How to Build a Custom Transition Scene

Introduction

The following HowTo is a guide to build a custom Transition Scene to blend or animate between two Scenes inside of Ventuz Director. For more details about Scene Transitions  click Here

The Transition Scene is placed between the Layout Port and the Scene when it's cued with a Template/Scene. When the animation or Transition is complete, the Transition Scene is released and only the active Scene is rendered in the Program Pipe. This enables Ventuz to blend or animate between these two Scenes in any way. As both Scenes are rendered in at the same time when a Transition Scene is cued, the machine needs to have enough resources for both. Keep this in mind when using performance-heavy Scenes and make sure to test.

While there are many built-in Transitions, it's also possible to create custom Transitions for your project. Here's how you create your own customized Transition:

Setup a Scene

In Ventuz Designer, there is a menu that has preset Scenes to make getting started easier:
 Click File -> New From Preset -> Scene Transistion.

In this preset Scene, you will see the base requirements for a Transition Scene:

• 2 Scene Port Layers. The first to hold the Program Pipe content and the second for the Preview Pipe.
• The Main Animation is in Template mode and has a Begin State connected to a Present State.
• The Scene is saved with .trans at the end of the name. For example: CustomTransition.trans.vzs This naming scheme is mandatory for Ventuz to recognize the Scene as a Transition! Removing the .trans in the name will change the behavior of the Scene to a standard Scene.

By default, the Template Scene Transition uses the Mixer Layer which helps to blend between two Layers. This is a very useful tool for nice blends, but it is not mandatory for the custom Transition to work.

Basic Idea

For this HowTo we will create a simple cross-fade between the two Scenes. A cross-fade is one of the simplest Transitions and is also included in the internal default Transitions in the Director. It is an easy start to demonstrate the workflow of a custom Transition.

The Scene in the Preview Pipe (Scene Port To) should be increased in opacity over time and the Program Pipe (Scene Port A) decreased. The Begin State of our Animation should only show the first Scene Port (current Program Pipe) and the Present State should only show the second Scene Port (Preview Pipe). When the transition has completed, the Scene will automatically go to the Program Pipe and release the Preview Pipe for its next use.

Building Cross-Fade Transition

Loading Content

First, we need content in the Scene Port to Transition From and To:

1. Navigate to the Scene Layer From in the Layer Editor, go to Scene, and  click the (...).
2. Load your own image or select an image from the _HELP_ folder.
3. Repeat the same for Scene Layer To, but with a different image.
   • Alternatively you can load any Ventuz Scene or a movie.

Animating the Cross-fade

Thanks to the Mixer Layer, the cross-fade between two Layers is very easy. The default setting of the Mixer Layer is to Mix between both ports with the input Property Progress.

Add the Progress input to the Main Animation and animate it:
(Note: When using the Template Transition Scene this step and the following animation is already done.)

1.  Click on Progress and  click Animate.
2. Switch to the Animate Tab in the top-right menu.
3. Navigate to the State Logic tab of the Main Animation.

You will find a Begin and a Present State and a connection between these two. The drawn rectangle in the middle of the connection represents the data of the Transition.  click on the rectangle to edit the Transition name and the displayed name for the Director UI. You can also use a description and a category. Similar to the Templates, Thumbnails can be added at the bottom of the Property editor.

Since the connection between these two States represents our Transition, all our blending and animating has to be done here. We switch to the Timeline tab. (simply press T)

Note: It might be necessary to activate the Monitor Timeline and Value switch in the top-right corner of the Animation Editor, to see your timeline cursor moving.

There are already two channels in the Timeline. By default, these are bound to the Transition Info Node to control the audio level in the Scene Ports during the transition.

For the cross-fade, simply animate the Progress channel from 0 on From to 100 on To  click on the keyframe of From and set 0 and navigate with the timeline cursor to To and set 100.

In general, we always want From be solely visible on the beginning of the Transition and To solely at the end. This is necessary to have a issue-free Cue and Take process.

