BUG: Transition to Flash clips - first clip in view till end

[Joris]

Well, the thing is that for the transitions to work for all modes, the outgoing clip needs to be 100% visible for the duration of the transition ( clearly visible in Multitask and WipeUp for instance, but also TimeSwitcher and Jitterbug actually require this ).

All transitions then end with the incoming clip lying on top of the outgoing clip, both at 100% visibility. If the incoming clip has no alpha, we can just cut the outgoing clip at that point ( which is what we're doing now ).

The only solution we see for when incoming clip does have alpha, is to start transitioning out the outgoing clip at that point. This would extend the transition time, probably double it.

This is not a really pretty solution, because you will get different behaviour based on your incoming clip's alpha status. But we don't really see a more elegant way.

How do you feel about it?

[craftycurate]

Hi ...

Thanks for your note. To clarify as I'm not entirely clear ...

Firstly, I wouldn't mind the transition taking twice as long, if true crossfading was possible, as the transition time could be adjusted

Alpha mode works by gradually increasing the incoming clip Alpha until it is 100% visible? This explains why the old clip is still visible if the incoming clip has an alpha channel.

In some situations, Alpha seems to offer a true crossfade, but I wonder how this is possible if the outgoing clip remains 100% visible?

I use a lot of Flash animations with Alpha channels e.g. to display text, but the Alpha transition only works properly if I ignore the Alpha channel on the Flash animation. Why does ignoring the Alpha channel make any difference to the appearance of the incoming clip?

The problem is that with the SWF's Alpha channel deactivated, it becomes nearly impossible to hide the SWF's black background to show only the text. I've tried as many combinations of layer blend modes and opacity levels as I can think of, but a black edge seems impossible to hide e.g. if the clip is off centre.

e.g. even on Screen blend mode (or Add50), with Alpha channel deactivated, the black background of the Flash anim darkens the clip below, which it shouldn't do (according to Photoshop's blend mode behaviour anyway).

So is there any way to create true crossfades between two Flash clips (with Alpha channels) without having either (1) A dark background showing, or (2) The first clip suddenly cutting off, or is this just not going to be possible? Dynamic text is a large part of what I do in live shows, so I hope it will be possible to create true fades without having to resort to hard cuts.

Cheers
Richard

[Joris]

To clarify, most transitions work by fading in the opacity of the incoming clip over the outgoing clip (and thus blending them according to the chosen transition).

The transition will then appear smooth and complete if the incoming clip completely covers the outgoing clip at the end of the transition. If you have an alpha channel cutting holes, this won't be the case. That's why the transition 'works' if the alpha channel is ignored.

[Joris]

Currently the only solution that makes any sense is to have the Alpha transition modified to work correctly for clips with an alpha channel. We can't really see a way to make it work for the other transitions.

[craftycurate]

Currently the only solution that makes any sense is to have the Alpha transition modified to work correctly for clips with an alpha channel. We can't really see a way to make it work for the other transitions.

That seems like the best solution. Alpha blending\crossfading is such a common transition that I think it would be worth it - would also work with transparent PNGs etc.

Cheers
Richard