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Fades

A fade ramps one end of one clip up from black or down to black. A fade out on one clip and a fade in on the next makes a dip to black; see Transitions.

Add a fade

  1. Open the Features tab.
  2. Drag the Video Fade tile onto a clip. The half you drop on decides the end: the left half gives a fade in, the right half a fade out.

The fade starts at 12 frames, or at half the clip if the clip is shorter than that allows. Dropping onto an end that already has a fade replaces it.

The Video Fade tile dropped on the right half of the last clip, the wedge appearing on its tail, then the wedge dragged longer

Only shot clips take fades. Gaps and cards do not.

Resize or remove a fade

A fade draws as a dark wedge over the clip's corner, the fade wedge, with the ramp as its slanted edge. The point where the ramp meets the top of the clip is the fade's handle.

  • Drag the handle to change the fade's length. A readout beside the pointer counts frames. A fade is at most half its clip, so a fade in and a fade out on the same clip never cross.
  • Drag the handle back to the clip's edge to remove the fade.
  • Click the handle to select the fade. Selected Clip Settings shows its Duration in frames. Set it there, or remove the fade with the trash button, with Del, or by right-clicking the handle and choosing Remove Fade.
A fade's handle dragged longer with its frame readout, then back to the clip's edge until the fade is gone

What happens

  • A fade belongs to its clip. Reordering, trimming or rolling the clip carries the fade with it; see Arrange clips. Shortening a clip shortens a fade that no longer fits in half of it. Removing the clip, or replacing it with another shot, removes its fades.
  • Preview darkens the picture through the fade, while paused too, so scrubbing into a fade shows it.
  • An overlay on the clip fades with it, in preview and in the exported video.
  • Export Video renders the fade as a ramp to or from black.
  • Export Timeline writes each fade as a dissolve from or to black at the clip's edge, ready to adjust in your editor.

A fade has only a length. It always goes to black, in a straight ramp.

  • Transitions for how fades make a dip to black.
  • Cards if what you want is a hold on black rather than a ramp to it.