Shotcut tutorial · companion page
Overlap two clips so Shotcut builds a transition object, open its Properties, set Video to Custom... at the bottom of the list, point it at a grayscale ink clip, then tick Invert Wipe. That is the entire effect. There is no filter in this project — not one — and no keyframe anywhere.
Reading in another language? Use the translate picker in the header, or your browser’s own translate command — the Shotcut control, option and value names are marked to stay in English so they still match what is on your screen.
One shot bleeds into the next through a spreading ink blot. It looks like compositing work and it is not: the ink is a plain grayscale video file handed to a transition as its wipe pattern. No track is added, no mask is drawn, no filter is applied.
The Filters panel is never opened once in the whole video. Everything happens in Properties on the transition object. If you came here expecting a mask or a chroma key, there is genuinely nothing of the sort — and that is the point of the technique.
Custom... is the last entry in the Video list and it takes a file instead of a built-in wipe. Feed it a grayscale video and Shotcut reads brightness as the reveal order, frame by frame. The ink clip never appears on the timeline.
Loaded and left alone, the transition plays the reveal backwards — the ink appears to close up rather than spread. Ticking Invert Wipe flips it. Ben shows the wrong version first on purpose, and says plainly that he does not know why it starts that way.
How long the ink takes is how wide the overlap is. Grab the edge of the X box on the timeline and stretch it. There is no duration field in Properties and no keyframe anywhere in the project, so this is the only control over timing you get.
[ All you need are two components: the videos you want to transition, and an ink bleed video ]
Ben Espanto · 1:24
This video has no chapters. Ben published it without a chapter list and none of the headings below are his. Every card is marked DERIVED: the boundaries were read off the frames and the timestamps are the moment the screen actually changes, not a marker Ben set. The quotes are his words; the section titles are not. Click any screencap or timestamp to play that moment right here in the card.
“In this tutorial, I want to show you how to do the ink transition I did on my previous New Mexico travel video, so stay tuned.”
0:03 · the opening plays over Ben’s Ruidoso, New Mexico travel vlog, which is where he first used the effect. He points at that vlog on screen and links it in the description. Nothing is built yet — this is the “here is what we are making” opening.
“So first things first, this tutorial will be done on Shotcut version 21.05.18.”
1:10 · the About Shotcut dialog, reached from Help → About Shotcut. It reads Shotcut version 21.05.18 and Copyright © 2011-2021 Meltytech, LLC. Every panel, list and dialog on this page is that build — read off the pixels, not taken from the spoken line.
“All you need are two components, the videos you want to transition and an ink bleed video you can download anywhere.”
1:28 · the Playlist already holds both source clips: pexels-mikhail-nilov-8306748.mp4 at 00:00:04:15 and pexels-mikhail-nilov-8306775.mp4 at 00:00:11:21. The ink clip is a third file that never goes on the timeline at all — it is only ever named inside the transition.
“You’ll need to find a grayscale video of basically ink bleeding into a canvas or a piece of paper. In this example, I’m going to use a clip called Ink Group 2.”
1:48 · the ink clip played full screen: black ink spreading across white, no colour anywhere. That contrast is the whole mechanism — Shotcut reads the clip as a moving luma wipe, so dark pixels show one shot and light pixels the other. Ben calls it “Ink Group 2” aloud; the file, shown later in Properties, is named ink-group02.mp4.
“I’ve loaded the two videos on Shotcut’s playlist. From there, I’m going to drag both files on the timeline. No need to create a separate track. They’ll both be on the same track.”
2:25 · both clips are dragged out of the Playlist onto one video track. The track head reads V1 beneath the Output label and a second video track is never created. Dropping the second clip flashes the Overwrite hint over the timeline.
“Once they’re both on the timeline, all you need to do is drag the second clip into the first clip to create an overlap. The box with an X is your overlap and that’s where your transition is going to happen.”
3:06 · the overlap becomes a real transition object on V1 — the purple box with the X across it, sitting between pexels-mikhail-nilov-8306748.mp4 and pexels-mikhail-nilov-8306775.mp4. How far you drag is how long the transition is; the drag tooltip reads the position as you go.
