How to Apply DissolveMaster                          DissolveMaster's main help page

In Adobe Premiere Pro (CC 2017 or later):

1. From the Effects panel (Video Transitions > Pixelan folder) of Premiere Pro, drag DissolveMaster onto a cut point between two clips in any track, or onto the beginning or end of a single clip.
2. Click the applied transition in the Premiere timeline to activate it. Drag the transition's edge to adjust its duration as desired.
3. DissolveMaster interface will appear in the Effect Controls panel of Premiere Pro. See below for the basic steps to using this plugin.

Basics Within DissolveMaster

To create a new effect or modify a preset, do the steps below...
(1) Set the dissolve's progress over time, using the Progress controls. A typical linear dissolve is 100 to 0 at a layer's head, or 0 to 100 at the tall. To ease-In/out the dissolve select a handy preset in the Progress menu OR select Via Progress Slider and add the desired keyframes to Progress slider. To hold a dissolve, set two adjacent keyframes to equal value.
(2) Click Click here to load a preset... to visually choose from hundreds of pre-made dissolves (plus saved favorites) in an animated Effects Browser window. Take a look at the DissolveMaster Presets section below to see which presets are most appropriate for clip's HEAD, TAIL or for between 2 clips. Click Recent to quickly load a recently used preset. Click Menu to quickly load an effect via a pop-up menu. Or Open for standard Open dialog box.
(3) Set where the dissolve will start/end within the image. Use the Set the Key at menu to choose your clip/time target then click the Key Color eyedropper in the AE preview (or the control's color swatch to choose a color) to set exactly where your dissolve or fade will visually start or end. For example, when a white Key Color is selected, Start of dissolve in Clip 1 will start the dissolve in the first clip's brightest areas; End of Clip 1 will end the dissolve in the first clip's brightest areas. Like-wise in the second clip if Start of Clip 2 or End of dissolve in Clip 2 Is chosen. NOTE: When applied to a single non-overlapped clip, choose a "Clip 2" option for the clip's head or a "Clip 1" option for the clip's tail.
(4) Animate/flow the dissolve based on luminance (brightness), a chosen color, or color channel's intensity. Luminance simulates optical/film dissolves. Luminance (timing adjusted) sometimes better matches the dissolve's visual progress to the transition's actual start/end.
(5) Adjust the dissolve's softness, from moderate to ultra-soft, or creatively ramp it over time.
Optionally mix in a subtle iris or linear shape to influence the dissolve's progression. Create ultra-soft "directional dissolves" with a shape, for example, to subtly radiate a dissolve outward from any subject in a scene. Several shapes are in the Shape menu. Inverted choices reverse the dissolve's direction of flow. Strength sets how strongly the dissolve conforms to the chosen shape. Click the Position control to position the shape -- by dragging the center point in your AE preview. Since It's key-framable, you can also track position over time. For a Linear shape, an off-center position will set the linear movement's angle.

 

COOL TIP: DissolveMaster is more than a transitions tool -- it can organically animate/flow ANY video effect within a SINGLE clip, such as color changes, tonal adjustments, blurs, and even the effects from third-party video effects plugins! Now you can easily reveal or fade effects in a way that relates visually to your scene's content rather than the standard approach of ramping an effect's strength uniformly over an image. The steps are:
1. Sync two copies of the SAME clip in two adjacent tracks of the timeline -- one clip directly above the other clip copy.
2. Apply video effects (built-in video effects or third-party plugin effects) that you want to flow/animate to ONE of the two clip copies.
3. Following the "How to Apply DissolveMaster" steps above, apply DissolveMaster onto the beginning or end of the TOP clip copy. Done!

You’re done! To save the custom DissolveMaster transition you've created for future use in Effects Browser, click the Save button. A standard Save dialog will appear. We recommend saving in the "My Favorites" subfolder provided. NOTE: Save the presets with a keyframed parameters within Premiere, by selecting DissolveMaster, then choosing Save Preset from the Effect Controls panel menu. The saved presets will apear in Premiere's Effects panel, Presets section.

