Shotcut tutorial · companion page
Twelve frames of overlap, the transition itself set to Cut, and five filters stacked on the overlap rather than on either clip. The outgoing shot is thrown forward, split into colour and blurred through the cut; the incoming shot decelerates out of it.
Reading in another language? Use the translate picker in the header, or your browser’s own translate command — the Shotcut filter, control and value names are marked to stay in English so they still match what is on your screen.
There is no zoom transition in Shotcut. What there is: an overlap between two clips, a transition whose video mode is set to Cut, and a stack of ordinary video filters applied to that overlap. The filters do the motion; the transition just decides where the picture changes.
Both clips sit on V1. Dragging the second one twelve frames into the first creates a transition clip, and the Filters panel then reads Transition. Every setting on this page lives on that one small block.
The transition’s video type is set to Cut with Position at 50 %, so the picture switches instantly at the midpoint. A dissolve would soften exactly the frames the effect needs to be violent.
The 360 filter is not being used for 360 footage at all. Swinging its FOV field wide and back is what produces the rushing, barrel-warped push, and it is done twice with different curves.
RGB Shift sits between the two 360 passes, so the second pass warps an image that is already split into colour. The blur and the zoom then ride on top of all of it.
[ it’s really a zoom distort transition — I happen to call it hyper zoom ]
Ben Espanto · 11:46
Twelve of these are Ben’s own chapters and keep his titles exactly — including the two that carry the same name, which are a first and a second pass of the same filter. His list stops at 12:15 while the video runs to 15:27; the last two cards are marked DERIVED and were read off the frames. Click any screencap or timestamp to play that section from its exact second, right here in the card.
“In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to do the Hyper Zoom transition, so stay tuned.”
The finished effect, playing in the cold open. Two ordinary landscape clips, and between them a few frames of streaked, rainbow-fringed light. Nothing here is a plugin or a downloaded transition.
“This tutorial is done on Shotcut version 23.12.15.”
Help → About Shotcut is open on screen and reads Shotcut version 23.12.15, copyright 2011–2023 Meltytech, LLC. This is a January 2024 recording, so the panels, the Sets tab and the filter names below all match a recent build — unlike the 2020-era tutorials elsewhere in this series.
“I’m going to transition from this river video and transition into this waterfalls video.”
Two clips in the Playlist: #1 River.mp4, Duration: 00:00:36:02, and #2 waterfalls.mp4, Duration: 00:00:42:05. Both are dragged onto the same video track, V1 — there is no second track anywhere in this build.
“Position the cursor at the very end of that first clip and then using the left arrow on your keyboard, you count 12 steps backwards.”
The playhead goes to the last frame of River.mp4, then twelve presses of the left arrow walk it back twelve frames. The second clip is dragged left until it snaps to that playhead, and the twelve-frame overlap becomes a transition clip — the purple cross-hatched block on V1. Everything that follows happens inside that block.
“So all we did was load filters into the transition box, but we haven’t really done anything. We haven’t made any settings.”
With the transition clip selected the Filters panel header reads Transition — the filters belong to the overlap, not to either clip. Five are added in this exact order and nothing is configured yet: 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear, RGB Shift, 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear again, Blur: Gaussian, Size, Position & Rotate.
“Go to the FOV section and type in 148. … click the keyframe icon to lock that setting.”
The other four filters are unchecked so only this one is live. Interpolation stays on Bilinear, Yaw, Pitch and Roll stay at 0.000 deg and Fisheye at 0 %. Only FOV is keyframed, and its stopwatch lights up teal once it is.
“All you need to do is go into the horizontal and choose 50 and that’s it. That’s the only setting. You’re not going to need any keyframes for this one.”
The one static filter in the stack. Vertical is left at its default 40.0 % and Horizontal is typed to 50 %. Neither stopwatch is lit — the colour split holds the same value across all twelve frames, which is what gives the streaks their chromatic edge.
“Again, I’m going to position the cursor all the way to the beginning … set this to 148. Then lock it in … go to the very end and now choose 138.”
The same filter a second time, sitting after RGB Shift so it warps the already-split image rather than the clean one. Two keyframes only: FOV 148.000 deg on the first frame, FOV 138 deg on the last. A gentle, almost linear settle, against the violent swing of the first pass.