“If you select the overlap and click the properties tab, you’ll be sent to the transition dialog box.”
3:18 · with the X box selected, Properties shows a panel headed Transition rather than a filename. On this build it carries exactly four things: Video (defaulting to Dissolve), Invert Wipe, Softness at 20 %, and an Audio pair set to Cross-fade with Mix at 0 %.
“In the video section, you’ll need to click the drop-down window and scroll all the way down to custom.”
3:32 · the whole Video list on this build — twenty-five entries, from Dissolve at the top through the barn doors, matrix wipes, irises and boxes to Clock Top. Custom... is the very last one, highlighted here. It is below the fold of the list, which is why Ben says to scroll.
“Once selected, a new dialog box opens so you can choose your custom transition file, which in this example will be InkGroup2 and click open.”
3:46 · an ordinary Open File dialog, pointed at This PC › Desktop › Green Screens with the type filter on All Files. Seventeen ink clips sit in that folder and ink-group02.mp4 is the one picked. That folder is Ben’s own desktop, not a location you can copy.
“Now your transition file has just been loaded. So let’s test it out.”
3:56 · the chosen file now appears under the Video dropdown as ink-group02.mp4, with Invert Wipe still unchecked. Played in this state the ink appears to retreat rather than spread. Ben shows the wrong version on purpose before fixing it.
“The last step in this whole process is you need to make sure you go back to the InvertWipe checkbox and check it. Otherwise, for some reason, the transition starts backwards.”
4:12 · Invert Wipe checked, and nothing else in the panel touched: Softness stays at 20 %, Audio stays on Cross-fade. This single checkbox is the difference between ink spreading open and ink closing up.
“If the transition happens too fast, all you have to do is select the transition file again or the overlap and just stretch it. Just drag it.”
4:32 · dragging the edge of the transition object on the timeline. The trim tooltip reads +00:00:10 = 00:00:10:11. Length is set here and only here — there is no duration field anywhere in Properties and not a single keyframe in the project.
“So I’m going to render this so that you see what the final video looks like. And that’s how you do the InkBleed transition or just the InkTransition.”
5:10 · the finished result played full screen: ink floods the frame and the second shot is underneath it when it clears. Ben says he rendered it, but the Export panel is never opened on screen, so this page states no export settings at all.
“If you want a copy of these InkTransitions, you know the drill. First, if you haven’t subscribed yet, please subscribe to my channel. Then you’ll need to like this video. Finally, you’ll need to comment, I want your InkTransitions.”
5:52 · the on-screen caption spells out the exact comment to leave: I Want Your Ink Transitions. There is no download link in the video and none in its description — Ben says he replies to collect an email address and sends the files himself. Whether he still works that thread on a 2021 video is a question for him, not for this page.
Everything below was read off the frames of the video on Shotcut 21.05.18. Where a control has moved or been renamed on a current build, the step says so rather than pretending the interface stood still.
You need a video of dark ink spreading across a light background, with no colour in it. The clip is read as brightness, so anything with a strong black-to-white progression works — ink on paper, smoke, a paint splatter. Ben’s advice is simply that you “can download anywhere”: he names no site, no marketplace and no URL, and this page will not invent one.
The clip in this tutorial is one of seventeen sitting in a folder on Ben’s desktop. He offers copies at the end of the video — see the last step.
Open the two shots you want to join, drag them from the Playlist onto the timeline, and leave them on the same video track. A second track is not needed and is never created here. The track head reads V1, under the project-wide Output label at the top of the track panel.
On this build the project-wide target at the top of the track heads is labelled Output. On Shotcut builds from 2020 the same thing is called Master. Nothing here is applied to it either way — it is only what you will see in the screenshots.
Pull the second clip left so it runs into the tail of the first. The moment they overlap, Shotcut replaces the overlapping region with a transition object — a purple box with an X drawn corner to corner. Everything that follows happens on that box.
The overlap is spent footage. Both clips need spare material at the join — if the first shot ends exactly where the action ends, there is nothing to overlap with.
Click the transition object, then the Properties button. The panel that appears is headed Transition rather than a filename, which is how you know you have the transition selected and not one of the clips.
