# Transitions between clips

> 20 Slicer transitions: Sound first, fade, dissolve, slides, wipes, circles, pixelate — how to add one, set its duration and apply it to all cuts.

Source: https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/transitions/

A transition is how one clip gives way to the next. Without a transition, clips are joined with a straight cut — the best choice for fast-paced reels. A transition helps mark a change of topic, place or time, soften a harsh cut or add energy. The editor has 20 transitions: **Sound first**, three that go “through a color or motion” and sixteen that overlap the frames.

If **Effects & transitions** was set to “Light” or “Bold” in the direction settings at montage time, the AI has already placed some transitions. You can change or remove them.

**Demo (Web):**

1. Click the mark at the cut between the first and second clips
2. The “Transition” panel opens — the preview stops just before the cut
3. Pick “Dissolve” — the cut plays in the preview
4. Pick the 0.8 s duration
5. Click “Apply to all clips” — the transition is on every cut
6. Click ✓ “Done” — transition icons are on the cuts

## Adding a transition

A transition belongs to a cut — it leads from the previous clip into the next one. There are three ways to open it:

-   click the mark at a cut on the video track;
-   select a clip and press **Transition** — that's the transition **into** this clip from the previous one (the button is inactive on the first clip);
-   with nothing selected, press **Transitions** — it opens the cut at the start of the clip at the playhead.

### 1. Open the “Transition” panel

The preview stops just before the cut.

### 2. Pick a transition

Click a tile — the preview immediately plays the cut with the new transition. **None** removes the transition. There are many tiles: scroll the row with the mouse wheel on the web or with your finger on iPhone and iPad.

### 3. Pick a duration

Below the tiles is **Duration**: 0.3 s, 0.5 s (default), 0.8 s or 1.2 s. **Sound first** has its own values: 0.3 s, 0.5 s (default), 0.65 s or 0.8 s.

### 4. Click ✓ “Done”

A transition icon appears at the cut. Want the same transition everywhere? Press **Apply to all clips**: it goes on every cut of the reel.

**Demo (iPhone):**

1. Tap the mark at the cut between the second and third clips — the “Transition” panel opens
2. Scroll the row of tiles — “Slide up”, “Wipe down”, “Circle open” come into view
3. Tap “Circle open” — in the preview the new frame opens as a circle from the middle
4. Tap “Noise dissolve” — the new frame shows through as scattered dots

## All transitions

The tiles appear in the panel in this order.

### Sound first

A join with no visible transition, the way professional editors cut: the next clip's sound starts a little earlier, while the previous picture holds for the transition's duration and changes on the first words of the new sentence. The cut never lands in a pause, and the speech flows without gaps. The duration is how far the picture lags behind the sound.

**Through a color or motion** — the duration is split in half between the end of one clip and the start of the next:

| Transition | What it looks like |
| --- | --- |
| **Fade** | The frame fades to black, the next one fades in from black |
| **Flash** | The change goes through a white flash |
| **Zoom** | The camera rushes in at the end of the clip and “pulls out” of the zoom in the next one |

**Overlapping** — both frames are visible at once at the cut:

| Transition | What it looks like |
| --- | --- |
| **Dissolve** | One frame flows smoothly into the other |
| **Slide left** | The new frame comes in from the right and pushes the old one to the left |
| **Slide right** | The new frame comes in from the left and pushes the old one to the right |
| **Slide up** | The new frame comes in from below and pushes the old one up |
| **Slide down** | The new frame comes in from above and pushes the old one down |
| **Wipe left** | The new frame is revealed by a band whose edge moves across the frame from right to left |
| **Wipe right** | The same, the edge moves from left to right |
| **Wipe up** | The same, the edge moves from bottom to top |
| **Wipe down** | The same, the edge moves from top to bottom |
| **Circle open** | The new frame opens as a circle growing from the middle of the frame |
| **Circle close** | The old frame shrinks as a circle into the middle, with the new one already around it |
| **Zoom in** | The old frame rushes toward the middle, and the new one shows through it |
| **Blur** | The frames flow into each other through a blur that peaks in the middle |
| **Pixelate** | The frame breaks into big pixels and comes back together as the new one |
| **Radial wipe** | The new frame is revealed by a ray sweeping around the frame like a clock hand |
| **Noise dissolve** | The new frame shows through as scattered fine dots until it fills the frame |

Pick slides and wipes by meaning: **Slide up** feels like scrolling a feed, **Slide left** like the next slide. Circles and **Zoom in** stress a reveal or a move to the main point.

## Good to know

> **Important.** All overlapping transitions — from **Dissolve** to **Noise dissolve** — need spare footage in the sources: a few frames before the new clip starts and after the old one ends. If there is less spare footage than the transition length, the transition gets shorter. If there is almost none — for example, the clip starts at the very first frame of its source — there will be no overlapping transition at that cut. Choose **Fade**, **Flash** or **Zoom** — they don't need spare footage.

-   **Sound first** also needs spare footage — frames after the end of the previous clip. With less of it the lag gets shorter, or the cut stays a straight cut.
-   A transition doesn't change the reel's length: frames overlap at the cut rather than being added.
-   A transition changes only the picture: the sound at the cut doesn't fade or mix. To ease the sound in or out, use the clip's [fade-in and fade-out](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/speed-volume/#fades).
-   On very short clips a transition shortens itself — it is never longer than the clips.
-   When you [split](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/fragments/) a clip, the transition stays with the first part — no transition appears between the parts.
-   A copy made with **Duplicate** gets all clip settings except the transition. To carry a transition over to other clips, use [Copy and paste the look](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/fragments/#copy-look).
-   Every transition shows in the preview right away — on the web and in the app — and looks the same as in the finished video.

## Which transitions the AI director uses

At speech cuts where the picture visibly changes — another take, another source — Slicer adds **Sound first** on its own, so cuts don't land in pauses. Where an abrupt cut is the point (a punchline, a reveal), the director keeps a straight cut. You can remove or change **Sound first** like any transition.

The director edits with restraint: a clean cut is the default, and a transition is a rare accent between different scenes or topics. It only uses non-overlapping transitions: **Fade**, **Flash** and **Zoom**. With “Light” — at most two transitions and only **Fade**; with “Bold” — more often and all three. You place the other transitions yourself, or the [AI assistant](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/assistant/) does when you ask.

## What's next

-   [Effects](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/effects/)
-   [In and out animations](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/editor/animations/)
-   [How the director works](https://docs.slicer.media/en/guide/ai/director/)