Procedural Dissolves

In the Edit Workspace, a cross-dissolve is a simple, linear fade between two clips. In the Compositor Workspace, you can build Procedural Dissolves that break an image apart dynamically, such as burning away like paper, shattering into pixels, or wiping via a custom gradient.

The Matte Control Approach (Luma Fade)

A standard fade lowers the global opacity (Alpha) of the entire image simultaneously. A procedural luma fade lowers the opacity based on the brightness of a secondary image (a matte).

Imagine you want a title to look like it is being "burned" onto the screen, with the dark edges appearing first and the bright center appearing last.

  1. Add your text or graphic (Foreground).
  2. Add a FastNoise node.
  3. Add a MatteControl node.
  4. Pipe your Foreground graphic into the Background (Yellow) input of the MatteControl.
  5. Pipe the FastNoise into the Foreground (Green) input of the MatteControl.
  6. In the MatteControl Inspector, go to the Combine tab and set the operation to multiply the alpha.
  7. Animate the Brightness or Contrast of the FastNoise node from -1.0 to 1.0 over time.

Because the noise is a patchy cloud of black and white, the text will selectively dissolve into view exactly matching the fractal pattern of the noise, creating a highly organic transition.

The Grid Warp Approach (Shatter)

If you want an image to shatter or blow away like sand:

  1. Add a Grid Warp node after your graphic.
  2. Increase the grid resolution in the Inspector (e.g., 20x20).
  3. Using an Expression or a modifier, link the displacement of the grid points to a FastNoise map.
  4. As the noise intensity increases over time, the grid points will push and pull the pixels of your graphic violently apart.

Saving as a Transition Template

Once you build a complex procedural dissolve in the node graph, you do not want to rebuild it from scratch every time you need it on the timeline.

You can save this exact node graph as a Macro, place it in the specific Oraphim Transitions folder on your hard drive, and it will automatically appear in the Edit Workspace Effects Library under Video Transitions. You can then drag and drop it onto any cut between two video clips, just like a standard cross-dissolve!