With space-bar you can trigger the playback of the timeline and see your animation. Alternatively you can move around with the cursor to manually watch the animation.

The general duration is defined by the length of the connection between the two States. Per default, it is set to 1 second. You will see To at the time marker of 1s or 10.0 (depending on your Timeline settings) To change the default duration, move the To (Present State). The timing also can be changed in the Director.

Okay our basic cross-fade animation is done now.

Saving for Use in Director

The Scene Ports must be empty before saving and switching to Director.

1. Go to each Scene Port Layer and  click the small revert icon, next to the Scene Property.
2. Save the Transition.
   • For example as: CustomTransition.trans.vzs. Don't forget the .trans in the name!
3. Add the Scene to the Published Scenes now or do it in a moment when opening the Director.

Using Transition Scenes in Director

The work in Designer is done now, so we can switch to Director.

1. Close the Ventuz Designer.
2. Open Director.

To use a custom Transition the .tranz.vzs scene has to be part of the Project directory of the Director Show.

3. Open the Director Show of the Project we just created, or create a new Show by  clicking on the plus-icon and select your Project or  click Browse to select your Ventuz Project manually.

4. Ventuz will ask now for the Published Scenes if you havent done this step inside the Designer.
5. Select the Scenes that contain Templates or Transitions to use for the Director Show.
   • For this HowTo, select the Templates or Scenes you want to use for testing the Transition and the Transition Scene itself, e.g.: CustomTransition.trans.vzs.

When Ventuz Runtime is up and running and your Configuration is setup correctly, you should see now two blank windows and be able to cue a Template by  double-clicking on the icon in the Templates window.

Adding Transition

To add a Transition from one Template to another:

1. Cue a Template
2. Add your Transition from the Transition window to the Animation tab in the Properties window of the cued Template.

The Transition is always added to the cued item and defines how the Template comes in. So the Transition is always applied to the current content in the Program Pipe and the cued Template with the Transition.

The Duration property of the Transition overwrites the default timing. It simply stretches or squeezes the animation between the first and second State of your Transition. If you cue your Template or any item from the Asset Browser, like an image or video, and add your Custom Transition, you can see your Transition in action and have successfully built a custom Transition Scene!

Design Tips

Here are some design tips for building more complex Scenes:

• Use the Transition Info Node to build custom logic and control for your Transition or your Templates.
• Using the in-built Masks is a good way to blend between the Scene Layers. You can use a mask on the second Scene Layer which wont show the Layer at Begin State and reveal it to be fully shown at Present State.
• You can create Masks also from the rendering of another Layer. A Particle System for instance, can be used as Mask for the Scene Layer. Simply switch the 3D Layer with your Particle System under Layout to Offscreen Render Target. The Layer has a Texture output, which is bindable to the Default Texture Property of a Mask.
• Transitions can look different depending on the output's resolution. It is best to check your desired aspect ratio and also test other ratios if they may be used for production.
  • For very flexible Transitions, logic can help change the Transition depending on the outputs resolution. Check the Render Setup Relation Node to get the current information about your configuration.
• Like a Template, you can use the Animation Data to control the Transition, when cued in Designer. Simply add a Property to the Data Channel of the Transition Animation. You can use it for text input, which should be custom for each Transition.
• Depending on the the content of your Scenes and the design of the Transition, it might be necessary to have a background with a full alpha channel, for a visually appealing transition. You can simply add a black solid color background Layer. For more flexibility, bind the Blocked property to the Animation Data, and you can decide for each cue, if it should have a solid background.

Troubleshooting

If you're having difficulty cueing a template, here is a brief list to troubleshoot:

1. Go to the Configuration Editor and change the Device Config to none. This will activate a default Configuration with two Offscreen outputs.
2. In Director, go to Topology and check if the (local) Topology is activated.
3. Check if the default Director window layout is activated: Under Window --> Window Layout and select unnamed

These steps should bring the Configuration to a default basic setup. In general, you can use the Transition Scenes with the same setups you are used to in Director.

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