SOLVED: 1-sided fade-to-black transition? (+Freeze Frame)

[tanguero]

The Fade-to-Black transition effect fades both A out to black and B in from black. I only want to fade A out to black, and have B come in normally (no in-transition). Furthermore, I want to do a freeze-frame on the first frame of B (and freeze-frame doesn't work while a transition is in progress). So I somehow need an A-only fade-to-black, which I could not find.

If I create a second of black "blank space" (how does one do that anyway) to "use up" the in-transition before my true B starts, this doesn't quite do it either, since now I have an extra 1 second of black after the fade-out, that I don't want.

Seems like a pretty basic requirement, and I'm probably making a simple thing complicated, so please help! Thanks!

[lata]

Hi
I don’t normally use Fade to black.

You may be best to add a black colour clip after your first clip. Then apply a Crossfade between the first clip A and black colour clip.

No transition on B so Freeze Frame should work

[BrianCee]

If you drag the fade to black transition down into the timeline and put it across the join between A and B then yes it does work as a standard fade out/fade in transition - BUT - if you first put the fade to black on the end of A and then put B in the timeline WITHOUT overlapping the transition then you do get a fade to black of A followed by a straight in from B.

You can put a blank space in any timeline of any length from 1 frame up by simply inserting a black block from the color library and setting it's duration to whatever length you wish

[tanguero]

Thanks Brian, great tip on putting the transition first and then adding clip B, worked exactly as you described. (Thanks also for the pointer to the colour library for inserting "blank space.")

I also discovered that Freeze Frame is not really a built-in effect; it merely (1) creates a .BMP of the frozen frame (2) copies it to your My Document\Corel VideoStudio Pro\18.0 folder (yeah, top level, mixed in with everything else there--pretty ugly--though you could move it I guess) (3) splits the video at the point in question and (4) inserts the .BMP into the timeline at that point with the length you specified for the freeze, all with one click. So it's more of a "macro" for what you might do yourself manually without that feature, but sure, it saves all those steps.

But it also lets you get around the no-transitions restriction if your freeze frame is at the beginning of clip B (as in my case): Remove the transition, use freeze frame, and reapply the transition (now between your clip A and the created .BMP) and this actually worked even better for me. I have exactly what I want now--thanks again!

[lata]

Hi

The Freeze Frame and Snapshot saves an image to your Working Folder, you can change the location of that folder to anywhere on our pc. Go to F6 Preferences.

I usually create a new folder for each project I edit, that way my freeze frame image is saved along with my other clips for that project.

Also whilst in Preferences – Capture Tab you can select the Image type as Bmp or Jpeg.

[tanguero]

The Freeze Frame and Snapshot saves an image to your Working Folder, you can change the location of that folder to anywhere on our pc. Go to F6 Preferences.

I usually create a new folder for each project I edit, that way my freeze frame image is saved along with my other clips for that project.

Also whilst in Preferences – Capture Tab you can select the Image type as Bmp or Jpeg.

Thanks, Trevor, that was useful information. By the way, there is a bug in the working folder implementation, and VS internally maintains its idea of working folder that is not aligned to what is set in Preferences. In particular, my VS installation decided that the working folder was the last folder from which I imported a clip into the library (notwithstanding that Preferences continued to show the default [My Documents]\Corel VideoStudio Pro\18.0\ as supposedly the working folder). Not only did it keep going to the clip folder every time I tried to open a project (instead of the working folder), but it also saved various .wav files there (compiled from auto-music I was trying out). This behaviour stuck across various instances of closing and opening VS, and then mysteriously the working folder became correct again ...

[lata]

Hi Tanguero


Maybe a bit of confusion here, the working folder is required by the program to be used as a save location for some VS edits, Snapshot etc., we can change that location.
I use the working folder to hold my files for a particular project, so may have several to switch between.

When we access Windows Explorer to browse and import / load a clip, open a VSP, for whatever reason we access windows Explorer that location will be used by default the next time we go there.
So yes it would go to the Clip folder if that was the last used. If it accessed the Working Folder and you wished to import another image that would be equally annoying.

That is a Windows Explorer option to access the last used location, it does that for all programs installed on the pc.

Note:-
To open an existing VSP project – File to the bottom of the list are 4 latest used projects, I suppose this is Video Studios Quick Launch option.

[tanguero]

Yes, I'm aware of last-used folder vs. working folder. My point was that VS saving temporary .wav files (created by VS when I listened to examples from Automusic) library into the folder where I last happened to import a videoclip from is highly counterintuitive (and inconsistent, in addition, as snapshots are, for example, saved in the working folder). It's not a big deal -- just an additional minor aggravation to those who like to keep their files organized.

If you drag the fade to black transition down into the timeline and put it across the join between A and B then yes it does work as a standard fade out/fade in transition - BUT - if you first put the fade to black on the end of A and then put B in the timeline WITHOUT overlapping the transition then you do get a fade to black of A followed by a straight in from B.

Followup question on this, Brian: It worked great, as I mentioned earlier, but if I had wanted to do this between two clips I already have, how would I have done it? In my case, I had 3 clips afterwards, so I just deleted them, added the transition to black, and then added them back in--not a big deal. But if I had 200 clips after that, I certainly wouldn't want to do that! There must be an easier way to end up at the same point if you're not adding it at the end of the timeline ...

[lata]

Hi Tanguero

Thanks for the info regarding temp wav’s created from Auto Music.
I have used Auto Music for the first time over the last few days, as you know this music is new to X8. I was unaware of the auto creation of Wav files.
I know that VS saves temp files including video to the Documents\Corel VideoStudio Pro\18.0 sub folders (DMF_Temp).

Oh silly me….X8 has a separate Working folder dedicated to Audio, I’ve not set that location, may try C:\Users\Trevor\Documents\Corel VideoStudio Pro\18.0\AudioTmp

Now the program has 3 Working Folders
One for normal editing , Snapshots etc.
One via the burner module that targets a different folder DMF_Temp
And now an Audio working folder.

Each of these can have a different location allocated by the user.

[tanguero]

Trevor, I've responded at a new thread I created at
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56169
for the Working folders discussion, since it seemed to be worth a separate thread, and besides I still have my remaining question for Brian (or anyone else who knows) on the original topic of fade-to-black ... (repeated below)!

Brian: If you drag the fade to black transition down into the timeline and put it across the join between A and B then yes it does work as a standard fade out/fade in transition - BUT - if you first put the fade to black on the end of A and then put B in the timeline WITHOUT overlapping the transition then you do get a fade to black of A followed by a straight in from B.

Me: Followup question on this, Brian: It worked great, as I mentioned earlier, but if I had wanted to do this between two clips I already have, how would I have done it? In my case, I had 3 clips afterwards, so I just deleted them, added the transition to black, and then added them back in--not a big deal. But if I had 200 clips after that, I certainly wouldn't want to do that! There must be an easier way to end up at the same point if you're not adding it at the end of the timeline ...

[lata]

Hi

Yes having a lot of clips makes it difficult to do what you want using Fade to Black.
That’s why I don’t use that transition.
I add a Colour clip (any duration) between my video clips, then I can apply Crossfade between the first video clip and the black clip, that’s if you wish black of course you can use any colour.

There are many ways to apply the same effect, just personal preference.

[tanguero]

Yeah, I was thinking that fadeout to black using a black colour clip is perhaps the best way to do it anyway (even if I could plan in advance), since that gives you an explicit indication on the timeline that it's a fadeout only (without fadein from black), and it's easier to make changes later. Also, the other way there's no obvious visual indication on the timeline or storyboard that distinguishes between the two (fadeout only vs. fadeout+fadein) and it could be confusing later.