Open the Video dropdown and scroll to the bottom. Twenty-five entries on this build, and Custom... is the last one, below Clock Top. It is the only entry that takes a file instead of drawing a shape.
Selecting Custom... opens the file picker straight away. There is no separate browse button.
An ordinary Open File dialog opens with the type filter on All Files. Choose the ink clip and click Open. Its file name then appears in the panel directly beneath the Video dropdown, which is your confirmation it took.
Play it once before you do, so you can see what it fixes: the ink retreats instead of spreading. Tick the Invert Wipe checkbox and it runs the right way round. Ben’s own explanation is “otherwise, for some reason, the transition starts backwards” — he does not claim to know why, and neither does this page.
This is the only value in the entire project that changes from its default. Everything else in the panel is left exactly as Shotcut set it.
If the ink flashes past, click the transition object and drag its edge. The box grows, the ink takes longer, and the two clips slide further into each other. Shortening it works the same way. That is the whole timing control — there is no duration field and no keyframe to set.
Ben says he rendered the result to show it, but the Export panel is never opened on camera. No codec, bitrate or resolution is shown anywhere in this video, so none is stated here.
The video’s title says free transitions are included. There is no download link in the video and no link in its description — both were checked. What Ben describes instead is a request: subscribe, like the video, and leave the comment I Want Your Ink Transitions. He then replies to collect an email address and sends the files himself.
That was the arrangement in June 2021. Whether it still runs on a video this old is a fair question to put to Ben directly — this page reports what the video says, not what happens today. Any grayscale ink clip works in exactly the same way.
Read directly off the frames of the video. Where a row says a control is absent, it means the control does not appear on screen at any point — not that it was left at its default.
| Setting | Value | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Shotcut version | 21.05.18 | Help → About Shotcut |
| Copyright line | © 2011-2021 Meltytech, LLC | About Shotcut dialog |
| Source clip 1 | pexels-mikhail-nilov-8306748.mp4 · 00:00:04:15 | Playlist |
| Source clip 2 | pexels-mikhail-nilov-8306775.mp4 · 00:00:11:21 | Playlist |
| Track layout | V1 only | Timeline, under the Output head |
| Preview scaling | ON at 360p | Player status bar |
| Transition Video, default | Dissolve | Properties |
| Transition Video, used | Custom... | Properties · last of 25 entries |
| Custom wipe file | ink-group02.mp4 | Shown under the Video dropdown |
| Invert Wipe | Unchecked → Checked | Properties · the only value changed |
| Softness | 20 % | Properties · left at default |
| Transition Audio | Cross-fade | Properties · left at default |
| Mix, the alternative to Cross-fade | A — B, 0 % | Properties · not selected |
| File picker | Open File · All Files | Opens when Custom... is chosen |
| Folder browsed | This PC › Desktop › Green Screens | Ben’s own desktop · 17 ink clips |
| Trim tooltip while stretching | +00:00:10 = 00:00:10:11 | Timeline, mid-drag |
| Thing | Present? | What is on screen instead |
|---|---|---|
| Any filter at all | No | The Filters panel is never opened in the whole 7:19 |
| A mask filter | No | The reveal is the transition’s own wipe, driven by the ink clip’s brightness |
| A chroma key | No | The ink clip is grayscale, and it is never placed on a track to be keyed |
| Keyframes | No | The Keyframes tab sits beside Timeline unused for the whole video |
| A second video track | No | Ben says it explicitly: “no need to create a separate track” |
| A Position control on the transition | No | The panel carries only Video, Invert Wipe, Softness and Audio |
| A Preview checkbox | No | Not shown at any point, with either Dissolve or Custom... selected |
| The Export panel | No | The render is described but never shown, so no export setting is stated here |
| A download URL for the ink clips | No | Neither in the video nor in its description — the route is a comment and an email |
| The on-disk source of the ink clips | No | Only Ben’s own Green Screens folder is shown; where they came from is never said |
About that missing Position row. The companion page for the flash transition documents a Position slider and a Preview checkbox in this same Transition panel, on Shotcut 23.12.15 with Video set to Cut. Neither appears here. Two things differ at once — the build is two and a half years older and the transition type is different — and this video never selects Cut, so these frames cannot tell you which of the two explains it. The pages are reporting different screens, not disagreeing.