“I’m going to select 0% at the beginning … count to 6 … type in 20%, which creates another keyframe. And then go to the very end and again click 0.”
Added from the search as Blur: Gaussian. Its default Amount of 4.0 % is replaced by three keyframes — 0 %, 20 %, 0 % — so the blur peaks exactly on the cut and is gone by the last frame. Blur alpha stays checked throughout.
“Go to the zoom setting and set this to 165.9 … click the keyframe icon … count to 6 … and then go back to the zoom setting and click 0.”
The app spells this one Size, Position & Rotate. Typing 165.9 into Zoom rewrites the rectangle to Position −632, −356 and Size 3,186 x 1,792. The stopwatch sits on the Size row and governs Position, Size and Zoom as one keyframed rectangle. Size mode Fill, Horizontal fit Center, Vertical fit Middle and Rotation 0.0 are untouched.
“It’s really a zoom distort transition. I happen to call it hyper zoom.”
The finished twelve frames, played full screen. The outgoing river shot rushes forward and tears into colour, the hard cut lands under the peak of the blur, and the waterfall shot decelerates out of it. No export dialog is ever opened in this video, so no render settings are on record.
“Instead of having to remember these settings all the time … go into the filter module and select this icon right here called save a filter set.”
The fifth button in the Filters toolbar — the stacked-discs icon, tooltip Save a filter set — opens a dialog titled Copy Filters reading “Enter a name to save a filter set, or leave blank to use the clipboard”. The name typed is HyperZoom. Filters, values and keyframes all travel with it.
“Every video on my channel was done on Shotcut. … Visit my Shotcut Tips and Tricks playlist.”
Derived from the frames. YouTube’s chapter list stops at 12:15 while the video runs to 15:27. Shotcut is closed at about 14:30 and the rest is a browser tour: the Ben Espanto channel page, the Newest Projects row and the Shotcut Tips and Tricks playlist, ending on the BENTACULAR channel banner.
“So once again, please subscribe. And I’ll see you next time.”
Derived from the frames. The end card comes up at about 15:17: the subscribe prompt, the bentacular Instagram badge, and a note that links to the gear used are in the description.
Every number below was read off the screen in the video. Nothing here is a recommended-sounding guess — if a value is not stated, it is because it was never shown.
Open the two clips into the Playlist and drag them one after the other onto the same video track. In the video that track is V1 and it is the only video track in the project — nothing is stacked, nothing is composited.
The player status bar reads “Preview scaling is ON at 540p” and the project runs to 00:01:23:03. Preview scaling is a playback setting only; it does not change what is exported.
Park the playhead on the last frame of the first clip, then press the left arrow twelve times, counting as you go. Leave the playhead there, grab the second clip and drag it left until it snaps to the playhead. The twelve frames where the clips now overlap become a transition clip — the purple cross-hatched block.
Twelve is the whole budget for the effect. Six frames out, the cut, six frames in. Nothing on this page happens outside that block.
Select the overlap and open Properties. The panel is headed Transition. In the Video list choose Cut — the second entry, above Custom... and below Dissolve. Choosing Cut swaps the Softness slider for a Position slider; set it to 50 %.
Position 50 % puts the picture change exactly halfway through the twelve frames, which is where the blur peak lands later.
With the overlap still selected, switch to Filters and add all five before configuring any of them. The panel header stays on Transition, which is how you know the filters are attached to the overlap and not to a clip.
Search terms used on screen: 360 for the two equirectangular passes, RGB shift, blur and size.
Order is the technique. The third filter must sit after RGB Shift so it distorts an image that is already colour-split.
Uncheck the other four filters so you can see what this one is doing. Put the playhead on the first frame of the overlap, type 148 into FOV and click the stopwatch to start keyframing. Then walk forward with the right arrow and type the next value at each stop.
Interpolation stays Bilinear; Yaw, Pitch and Roll stay at 0.000 deg and Fisheye at 0 %. The one-frame jump from 34 to 179 is what snaps the picture inside out across the cut.
