slide projector transition

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Level 1

20 points

slide projector transition

I would like to simulate a slide projector transition between stills. I see lots of "slide" transitions in the FCP effects bin, but none appear to have anything to do with the look and sound of a slide projector. I found a nice aiff file for the sound, but I'm having trouble on the visual effect. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks.

Macbook white 13" 2.1 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Feb 21, 2010 11:18 AM

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Answer 1

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,826 points

Feb 21, 2010 11:35 AM in response to John Muse

Hi =
Put the two clips you want to "slide change" between on the timeline.
Go to Effects > Video Transitions > Slide > Push Slide.
Drag the transition Push Slide to the transition between the two clips.
Double click on the transition once it is applied, in the Viewer window you will see the controls for the Push Slide effect.
On the right side you will see a Control for setting the angle the effect pushes, you want to set it to either 90 or -90 depending on which direction you want the images to slide (left to right or right to left).
Play the transition,
Control click on the transition and select Duration to set a shorter or longer duration.
Add your sound effect, you should be good to go.
Hope this helps.

Message was edited by: Meg The Dog

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Answer 2

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Feb 21, 2010 11:36 AM in response to John Muse

You could use the Push transition which will give you a smooth movement from the left or right.

It would probably look better with a keyframed move using the controls under the Motion tab in the Viewer though. You could add a keyframe or two in the middle to get a slightly imperfect mechanical movement which would add realism.

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Answer 3

John Muse Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 21, 2010 12:09 PM in response to Nick Holmes

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm thinking more of a Kodak Carousel transition: quick dissolve to black with a slight key-framed blur, a half-second of black, and then a quick dissolve to the next slide with a blur effect also. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCqMtJNU2s8 at around 53 seconds. I'll try something like this, but I thought there might be a few ready-made transitions out there.

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Answer 4

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,826 points

Feb 21, 2010 12:16 PM in response to John Muse

Ah, a Kodak Carousel transition. Different from the slides in my day, when slides, well, slid.
Sounds like you are on the right track!

MTD

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Answer 5

John Muse Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 21, 2010 12:21 PM in response to Meg The Dog

I'm a sucker for that carousel sound.

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Answer 6

John Muse Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 21, 2010 1:42 PM in response to John Muse

Here's my attempt. I think the timing is a few frames off. And I bailed on the blur: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMf9WS7ylOM

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Answer 7

Feb 21, 2010 3:28 PM in response to John Muse

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm thinking more of a Kodak Carousel transition: quick dissolve to black with a slight key-framed blur, a half-second of black, and then a quick dissolve to the next slide with a blur effect also.< </div>

That yu/tub clip was misleading because the shooter failed turn off auto-exposure. There is no dissolve with a Carousel unless you have two of them and a dissolver. The light is always on at full intensity.

Early Carousels did not have a black-out shutter mechanism and you could actually see the slides lift and drop. After about 1978, and with the introudciton of Ektagraphic and the 500 consumer models, Kodak introduced a mechanical shutter that flipped into the light path and obscured the mechanical transition. The same shutter prevented a white screen if a slide failed to drop or the slot in the tray was empty.

This is how a Carousel slide change occurs: the shutter moves up from the bottom (or from the left side, depending on model and vintage) in 0.28 second. The slide in the gate is raised. The tray advances. The new slide is dropped. The shutter reverses its position. This operation takes exactly 1.45 seconds. Exactly.

It was impossible to program a change of slides faster than 1.5 seconds until 1988 or so when several multi-image programmers discovered that a command could be given to the Ektagraphic line of projectors that caused the shutter to fly into place at the same instant the lift mechanism was fired. It was known as a douse or a speed-cut if your dissolver supported the function. This reduced the cycle time to 0.95 second on a new or well-oiled machine, about 1.2 seconds on mine.

I used to do 6-, 9-, and 24-projector slide shows. It was the most fun I've ever had in this stupid industry.

bogiesan

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Answer 8

John Muse Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 22, 2010 9:38 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

Hi, David. Yes, the clip is misleading. I'm thinking not of a real dissolve, but that subtle effect when the projector seats the slide, and/or autofocuses. A collaborator and I, once upon a time, create two-projector presentations with a controller (can't remember the name of it), audio cassettes playing the tones to drive the dissolves between the two.

I'm trying to simulate a relatively obscure artwork from 1971 so your remark about the black-out shutter mechanism interests me. Short of testing a few projectors from that year, I wonder what my best option would be? Have you seen any clips of slide projectors working? I need to learn more about the original work too.

1.45 seconds. That's helpful. I can work with that.

Thanks!

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Answer 9

Feb 22, 2010 9:54 AM in response to John Muse

Great, then you know what you're doing and what you want, couldn't tell from the original post.

The autofocus on the later projectors was quite fast although the film would buckle in the cardboard mount; the cneter could be in focus but the edges would be soft. We did all of our shows using Wess glass slide mounts so the focus never drifted.

If you want to simulate the Carousel's autofcous, you need to start the keyframe before the slide actually appears on the video screen. That is, in the Carousel, the slide dropped and the autofocus started to adjust before the shutter moved aside so the slide was slipping into focus as it appeared. The autofocus was not predictable. Each slide was a different physical body. The blast of air form the lamp cooling fan was directed up into the tray to not only try to blow some dust off the slides but to preheat them to minimize buckling. Ektachrome, Kodachome, GAF, Agfa or Fuji slides mixed into the same tray was an issue because every emulsion had a different thermal and humidity expansion coefficient.

bogiesan

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Answer 10

John Muse Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 22, 2010 10:10 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

Thanks for these details, David. Yes, I'm learning what I want from articulating it: I appreciate your patience.

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