Optional Visual Enhancements

 

Add blends, saturation changes, blurs, and glows for creative variety. Note that many useful presets are available in the Presets menu within each section as a starting point. Below are tips for the other controls:

Blending -- to blend the dissolving area differently. Use the Mode 1 control to choose a Photoshop-like blend mode. Use Mode 2 to optionally choose a second blend mode for further visual creativity. To adjust the mix of Mode 1 and Mode 2, use Blend Mix -- greater values increase the relative strength of Mode 2. Mid Contrast adjusts the contrast in the dissolve area. Gamma adjusts the brightness in the dissolve area. NOTE: When applying DissolveMaster onto a single non-overlapped clip, blend modes other than Normal will produce irregular visual results.

Saturation -- to ramp the clip's color saturation during the dissolve. To choose whether the saturation change will appear just in the dissolve area or in the entire image, use the Saturation menu. Use the keyframable Strength to adjust the intensity of the saturation change -- positive values increase saturation; negative values desaturate.

Blur -- to add a blur to the dissolve's look. Use the Blur menu to choose whether the blur will appear within the composite image, a specific layer, or only in the dissolve area. NOTE: When applied to only one non-overlapped clip, Blur Clip 1 only will be ignored at the clip's head and Blur Clip 2 only will be ignored at the clip's tail. Use the keyframable Strength to adjust the blur's strength.

Glow -- to add a glow or flash to the dissolve. Select the glow color using the eyedropper or color controls. With the Mode menu, you can set how the glow mixes into the images. Add tends to brighten or tint towards the chosen glow color. Overlay replaces the image with the chosen color. Size controls the glow size; Strength sets the visual strength of the glow. To show lower track visuals (such as a still-image or video clip) in the glow area instead of a glow color, turn on the Transparent check box.

DissolveMaster Saved Settings and Presets

In DissolveMaster for After Effects there are THREE ways to access presets -- Effects Browser presets, Section presets, and Premiere Effect Presets.

 

Effects Browser presets

This is the most powerful and visual way to access presets and is where hundreds of dissolve presets are located. Click the Click here to load a preset... button at the top of DissolveMaster to open a large Effects Browser window to visually choose/compare pre-made effects. The Effects Browser is shown below. To explore presets, click a folder in the left pane, then click a thumbnail image to see animated preview. Double-click to apply. To save your own custom presets in the Effects Browser, use DissolveMaster controls to set up the desired look, then click the Save button. NOTE: Save the presets with a keyframed parameters as Premiere Effect Presets.

Presets for single-clip dissolves:
When DissolveMaster is applied to only one non-overlapped clip some features are not available and some presets will look complete only when applied between two clips. Some preset folders say "For HEAD of SINGLE Clip" or "For TAIL of SINGLE Clip" to indicate which side they are most appropriate for. The rest of the presets are most appropriate for use between two clips.

Time-saving tips to load presets faster:
The Effects Browser is fast, but sometimes you may already know which preset you want to use, such as when you are applying the same preset repeatedly in a project. In that situation, selecting a preset by one of the following methods can be faster... To see recently chosen Effects Browser presets, click the Recent button. For a drop-down menu of Effects Browser presets, click the Menu button. To use a standard Open file dialog box, click the Open button.

 

Handy tips while working within the Effects Browser:
• To scroll through presets in a folder while keeping your eye on the top preview image for comparison, click a thumbnail in the right pane then use arrow keys.
• To increase/decrease the thumbnail image size, use the Size button at the bottom of the Effects Browser.
• To copy a favorite preset into the My Favorites folder located atop the left column of preset folders, Control-click any preset image and choose Copy to My Favorites. To copy the preset into a subfolder within that folder (such as if you want to organize presets per project or per client), Control-click the preset and choose Copy to My Favorites >> [new subfolder]. You can then name the subfolder as desired. After the subfolder is created, it will also appear in the Control-click menu.
• To rename a preset that is in the My Favorites folder, Control-click the preset there and choose Rename this preset. To remove a My Favorites preset, Control-click and choose Delete this preset.
• To hide any preset, Control-click the preset and choose Hide this preset. To show all hidden presets in a folder, Control-click any preset in that folder and choose Restore all hidden presets from this folder. To temporarily view the folder's hidden presets, which can be handy if you just want to momentarily browse them, choose Temporarily show hidden presets.

Section presets

Unlike the Effect Browser presets, these change ONLY the controls in ONE section of DissolveMaster controls. Mixing presets from several sections is a quick and easy way to try hundreds of fresh film dissolve variations. Within any section (aka "twirly") of controls, choose from the Preset menu.