Check RGB Shift back on and set Horizontal to 50 %. Leave Vertical on its default 40.0 %. Do not touch the stopwatches — this filter is deliberately static.
Check the third filter on. Playhead to the first frame, FOV to 148, stopwatch on. Playhead to the last frame, FOV to 138. That is the entire filter.
A ten-degree drift, against the first pass’s swing from 148 to 34 to 179. The second pass is a lens, not a whip.
Check Blur: Gaussian on. Its default Amount is 4.0 %; overwrite it. Playhead to the first frame, Amount to 0 %, stopwatch on. Six frames forward, 20 %. Last frame, back to 0 %.
The blur peak and the Cut both land on frame 6. That coincidence is what stops the eye reading a splice.
Check Size, Position & Rotate on. Playhead to the first frame and type 165.9 into Zoom. Shotcut rewrites the rectangle for you. Click the stopwatch — it sits on the Size row and keyframes Position, Size and Zoom together. Six frames forward, type 0 into Zoom.
Size mode stays Fill, Horizontal fit Center, Vertical fit Middle, Rotation 0.0, Background color untouched. On the Zoom 0 % keyframe the Position and Size fields still read −632, −356 and 3,186 x 1,792 on screen; only Zoom was retyped.
With the transition still selected, click the fifth button in the Filters toolbar — the stacked-discs icon, tooltip Save a filter set. A dialog titled Copy Filters asks for a name; the placeholder reads optional. Type a name and press OK. In the video the name is HyperZoom.
To reuse it, select any clip or transition, click + in the Filters panel and switch to the Sets tab beside Favorite, Video and Audio. Search for the name and pick it.
Leaving the name blank puts the filters on the clipboard instead of saving a set — the same dialog does both jobs.
Read directly off the frames of the video. Keyframe positions are given as frames within the twelve-frame overlap.
| Setting | Value | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Shotcut version | 23.12.15 | Help → About Shotcut |
| Frame size | 1,920 x 1,080 | Size, Position & Rotate default Size |
| Preview scaling | ON at 540p | Player status bar |
| Project duration | 00:01:23:03 | Player, Project tab |
| Source clip 1 | River.mp4 · 00:00:36:02 | Playlist #1 |
| Source clip 2 | waterfalls.mp4 · 00:00:42:05 | Playlist #2 |
| Track stack | V1 only — both clips, one track | Timeline |
| Overlap length | 12 frames | Counted with the left arrow key |
| Transition video type | Cut | Properties → Transition |
| Position (transition) | 50 % | Properties → Transition |
| Invert Wipe | Unchecked | Properties → Transition |
| Preview (transition) | Checked | Properties → Transition |
| Transition audio | Cross-fade · Mix 0 % | Properties → Transition |
| Filter 1 | 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear | Filters on the transition clip |
| Filter 2 | RGB Shift | Filters on the transition clip |
| Filter 3 | 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear | Filters on the transition clip |
| Filter 4 | Blur: Gaussian | Filters on the transition clip |
| Filter 5 | Size, Position & Rotate | Filters on the transition clip |
| Filter set name | HyperZoom | Save a filter set → Sets tab |
| Filter | Field | Value | Keyframed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear (1st) | Interpolation | Bilinear | no |
| Yaw | 0.000 deg | no | |
| Pitch | 0.000 deg | no | |
| Roll | 0.000 deg | no | |
| FOV | 148.000 → 34 → 179 → 154 deg | yes | |
| Fisheye | 0 % | no | |
| RGB Shift | Vertical | 40.0 % (default) | no |
| Horizontal | 50 % | no | |
| 360: Equirectangular to Rectilinear (2nd) | Interpolation | Bilinear | no |
| Yaw / Pitch / Roll | 0.000 deg | no | |
| FOV | 148.000 → 138 deg | yes | |
| Fisheye | 0 % | no | |
| Blur: Gaussian | Amount | 0 % → 20 % → 0 % | yes |
| Blur alpha | Checked | no | |
| Size, Position & Rotate | Position | −632, −356 | yes (with Size / Zoom) |
| Size | 3,186 x 1,792 | yes (stopwatch sits here) | |
| Zoom | 165.9 % → 0 % | yes (with Position / Size) | |
| Size mode | Fill | no | |
| Horizontal fit | Center | no | |
| Vertical fit | Middle | no | |
| Rotation | 0.0 deg | no |
| Frame | 360 pass 1 · FOV | 360 pass 2 · FOV | Blur · Amount | SPR · Zoom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First frame | 148.000 deg | 148.000 deg | 0 % | 165.9 % |
| Frame 6 — the cut | 34 deg | — | 20 % | 0 % |
| Frame 7 | 179 deg | — | — | — |
| Last frame | 154 deg | 138 deg | 0 % | — |
Two values are never shown on screen and are not guessed here: the project frame rate, and any export or render settings — the finished transition is played back in the player at 12:05, and no export dialog is ever opened. The overlap is twelve frames because twelve left-arrow presses are counted out loud and on camera, not because a duration field was read.
