3D cube, page turn and glitch transitions in Video
Cube spin, flip over, doorway, page turn, pixelate, glitch, dream in and out and text transitions in Video by Zaweba, with tips for using them with taste.
Some transitions make no attempt to hide. They turn the screen into a cube, peel it back like a page or break it into glitching pixels. In Video by Zaweba this group covers cube spin, flip over, doorway, page turn and page peel, plus pixelate, glitch, light leak, ripple, swirl, dream in and out, and grunge, distort, text and shape-changing groups. They are bold, and the interesting question is less how to use them than when.
3D movements
Cube spin turns the frame as if the two shots were on faces of a cube. Flip over turns the picture over like a card to show the next shot on its back. Doorway opens the outgoing shot like a pair of doors to reveal the next one behind it. These give a strong sense of moving from one space or topic to another, which is why they turn up in presentations, product videos and quizzes.
Page turn and page peel
Page turn and page peel imitate turning the page of a book. They are natural for storybook styles, scrapbooks, children's videos, recipe and diary formats, and anything structured in chapters. A page turn says plainly that the next part of the story is beginning.
Stylised breaks
Pixelate breaks the picture into larger and larger blocks before resolving the new one. Glitch tears it apart like a corrupted signal. Light leak washes the frame in warm light during the change. Ripple and swirl distort the picture like water or a whirlpool. The grunge and distort groups give rougher, textured changes.
Dream in and dream out are worth a special mention. They are the classic way into and out of a dream, memory or fantasy, a soft, hazy shift that tells the viewer something different is happening. Video by Zaweba's Episode Builder uses them: when you mark a section of an episode as a daydream, the first clip gets a Dream in transition and the clip after the section gets Dream out.
Text and shape-changing transitions
The text group uses a word in the transition itself, and the word is a setting, so the change can spell out a title, a brand name or a chapter word. That can turn a transition into a mini title card. The shape-changing group morphs the change through shapes, which suits graphic and playful styles.
Thinking about when they belong
These transitions carry meaning and style. A page turn says storybook. A glitch says digital, chaotic or broken. A cube spin says presentation. Before using one, ask whether that meaning fits the moment. If it does, the transition adds to the story. If it doesn't, it pulls viewers out of it.
They are usually best used rarely and consistently. One distinctive transition used for every chapter break can become part of a series' identity, in the same way a theme tune does. The same transition at every cut becomes noise.
Genre matters too. Children's content, game channels, lyric videos and presentations welcome bold transitions. Documentaries, interviews and drama usually don't.
Practical points
Transitions are found in the Effects tab, which has a search across all 87, and they share settings such as length, direction, softness, border and colour, count, centre and reverse where they apply. Alignment on a cut can be centre, start at or end at the cut, and the transition needs spare footage beyond the cut on whichever side it uses.
Bold transitions often look better a little shorter than you would expect. Try halving the length and see if it still reads.
And think about sound. A glitch with no glitchy sound, or a page turn in silence, can feel thin. Add a suitable sound effect on a sound track under the transition to complete the moment.
Used with intention, the 3D, page and stylised transitions in Video by Zaweba can give a video real personality.
