see how it’s progressing—you can use the play and forward/
rewind buttons underneath it, or click and drag the play-head
(the red vertical line) on the timeline into your chosen position.4
MORE ADVANCED TRANSITIONS
We’ve already seen how you can quickly create a basic
fade effect between scenes or images by overlapping
clips. But OpenShot offers a veritable smorgasbord of different
transition effects—hundreds, in fact—all lurking on the
“Transitions” tab of the Project Files pane. One way to add these
to your movie is to simply select one from the list and drag it
on top of a movie clip on your timeline. Too much choice? Click
the “Common” button to hide them all apart from a handful of
understated wipes, circles, and the previously mentioned fade.
>> That’s all well and good, but what about the fade effect you
created earlier? Thankfully, you can change its transition type
without having to delete it and start again from scratch. Click the
“V” button next to your first transition and choose “Properties.”
Right-click the “Source” property (currently set to “fade.svg”),
and expand the “Transitions” menu to reveal the common options
mentioned earlier [Image C].
>> Select one of these, then watch a preview on the preview
window. Still not what you’re looking for? Right-clicking “Source”
and opening the “Transition” menu again now reveals all available
transitions, split into 18 submenus, ordered alphabetically. Once
you’ve selected a new effect, you can fine-tune it further with
all the other available properties. Perhaps the most important
one is “End,” which sets the duration of the effect. They’re 10
seconds by default, so try reducing this to three to five seconds,
then previewing the effect.5
TRANSITION TIPS
While it’s tempting to go overboard with these transitions,
consistency and simplicity always pay dividends, so find an
effect you like, take the time to set it up carefully, then apply it to
the rest of your movie. To do this, first delete any other transition
effects you’ve put on the timeline (right-click the transition and
choose “Remove Transition”). Now select your original carefully
configured transition, and press Ctrl-C followed by Ctrl-V toduplicate it. Drag this new transition into position at the
start of the following clip, then repeat the process for all
the clips in your movie.
>> Generally, one transition is fine, but you can bend
this rule for longer movies by setting up a more elaborate
effect (a wipe, say) to signal the end of a major scene.6
ADD EFFECTS TO YOUR CLIPS
When it comes to injecting effects into your video
clips, use the “Time” option on the right-click
menu to reveal a host of options for speeding up or
slowing down the clip, plus running it backward. You can
also temporarily freeze (or freeze and zoom) the clip for
up to 30 seconds—make sure you’ve positioned the play-
head at the point you want this freeze to happen before
applying the effect.
>> OpenShot also provides a selection of special
effects via the Project File pane’s “Effects” tab; 14 are
available, including Blur, Color Shift, Hue, and Pixelate.
Just drag the effect on to your clip and you’ll see a small
letter appear next to the filename or clip name—click
this to configure it via the Properties pane. Available
options vary according to the effect you’ve chosen.DNo video is complete without a nifty
title sequence, and OpenShot has a
dedicated tool for creating both static
and animated titles. You need Blender
for animated ones, and Inkscape for
static titles—portable or installed. Once
in place, choose “Edit > Preferences >
General,” and click “Browse” to locate
and select the relevant program file.
Once done, select your chosen
tool from the “Title” menu. Select a
template, then use the controls in the
right-hand pane to enter your text
and tweak options. Static titles can
change font, text color, and background
color, while animated titles offer more
options, depending on the effect. Be
s u r e t o g i v e y o u r t i t l e a s u i t a b l e fi l e n a m e
to identify it—after clicking “Save” or
“Render,” it appears in the Project Files
pane, ready for dragging and droppinginto your movie. Some titles have
transparent backgrounds, enabling
you to place them over your video or
images, and you can create as manyas you like, and place them within the
movie, allowing you to add additional
elements, such as credits, subtitles, or
even a rating to open your movie with.ADD TITLES AND CAPTIONS
58 MAXIMUMPC MAR 2020 maximumpc.com
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