Machine transcribed from the video audio. Spoken phrasing is left as-is; only the product and filter names Whisper mangled have been corrected. Every timestamp plays the video in the hero from that second.
In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to do the Hyper Zoom transition, so stay tuned.
I'm just a normal person with no video editing background.
I wanted to start making YouTube videos and maybe cool transitions and effects.
I don't really plan on being a professional video editor,
so I was looking for a free, easy-to-learn video editing software.
Luckily, I stumbled on Shotcut, a free, open-source video editing program
that can do many of the tricks you can do on more enterprise video editors
like Adobe Premiere or DaVinci Resolve,
but with a much simpler and leaner interface,
thus dramatically shortening the learning curve.
It just takes using your imagination.
So let's learn together.
This tutorial is done on Shotcut version 23.12.15.
So the first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to choose the two videos
that I'm going to use to transition from and transition to.
In this tutorial, I'm going to transition from this river video
and transition into this waterfalls video.
So I'm going to drag the river video into the timeline
and then I'm also going to drag the waterfalls video also on the same track on the timeline.
Now I'm going to choose the section where I'm going to cut and blend into the next video.
So let's pretend like this very end here is where I want it to transition.
So the next thing you need to do is position the cursor at the very end of that first clip
and then using the left arrow on your keyboard, you count 12 steps backwards.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve
and keep the cursor in that position and then you're going to go to the other clip
and you're going to drag it over the previous video until it clicks into where that cursor is positioned
and that's going to create an overlap like this
and your entire transition is going to occur in this overlap area.
Once you've done that, select the overlap, go to the properties tab
and you're going to choose cut and then in the options you're going to see position
and you're going to want to put that to 50 and this is what's going to happen after you've made that choice.
It's going to make a hard cut exactly at the midpoint of that transition
and that's exactly what you want to happen.
We should be done with the properties tab
and so while that overlap is selected, you now want to go to filters
and we're going to preload a bunch of filters.
The first filter we want to add is called 360 equirectangular to rectilinear.
I'm just going to do a search for 360 and we're looking for equirectangular to rectilinear.
The next filter we're going to load is called RGB shift
and so we're going to go in here RGB shift and there it is.
The third filter we're going to load is a duplicate of the equirectangular to rectilinear.
So again, we're going to go to the plus, we're going to look for 360
and we're going to find equirectangular to rectilinear.
The fourth filter we're going to load is the blur Gaussian.
So we're going to look for blur and select that.
And last but not least, we're going to load the size position and rotate filter.
So I'm just going to look for size there.
So all we did was load filters into the transition box, but we haven't really done anything.
We haven't made any settings.
And so if I play this, it's really not going to make any sense whatsoever.
See, nothing in what we did really did anything yet.
And so what we want to do is we want to go back to each individual filter and set all the settings.
So now we need to go back to the equirectangular to rectilinear, the first one.
And actually what I'll do is I'll uncheck the other ones so it doesn't affect our video.
So let's start with this one.
We're going to have to employ keyframes in this.
And so the first thing I'm going to do is position the cursor at the beginning of this transition.
And then I'm going to go into the equirectangular to rectilinear and go to the FOV section and type in 148.
Once I've done that, I'm now going to go over here and click the keyframe icon to lock that setting.
And all of a sudden the keyframe box is going to show up here.
And I'm just going to go ahead and make it a little bigger so it's a lot easier for us to see what's going on.
