Dragging the top corners of a clip will change the opacity over whatever length you want - does that help?

Ian G.

Thanks Ian,
Wonderful ! Its called 'crossfade' transition. They should include that function with the other 'Cross' types in the Transition menu...!

I'm glad something's worked for you, but I think we may have our wires crossed! If you overlap 2 clips on the same track they'll crossfade for the duration of the overlap. If you drag a top corner you'll change the transparency of just that clip, so you'll see more or less of whatever's on the lower video track. You can also drag the top of a clip down to adjust the overall transparency.

Ian G.

I am looking for an Opacity envelop such as the audio volume or panning envelops.

The only way I can figure it out is to split the tracks and within each split to adjust the opacity up or down.

This is needed to fade between the three video tracks.

Thoughts?

I think the main problem you'll have is that you're restricted to either having a constant transparency through the clip, or you have to start or finish at 100% transparent . You may be able to do something by copying clips, placing them on different tracks, splitting them in different places and then adjusting the transparency, but rather you than me :-)

Ian G.

How about this ... now follow carefully 'cause this might be tricky ...

Split the clip wherever you want the transparency curve to change direction, NOT where you want the transparency to change. (calculus majors will know exactly what i mean; change in slope, not change in value). If you want the transparency to increase to a point and then stay steady, split at that point. If it had been going down and then starts going up, split it at that change. If it had been steady and you want it to go up or down, split where it starts changing. Hopefully that makes sense.

Set the transparency of each split section where you want it to be at the end of that section. Do this by dragging the top edge of the clip down. The farther you drag it, the more transparent it will be (or less opaque, if you like to think in those terms).

Does Vegas Studio have ripple edits? I forget. If it does, turn it off.

Drag the end of each section to the right so it overlaps the following section almost, but not quite, to it's end. By doing this you are extending each clip as if it hadn't been split; the previously removed frames reappear. The nifty part is that they appear perfectly in sync with the following clip that you are dragging over. This will create a crossfade between the two, but you will be crossfading between identical material so there won't be any change in the content of the frames. The super nifty part is that by crossfading from one to the next you will get a smooth change in transparency!

You can change the fade type to alter the shape of the curve for smoother changes.

You can put in as many splits as you like to have this transparency "curve" change as often as you wish. You can adjust the values even after doing the crossfades. You can adjust the timing as well by moving the beginning edges of the sections. Just make sure that you don't end up having the end of a section go past the end of the next or that next section will disappear. You will also want to avoid overlapping three or more sections as this can cause apparently unpredictable results.

*whew* Got it? I think this will do what you want. If i lost you, i can try drawing a picture or two to help illustrate.