Transition shows frames from END of 2nd clip

vernhalen wrote on 1/24/2011, 6:08 AM
Hi everyone, I tried doing a search but I couldn't find an answer.

When doing a transition either by adding a transition from the transitions menu, or doing a dissolve by overlapping the two clips, I always get a few frames from the end of the second clip showing up during the transition between clip one and clip 2.

I tried clipping the last 15-20 frames of the 2nd clip, but that doesn't work. I'm working with h.264 that has been converted to .avi and am adding clips by dragging and dropping from the explorer window.

Thanks in advance!

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 1/24/2011, 8:50 AM
The program is manufacturing "head" materials -- extra frames needed to build the beginning of a transition.

If you trim a half second or so from the beginning of the second clip, the program will be able to use your trimmed video as the transtion's head material.
Tim L wrote on 1/24/2011, 10:04 AM
Steve's reply is right on the mark, but I'll expand on it a little. (Apologies if this is a bit long.)

When you have a clip (an "event") on the timeline and you stretch the end out past the natural of the *end* of clip, Vegas defaults to "looping" mode: it circles around to the beginning of the clip to get more frames to add on to the end.

This looping behavior works the same if you drag the beginning edge of a clip to the left -- Vegas starts to repeat the end of the clip at the beginning.

For example, if you have a clip that is 5 seconds long on the timeline (i.e. the original clip is only 5 seconds long), and you grab the end and drag it to the right to make it 7 seconds long, those extra 2 seconds will be repeating the first 2 seconds of the clip.

In Vegas, a video transition or crossfade needs overlapping video events. (I think this is different from other editing programs.) Overlap your events by 1 second and you get a 1 second transition or crossfade. Overlap them by 2 seconds and you get a 2 second transition or crossfade.

In your case, you probably had the two clips butted up against each other (rather than overlapped) when you dropped the transition on them. In this situation, Vegas will automatically create the default overlap for you, by extending each clip by 1/2 second in the appropriate direction. Since the second clip was at its natural beginning, when Vegas added 1/2 second to the beginning it essentially grabbed that extra 1/2 second of image data from the last 1/2 second of the clip (the original clip).

Temporarily drag your second clip to the right to separate it from the transition. You should see a little notch in the top of the event on the timeline. This marks the natural beginning of the clip. Grab the left edge of the event and drag it right until it hits the notch. Now grab the whole clip and slide it to the left to re-create the desired overlap. You'll have to fix the end of clip #2 also if you have a third clip to transition to.

If you are content to have a "freeze frame" of video during your transition, you can leave the clips as they are now, right-click on the second clip, select "Switches", then select (un-tick) "Loop". With Looping unchecked, Vegas will extend the beginning (or the end) of a clip by repeating the first (or last) frame, rather than looping around to the opposite end to get more data.
vernhalen wrote on 1/24/2011, 2:29 PM
Tim and Steve - awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you for your help - I could not for the life of me figuring out what I was doing wrong!