 

Premiere Effect Presets

If you prefer, you can save DissolveMaster presets as effect presets in the usual place within Premiere, by selecting DissolveMaster, then choosing Save Preset from the Effect Controls panel menu. The saved presets will apear in Premiere's Effects panel, Presets section.

Detailed Help on Each DissolveMaster Control

 

Dissolve Keying

Set where the dissolve will start/end within the image, what image information will be used to form the dissolve, and edge softness.
Set the Key at... Choose the target for the next two Key controls in this section. For example, when a white "Key Color" is selected, choosing "Start of dissolve in Clip 1" will start the dissolve in the first clip's brightest areas; "End of Clip 1" will end the dissolve in the first clip's brightest areas. Likewise in the second clip if "Start of Clip 2" or "End of dissolve in Clip 2" is chosen. NOTE: When applied to only one non-overlapped clip, choose a "Clip 2" option for the clip's head or a "Clip 1" option for the clip's tail.
Key Type Choose the type of image information that will visually flow the dissolve over time. Click the adjacent Compare button to visually compare options. "Luminance" creates a dissolve based on brightness; a good choice to simulate optical/film dissolves. "Color" uses RGB values to start or end the dissolve in a particular hue within a clip. "Red channel" (or Green or Blue) uses the color intensity in one color channel. "Timing adjusted" options better match the dissolve's visual progress to the transition's actual start/end.
Key Color Use the eyedropper or color controls to set where the dissolve will visually start or end within your images. For example, if white is selected the dissolve will start or end (depending on "Set the Key at..." choice) in the clip's brightest areas; if black, then in the clip's darkest areas. If a color is chosen, the dissolve will start or end in color areas that most closely match. To use the eyedropper, click it, then click in the preview image.
Softness Adjust the edge softness of the dissolve.
Shape Choose a shape from several options. "Inverted" choices reverse the dissolve's direction of flow.

Shape

Use this section to conform the dissolve to a shape, partially or entirely. Create ultra-soft "directional dissolves" with a shape, for example, to subtly radiate a dissolve outward from any subject in a scene.
Shape Choose a shape from several options. "Inverted" choices reverse the dissolve's direction of flow.
Strength Set how strongly the dissolve conforms to the chosen shape.
Position Position the shape within the image by dragging the center point. If "Linear Wipe" is selected, you can adjust its angle by moving the center point. For more precision, enter numerical values, such as to match the shape in two different dissolves.

Blending

Optionally use Photoshop-like blend modes in this section to create new dissolve looks.
Mode 1 To fine-tune the look of the dissolving area within a clip, choose a Photoshop-like blend mode. NOTE: When applying DissolveMaster onto a single non-overlapped clip, blend modes other than "Normal" will produce irregular visual results.
Mode 2 Optionally choose a second blend mode for further visual creativity. NOTE: When applying DissolveMaster onto a single non-overlapped clip, blend modes other than "Normal" may produce irregular visual results.
Blend Mix Adjust the mix of Mode 1 and Mode 2. Greater values increase the relative strength of Mode 2.
Mid Contrast Adjust the contrast in the dissolve area.
Gamma Adjust the brightness in the dissolve area.

Saturation

Optionally ramp the clip's color saturation during the dissolve.
Saturation Choose where the saturated color will appear.
Strength Adjust the intensity of the color saturation during the dissolve.

Blur

Optionally add a blur to the dissolve's look.
Blur Choose where the blur will appear within the image. NOTE: When applied to only one non-overlapped clip, "Blur Clip 1 only" will be ignored at the clip's head and "Blur Clip 2 only" will be ignored at the clip's tail.
Strength Adjust the blur's strength.

Glow

Optionally add a glow to the dissolve.
Color Select the glow color using the eyedropper or color controls. To use the eyedropper, click it, then click in the preview.
Mode Set how the glow mixes into the images. "Add" tends to brighten or tint towards the chosen glow color. "Overlay" replaces the image with the chosen color.
Size Control the glow size.
Strength Set the visual strength of the glow.
Transparent Turn on this checkbox to show lower track visuals (such as a still-image or video clip) in the glow area instead of a glow color.

Progress Control the dissolve's progress over time, typically changing in value from 0 to 100. To ease-in/out the dissolve, adjust its start/end keyframes or add additional keyframes. To hold a dissolve, set two adjacent keyframes to equal value.

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