Why the ink clip has to be grayscale. A custom transition file is used as a luma wipe: for each frame, Shotcut reads the brightness of every pixel and uses it to decide how far through the transition that pixel is. Black is one end, white is the other, and the grays in between give the soft edge that makes ink look like ink rather than a hard stencil. Softness at 20 % adds a little more feather on top. Colour in the file would simply be read as brightness anyway, which is why a grayscale clip is the honest thing to feed it.
A note on the version. 21.05.18 is the same build as the split-screen and re-use-filters tutorials, and it is the era in which the project-wide filter target is called Output rather than the older Master. That naming is visible in the timeline track head on every screenshot on this page. None of it matters to the effect — this technique touches no filter and no output-level setting — but it is how you can tell at a glance which era a Shotcut screenshot came from.
Machine transcribed from the video audio. Spoken phrasing is left as-is; only names the transcriber mangled have been corrected — “shot cut” to Shotcut, “InvertWipe” to Invert Wipe, and the run-together ink names spaced out. Every timestamp plays the video in the hero from that second. Nothing numeric on this page comes from here — all of it was read off the pixels.
In this tutorial, I want to show you how to do the ink transition I did on my previous
New Mexico travel video, 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.
If you haven’t seen my last travel vlog to Ruidoso, New Mexico, click the link
on the top right hand corner or find the link in the description below.
So first things first, this tutorial will be done on Shotcut version 21.05.18.
This transition is actually really easy, much easier than on other video editing tools.
All you need are two components, the videos you want to transition and an ink bleed video
you can download anywhere.
I’ll also give you instructions on how you can download a few ink bleed clips I’ve
already created at the end of this tutorial.
Here’s an example.
You’ll need to find a grayscale video of basically ink bleeding into a canvas or a piece of paper.
In this example, I’m going to use a clip called Ink Group 2.
Now that we have the transition file, we’re going to need to use videos.
I will be using these two.
Here’s the first one and here’s the second one.
I’ve loaded the two videos on Shotcut’s playlist.
From there, I’m going to drag both files on the timeline.
No need to create a separate track.
They’ll both be on the same track.
Once they’re both on the timeline, all you need to do is drag the second clip into the
first clip to create an overlap.
Just like this.
The box with an X is your overlap and that’s where your transition is going to happen.
If you select the overlap and click the properties tab, you’ll be sent to the transition dialog
box.
In the video section, you’ll need to click the drop-down window and scroll all the way
down to custom.
Once selected, a new dialog box opens so you can choose your custom transition file,
which in this example will be Ink Group 2 and click open.
Now your transition file has just been loaded.
So let’s test it out.
The last step in this whole process is you need to make sure you go back to the Invert Wipe
checkbox and check it.
Otherwise, for some reason, the transition starts backwards.
So now this is what the transition will look like.
If the transition happens too fast, all you have to do is select the transition file again
or the overlap and just stretch it.
Just drag it.
And that’s pretty much it.
You can click the overlapping box to stretch or shorten the transition
to fit however long or short you want the transition to be.
So I’m going to render this so that you see what the final video looks like.
So here’s the final video.
And that’s how you do the ink bleed transition or just the ink transition.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve already created a few ink transition files you can play around with.
If you want a copy of these ink transitions, you know the drill.
First, if you haven’t subscribed yet, please subscribe to my channel.
Then you’ll need to like this video.
Finally, you’ll need to comment, I want your ink transitions.
And that’s it.
I’ll reach out to you to get your email address.
Then I’ll email them to you.
Sorry I haven’t made a tutorial recently because I’ve been traveling.
But thank you for being patient with me.
Let me know if there are other tutorials you’d like to see on the comment section.
And check out my travel videos too if you haven’t had a chance.
In any case, I hope you like this short tutorial and I’ll see you next time.
I just wanted to remind you that if you haven’t yet, go visit my channel.
I’m sure you’ll find tons of Shotcut related videos.
And don’t forget to subscribe so that you know when I drop a new Shotcut related tutorial.
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.
