I just want SUPER BASIC fades!!!!

[A_Sticks]

Sorry if this has already been explained. I went through a bunch of posts and didn't see it, so here goes...

I have 2 projects that have a bunch of different video clips. All I want is for the first clip to fade in smoothly from black, the middle clips to fade into and out from black at each joint, and the final clip to fade into black. THAT'S IT!
I have changed the mercury setting and the linear composit already and that did nothing. The only other thing I've seen but haven't tried is adding  a black video between all my clips. This sounds ridiculous to have to do thuogh since Adobe Premier is supposed to be so awesome. I am a complete rookie at any sort of editing, so help is appreciated!

[A_Sticks]

I appreciate the response. It looks to me like Adobe has no real solution in their highly touted editing software without their customers having to create ridiculous workarounds. It's frustrating, partly because I have never edited before these two projects so having to learn all these funky extra steps just to get an extremely basic transition effect is wild to me. 

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hello Bob,

Thanks for the idea. That said, I would not use a GIF in video post-production. Trimming back media (for handles) to use a standard transitions is the method.

Regards,

Kevin

[salvo34]

i stack my clips on many levels of video and use opacity keyframes so i have total control ( with no handles). But that means more work and is the exact opposite of what you want, which is to do nothing involving thinking editing and timing and syncing things ( sound, sfx, etc )

you should do what jeff suggested and use some simple kid stuff and forget about using a more advanced (potentially) edit program.

unforfunately adobe markets to get the kids to subscribe and this thread is a good example of how someone with less patience and teaching skills ( like me ) wants to puke like a dog reading this nonsense.

hehe...

good luck

🙂

[A_Sticks]

I'm not exactly sure what you meant with your response, but I didn't purchase Adobe because they market to kids. I had a free program that I was able to plug and play simple transitions with, but the export quality was poor. So, I figured that a well known program Like Premier would surely have good built in transitions for the laymen. But they don't. Their transitions suck and require modification right off the bat, which is mindblowing. 
It would be logical that an editing program would have solid foundational editing tools that don't require the purchaser to waste a bunch of time having to correct them. 

If I did this for a living and needed all the advanced tools, I guess it's a decent option. 

[R Neil Haugen]

A very common misconception is that a pro application will be more automated than a consumer app. Which is backwards from reality.

The pro app will feature far more available effect capabilities, but with the assumption the users will want to "roll their own" for better tuning and control for their projects. The consumer app instead will offer many one-click options where the program simply does everything. But the user has little control.

Once you begin to learn how to use the capabilities of an app like PrPro, you can build transitions and other effects stored as presets or whatnot, and apply them quick and "in bulk" and yet be able to fine tune the actions.

But it's a steep learning curve, and very slow at first.

Neil

[A_Sticks]

That is definitely what my expectation was, and I'm learning I was incorrect!

[R Neil Haugen]

Most of us started with that perception. Pretty normal, you know?

It's like thinking that color management is just done correctly across OS/hardware and players/apps/browsers.

Oh ... um ... not even close. Sigh.

Neil

[Kevin-Monahan]

A_Sticks,

Sorry for the disappointment. You might try downloading some free presets. Then, download Red Giant Universe or a similar trial like Boris Continuum and crank on some presets. That should show you some of the possibilities that are more interesting.

Regards,
Kevin