Wipe and Shape transitions that uncover the next clip

The Wipe and Shape groups in the Transitions tab share one idea. The outgoing picture stays where it is, and a moving edge or a growing shape uncovers the incoming picture. Because both pictures hold their position, the reveal reads as a graphic device and viewers notice it. Use it where you want them to.

Wipe

The Wipe group has four tiles: Wipe left, Wipe right, Wipe up and Wipe down. A hard edge travels across the frame in the named direction, and the incoming clip sits behind it. With Wipe left, the new shot appears at the right side of the frame and the edge travels leftward until the new shot fills the picture.

Wipes suit material with a sense of order:

• Steps in a process or a numbered list.
• A before and after pair, where the edge travels over the change.
• Sections of an explainer, where each wipe says "next topic".
• Product features shown one after another.

Pick the direction that matches how the viewer reads. In left-to-right languages, Wipe left brings in the new shot from the right, the same way a page turns forward.

Shape

The Shape group has four tiles, and all four center on the frame.

• Circle open grows the incoming clip from a circle at the center until it fills the frame.
• Circle close shrinks the outgoing clip toward a circle at the center, uncovering the incoming clip around it.
• Split open opens the incoming clip outward from a vertical line in the middle, widening to both sides.
• Split close narrows the outgoing clip toward the middle line, leaving the incoming clip showing at both sides until it fills the frame.

Open styles suit a beginning: the first scene of a section, a new place, a new speaker. Close styles suit an ending: the last scene before a title card, or the end of a segment.

Keep the subject at the center

All four Shape styles pivot on the middle of the frame. In Circle open and Split open, the center of the incoming clip appears first and the edges arrive last. In Circle close and Split close, the center of the outgoing clip stays on screen longest and the edges go first. A subject placed at the center gets the longest, clearest view. Wipes cross the entire frame, so they treat the center and the edges alike.

Set the Duration for a hard edge

A hard edge shows its shape for the whole transition. At a short Duration the wipe or circle reads as a quick punctuation mark. At 2 seconds the edge lingers and starts to call attention to itself. Start near the default of 0.50 seconds and lengthen only if the move looks rushed.

Use one wipe, then repeat it

A video with a Wipe right, a Circle open, a Split close and a Wipe up reads as a sampler of effects. Choose one style for a given kind of cut and keep it. Using a wipe at each section change and plain cuts inside each section is a pattern viewers pick up quickly.

Find your edge

Open DepCut, select a section change and click Wipe left, then Circle open. Keep whichever fits the subject, and leave the cuts inside each section as they are.