for programming …

Karsten,

I always forget that we are in different time zones - because I wonder where you get all the time to come up with these clever solutions! Still it's a nice treat on a sleepless night to be up at 2AM and find an ingenious Motion template from you.

thinkfilm wrote: … ingenious ….

wow, thanks for the flowers, Joseph, but …

No, not that overwhelming on my personal scale of usability, therefore not published as plugin (yet). Guess interest is low, veeery niche, no? Should namE it 'Ben's Blend'
ok, that 'asymmetric adjustable black' demanded some higher degree of Motion-Fu :woohoo:

Maybe I find a way to teach the slider showing the actual number of frames of black -- unfortunately, my little trick doesn't deliver that number … or an OSC for that?? … <scratching head> no, in an ideal world, should be handles in the Timeline -- asks for SDK = beyond me …

But, thanks anyhow!!

Karsten, thanks for looking into this. It's a challenge, that's for sure. I think you're right, doing the job for real will require the SDK and serious programming knowledge. Maybe Apple will take the feedback someday and implement the feature. I mean, they did it for audio...so one can hope.