Looking in the Box

You access the three transition groups from the Transitions tab of the Album, opened by clicking the Lightning Bolt icon on the left panel of the Album (Figure 8.1). In defining how these transitions work, I'll call the first video Video A, and the second Video B.

Figure 8.1. You access the Transitions tab by clicking the Lightning Bolt icon. Note how Studio differentiates Push, Slide, and Wipe transitions in the Standard Transitions group.

Standard Transitions: As you would expect, the Standard Transitions group includes the common transitions used in most video editing. In addition to the dissolves and fades already mentioned, the Standard group includes the following types of transitions:

• Wipes: Both Videos A and B remain fixed while an effect hides Video A and reveals Video B. Imagine you're pulling down a shade between two videos. With a wipe, both videos would remain static, and the shade simply hides Video A and reveals Video B. On Studio's Transitions tab, any transition with an arrow that appears to be pulling Video B over Video A, with the arrow visible in both videos, is a wipe.

• Slides: Video B slides in over Video A. With the shade example, Video B would be playing on the shade and slowly appear, bottom first, as you pulled the shade down. As with a wipe, Video A remains static and is simply covered up by Video B. On Studio's Transitions tab, any transition with an arrow that appears to be pushing Video B over Video A, with the arrow contained completely in Video A, is a slide.

• Pushes: Video B pushes Video A off the screen. If you were pulling down a shade between two videos, Video B would push Video A down, very much like a slide, except that Video A doesn't get covered up; it gets pushed off the screen. On Studio's Transitions tab, any transition with two arrows moving in the same direction is a push.

The Standard Transitions collection includes many other transitions not characterized in these three major groups, so you should definitely explore what else is there. Just click the white arrows at the top of each page to navigate to the next page.

Alpha Magic: Technically, Alpha Magic transitions are wipes that use organic forms as masks to create the effect. In plain English, they're generally more artistic than the standard transitions and often more whimsical.

Hollywood FX: All transitions in the Hollywood FX for Studio collection are yours to use as you wish. However, most transitions in the Hollywood FX collections below this are watermarked, so you can use them, but the annoying watermark will appear in your video unless you purchase upgrades to either Hollywood FX Plus or Pro at www.pinnaclesys.com. For example, the PRO shown in Figure 8.2 is a watermark.

Figure 8.2. The word PRO is a watermark and will show up in your transition unless you upgrade to Hollywood FX Pro.

Pinnacle includes the required version of Hollywood FX in the name, so if you hover your mouse over a transition, you can see if it's a BAS transition (included with Studio), a PLS transition (in the FX Plus collection), or a Pro transition (in the FX PRO collection; Figure 8.3).

Figure 8.3. Hover your mouse over the Hollywood FX transitions and you can see which version of Hollywood FX you need to use the transition sans watermark. You'd need the Pro version for this transition.

Tip

• To see how a transition looks, click it and it will play in the Player window.