So if you remember, this transition box is 12 frames long.
And so obviously halfway would be six frames.
So what I'm going to do is while I'm at the beginning of the keyframe, I'm then going to count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, which is the halfway point.
And in that halfway point, I'm then going to go back to the FOV setting and I'm going to type 34, which locks in a brand new keyframe.
I'm then going to go one frame over and then I'm going to type 179.
And then last but not least, I'm going to go to the very end of the keyframe and I'm going to type 154.
And now we're done with this particular filter.
So if I go back to the timeline and I play it, this is what you're going to see.
And I'm going to go step by step so you can see what's happening here.
Again, it's giving you a little semblance of what I'm doing, but again, you're not getting the full effect yet.
So now I'm going to go to RGB shift and I'm going to check that.
Once again, we're going to go to the transition point and this one's going to be easy.
All you need to do is go into the horizontal and choose 50 and that's it.
That's the only setting.
You're not going to need any keyframes or anything for this one.
Just set it to 50 and again, let's see what happens here.
Again, it did something.
But nothing too dramatic yet.
So now I'm going to go back to the third filter and I'm going to activate that.
And that's also the 360 equirectangular to rectilinear.
And so for this one, again, I'm going to position the cursor all the way to the beginning.
And I'm again going to go to the FOV setting and I'm going to set this to 148.
Then I'm going to lock it in again, clicking the keyframe icon.
I'm going to go to the very end and now I'm going to choose 138.
Again, this is what it does.
The next filter I'm going to activate is the blur Gaussian.
And for here, again, I'm going to position my cursor at the beginning of the transition.
And I'm going to select 0% at the beginning.
I'm then going to click the keyframe icon and then I'm going to count to 6.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
And in that position, I'm then going to type in 20%, which creates another keyframe.
And then I'm going to go to the very end and I'm again going to click 0.
So this is what happens when I've added that filter.
Last but not least, I'm now going to activate the size position and rotate filter.
I'm again going to select that transition point.
And in here, what we're going to do is position the cursor at the beginning again.
And I'm going to go to the zoom setting and I'm going to set this to 165.9.
And once I've done that, I'm then going to click the keyframe icon,
which once again loads the keyframe module.
I'm going to count to 6, typing the right arrow on your keyboard.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
And then I'm going to go back to the zoom setting and I'm going to click 0.
And then I can now go back to the timeline.
So I think once you've set all those settings,
I think you're there.
So let's see what happens.
I'm going to go by, I'm going to do it frame by frame.
So again, we're going to zoom.
So let's see if I can do it faster.
Let me start a little earlier here.
And that's basically the effect.
It's really a zoom distort transition.
I happen to call it hyper zoom.
So why don't I render this so you see the end result?
So after you've loaded all your filters and set all the settings,
instead of having to remember these settings all the time,
what you can do is you can actually go into the filter module
and select this icon right here called save a filter set.
And you could select that.
And I'm going to call this one hyper zoom.
So what happens is it saves not only all the filters,
but locks in all the settings.
So I'll show you what it does.
So if I went back into this transition and I deleted all of the filters,
what I can do while that is selected is I can click the plus icon.
And then instead of going into the filters here,
I can go to this set section and I can type in hyper zoom.
And as you can see, it reloaded all the settings,
all the filters along with all the presets that I just put in there.
And so now you know how to do this transition,
but I also save this as a filter set that I can share.
You can actually download filter sets that other creators have created
and upload it into your Shotcut so that you don't have to remember
how to do all of these things.
And so I've showed you how to do it.
And I actually have a copy of all of my filter sets.
And so I can share these filter sets,
but at this point only members of my channel have access to these filter sets.
So if you want a copy of all my filter sets,
I'll give you access to it if you are a member of my channel.
So with all that being said, I hope this tutorial was helpful for you.
And I'll see you next time.
Every video on my channel was done on Shotcut.
So aside from examples of what Shotcut can do,
you can also visit my playlist of tips and tutorials,
all geared toward the beginner.
Visit my Shotcut tips and tricks playlist
and learn all the tips and tricks I've learned during my journey
toward video editing.
So once again, please subscribe.
And I'll see you next time.
