8

Working with Transitions 593
Clips and transiti ons on Transition track. Transitions are
shown as dark areas between clips.
To learn how to create a transition track, see
Adding Tracks to the Mixer (p age 2–583) .
If you want to make a less linear blend between
clips than the blend created by a transition, see
Adjusting Track Weight (page 2–596) .
Adjusting Transitions
Transitions are automatically created between clips
when you load the clips into a Transition track. You
canadjustthestartorendpointofatransitionby
dragging either end of the transition in the Mixer.
When a transition appears with hatchmarks, this
indicates that the transition is invalid. This can
occur when a clip’s brackets are reversed, with
the out-bracket b efore the in-bracket. You c an
correct this problem by dragging each end of the
transition to reverse the ends.
A useful transition can occur anyplace where two
clips overlap. T he unused part of the clip on eit her
side of the transition appears w ith hatchmarks to
indicate that that part of the clip wil l not be used
in the mix. This type of transition is often used
for foot-based clips, when the best place for a
transition is not always at the edge of a clip.
Hatched parts of the clips are not used in the mix.
The Motion Mixer will allow you to extend a
transition into an area where two clips do not
overlap. However, this transition w ill most likely
resultinundesirablemotioninthemix.
Transitionsextendingintoareaswhereclipsdon’toverlap
can create unpredictable results.
For the b est results, make sure all your tr ansitions
cover only areas where two clips overlap
completely.
To aid in making your transitions as smooth as
possible, you can select transitions and use the
Transitions menu > Optimize option. This feature
searches the two clips to find the start and end
time that w il l result in the smoothest transition,
and adjusts the transition accordingly.
If you want to snap the ends of a transition to
the ends of clips, turn on Snap Clips on the Motion
Mixer toolbar before dragging the t r ansition edges.
Whenyoumoveorscaleacliponatransition
track, by default its transitions are also moved or
scaled. To prevent transitions from changing when
you move or scale a clip, turn on Lock Transitions
on the Motion Mixer toolbar.