How to create a timeline transition effect in After Effects from scratch

You’ve probably been seeing cool timeline transition effects everywhere on social right now. They’re definitely having a moment, and we’re fans too. We recently uploaded this video to our Instagram, and people are loving it.

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We’ve broken down exactly how to recreate the effect in our YouTube tutorial, or you can read on to get your step-by-step guide. 

Learn how to create a stunning transitionary effect using the After Effects 3D tracker that can pull your audience from clip to clip with a seamless, dynamic style. 

• Create a dynamic transition using the AE camera tracker tools.
• Add titles to your 3D environments for automatic tracking animations.
• Build your own 3D transition and impress your viewers with this incredible visual effect.

Working with viewers

The media viewer panels are a vital tool when working with 3D cameras. However, working with different views can be a little confusing if you’ve never done so. So, before we create the effect, we’ll look at how to use and assign viewers to the angles you need to see.

At the bottom of the Media Viewer are 2 dropdown menus, which will initially be set to 1 view and Active Camera. To add a different view, click the 1 view dropdown and choose how many windows you want to see.

Once you’ve chosen the number of views, select one in the Media Viewer and go to the Active Camera dropdown. Here, you can change the angle you see within that viewer window.

When working with 3D cameras, it’s a good idea to view at least one secondary angle. You can choose from Front, Back, Left, or Right. Active Camera View shows you what the Camera is seeing—this will be what your final export view will look like.

How to create a cool transition using the 3D camera motion tracking

To create a trendy 3D transition, you’ll need to use the 3D tracker to match the camera movements. The sequence length will depend on several factors, including the size and duration of your effect, the footage you use, and the complexity of the movement in the shot.

Step 1: Creating your camera tracking

The first step is creating solid camera tracking for your background footage. It is worth taking extra time to ensure you get this step right, as everything else will be built on these initial tracking points.

1. Place your footage in the Timeline and trim it as required.
2. If needed, reverse the footage by right-clicking > Time > Time-reverse Layer.
3. You can also adjust the Scale and Position of your background clip at this point.
4. When you are happy with your footage, right-click and choose Pre-Compose.
5. Name the new comp and select Move all attributes to New Composition.
6. Hit OK and select the new comp in the Timeline.
7. Go to the Tracker panel, which can be found in the window menu if not already displayed in your interface.
8. With your comp selected, hit Track Camera in the Tracker panel.
9. After Effects will track the movement in your shot – this can take some time, depending on the length and size of your footage.
10. When the tracking is complete, you’ll see colored marks across your footage.
11. In the Effects Control Panel, hit Create Camera.

Step 2: Adding tracking titles

While the end result doesn’t require title effects, we’ll quickly show you how to add them to your scene as well. This cool effect can work in everything from promotional videos to movie titles. To learn more, check out our full 3D Title Tracking guide.

1. Grab your Text tool from the toolbar and click on the Media Viewer.
2. Type your title and adjust your design’s font, style, and color.
3. In the Layer Menu, drag the text layer between the background and the camera.
4. Click the 3D enable checkbox, and adjust the position of the title to fit in the scene.

Step 3: Creating your transition graphic

The next step is to create the graphic you want to transition into. For our example, we’ll use a photo of piano keys, but the technique can work with any image or graphic you wish to blend.

1. Import your image or screenshot, and from the Media Browser, right-click > New Comp from Selection.
2. Open the new composition and hit Command/Control + K to open the sequence settings.
3. Uncheck the Lock Aspect Ratio box and click on the Width box.
4. At the end of the current width, type *5 and hit ok.
5. Move the screenshot to the far right of the canvas.
6. Select the image and hit Command/Control + D to duplicate it.
7. Move the duplicate across the Canvas and select your Mask Shape tool.
8. Create a mask around the area you want to repeat for the effect.
9. Create as many duplicates of the masked section as you need to fill up the canvas from right to left.
10. Return to your main composition and drag the graphic comp to the timeline.

Step 4: Creating the transition movement

Next, we’ll create a cool transition animation that moves from the first image to the second. This step can be tricky and will vary depending on your background footage and the camera tracking points.

1. Move the graphic layer below the camera and make it 3D.
2. In the Media Viewer, adjust the Orientation and Position to match the road in your shot as closely as possible. 
3. The Camera Tracking will take care of the movement, but finding the best positioning can take some time.
4. In the Layers Panel, change the Mode to Lighten.
5. Place your Playhead at the start of the graphic comp and hit T on your keyboard.
6. Create a keyframe for the opacity and set it to 0. 
7. Move forward to where you want the graphic to take over from the footage and adjust the opacity to 100.
8. Create similar keyframes for the background layer to reduce the opacity as the graphic transitions.

Step 5: Finishing the effect

The final step is to animate the Camera to land on the entire graphic or photo. Moving the Camera in a 3D environment can be confusing, but keep practicing and changing your Media View, and you’ll soon get the hang of it.

1. Select the Camera layer and hit U on your keyboard to reveal the keyframes.
2. Zoom in on your timeline and delete all camera keyframes after the last background opacity keyframe.
3. Move the playhead along the timeline to the point where you want the transition to complete.
4. Adjust the position and orientation of the camera to focus on your final image.
5. When you’re happy with the positioning animation, select the last keyframe and right-click > Keyframe Assistant > Easy Ease.
6. Click on the Graph Editor button and adjust the speed of your final camera movement. 
7. Play around with the movement of the camera until you have a smooth transition you like.
8. Finally, click the Motion Blur box for the graphic layer in the Layers menu to create a relaxed blur style.

Troubleshooting and top tips

This effect can go wrong or become overly complicated at several stages. Here are some of our top tricks and troubleshooting methods to help you overcome any issues. Check out this handy guide if you need more help using the 3D Camera Tracker tools.

3D camera tracking fails

If you’re trying to track the camera movements in your shot, and your system keeps failing or crashing, it is likely a RAM issue. Tracking camera movements takes a lot of processing power, and your device may not be up to the task.

If you’re experiencing this issue, try closing other applications, clearing some memory, or decreasing the scale/duration of the clip you’re tracking to make the process more manageable for your device.

Unable to solve camera/tracking points are wrong

If you get an Unable to Solve Camera error message or the Tracking Points added are wrong, AE is likely having trouble identifying 3D tracking points and building the environment. 

Try switching the Show Tracking Points option to 2D Solved and reanalyzing the footage before switching back to 3D Solved. We’re not sure why this works, but it seems to fix the error in most cases.

Unable to solve the camera for this frame

If you get an error message saying AE was “unable to solve the camera for this frame,” it means that there is one frame in the entire video that it could not analyze. The most straightforward fix is to remove the offending frame from the video, and fortunately, in most cases, it will be the first frame.

Background disappears when adding camera

If you add your camera to the timeline and your background layer disappears from view, the background has become 3D enabled. Make sure the 3D checkbox is unchecked for the background layer, and it should reappear.

Motion Tracking in After Effects is super easy—the software does most of the work for you. However, the powerful toolkit allows you to create stunning visual effects and dynamic motion graphics animations. Now that you understand a bit more about the 3D Tracker in After Effects try mixing techniques to see what you can create.

Wrapping up

So there you have it. Now, you should be able to create tons of trendy transition effects from scratch in After Effects. Don’t forget to check out Motion Array for awesome music, footage, video templates, and more to bring your next video project to life.