If you are trying to add transitions to clips in your timeline in Davinci Resolve but are having problems with the transition only applying to one side of the clip or sometimes neither side. This article will show you what is causing transition not to apply to clips in Davinci Resolve and how to fix them. Thankfully this is a really quick and easy process that won't take you long to solve.
Takeaways:
- Why can't I drag and drop transitions onto some clips in Davinci Resolve?
- Transitions only apply to one side of a clip in Davinci Resolve.
Table of Contents
How to Fix Transitions Not Working in Davinci Resolve
Interestingly this isn't actually an issue with Davinci Resolve and simply a user knowledge issue. Don't stress though as you're about to learn exactly what's happening and how to fix the problem.
- To begin, open Davinci Resolve and make sure that you have a couple of clips in your timeline, ready for you to add a transition.
Now that you have done this it's important to understand how transitions work. When you have two clips side by side adding a transition uses a small portion, usually between 15 and 30 frames of each clip as a buffer. Basically the transition footage. So in order for this to work you need to have a spare 15-30 or even longer spare for the transition to be applied. Without a buffer, the transition will refuse to be placed on the timeline or will only apply to one side. The side with a buffer. So to fix this you'll need to do the following.
- Shorten the two clips a little on each end (do not use the cut to but the drag to adjust option)
- Once you have adjusted the clips to have a small amount of buffering you can connect them together again.
- Now that the clips have some transitioning space you'll be able to drag and drop a transition onto the timeline exactly where you want it.
- If you still can't drop the transition or if it only catches one side you might need to increase the buffer zone a little bit.
Keep in mind that whatever footage is hidden in the buffer zone will still feature in the transition quite often, especially if you are using a cross-dissolve. So you might end up with a weird janky transition if you have some bad footage you are trying to cut out. When this happens try another transition that doesn't show as much clear footage. Something like a blur transition works well for covering these kinds of glitches.
What about Audio Transitions in Davinci Resolve?
The same exact system and methods also apply to audio transitions in Davinci Resolve so follow the exact same steps, just reduce the music/song length a little using the slider then drop the transition you want to use on the timeline. However, I've found that music transitions generally work better if you just keyframe volume increases or decreases manually. They come across quite a lot smoother than using the default transitions within Resolve.
