Cross dissolve flashes

[ComicHouse]

In an animation I need lots of quick cross dissolves from one frame to another. So I use the sequence option to offset all frames and do a cross between them. But this results in white flashes in the middle of each dissolve. How can I prevent this?

[Sumeet Kumar Choubey]

Hi ComicHouse,

Sorry about the poor experience. We can get this checked. If possible, could you share a screen recording of the workflow that you are using & the white flashes that you are getting in preview? It will help us understand & troubleshoot the issue properly.

Thanks,

Sumeet

[ComicHouse]

I guess what happens is this:cross dissolve

So halfway the dissolve both layers are at 50%, so both are half transparant, right? This is probably why the background is shimmering trough at that point. But in my head two layers at 50% together, are at 100% opacity! How else can we do a cross dissolve without the underlaying layers peeping through each time?

[thepixelsmith]

That sounds like it is the background color showing through the Opacity animation th sequence layers command creates. 

In the Sequence Layers dialog box try the option Dissolve Front Layer instead.

Unlike in a video editing program when AE "cross dissolves"" it is really just building two opacity animations the top layer fades out from 100-0% while the bottom one fades up from 0-100%. This results in the BG color being visible between them.

[ComicHouse]

Hey! Thanks for responding! You are right. Like I explaind above it is because in the middle of each dissolve, transparancy of both levels are at 50%. When I choose just the option Dissolve Front Layer, the second layer doesn't dissolve in anymore so it just pops in. So there is no way to do a proper cross dissolve in AFX then???

[thepixelsmith · Accepted solution]

I have seen posts on ways to fake it using various effects and/or blending modes but there is really no built in method that is as simple as doing it in a video editing program.

I've seen a tutorial that using teh block dissolve effect with a very high feather to fake it. But since each layer in Ae is technically independednt of each other layer I have never seen an exact 1 to 1 function to mimic the cross dissolve that NLEs can do.

AE isn't an NLE it's a motion graphics and compositing program so even things that have the same name can sometimes function differently. 

And to be honest I'm not sure there is much of a difference visually in applying a cross dissolve transtion in an NLE and just fadign out the opacity of a top layer in AE. Now if you are using other dissolves like film dissolve or additive dissolve then use they do look different and they can be mimiced using effects that animate exposure or tone.

[ComicHouse]

Yes, I think you are absolutely right about this. I do almost all my editing in Ae because I've always preferred working in Ae over any NLE for its versatility. And in animation you don't use cross dissolves much. But in this film we need them all the time, so I guess we will have to use some other solution. Thanks a lot though, your comments were very clear and to the point!

[thepixelsmith]

Interesting, I've heard of other people doing stuff like this.. I admit I can't really wrap my head around the idea of  trying to do actual editing in AE. It's single item layer based arrangement seems like it would make that a problem especially when compared to the way NLes use a multi-item track based arrangement.