Slide Transitions in After Effects | Full Tutorial (2023)

Ever wanted to make your videos stand out from the crowd? If so, then learning how to create slide transitions with After Effects is a great way to do just that! In this detailed tutorial, we'll break down everything you need to know about creating simple slide transitions in After Effects. Let’s get started!

Basic Slide Transition

To create this transition, we need to first start by moving our second clip to the edge of the frame. You can select any side of the frame, just make sure your edges line up perfectly. To see the edges better, turn on the “Toggle mask and shape path visibility” icon.

The next step is parenting your second clip to your first clip by using the "parent pickwhip" tool. Once completed, you should see the name of your first clip appear under the “Parent and Link” tab.

Select your first clip and hit “P” on your keyboard to pull up your position values. Now you can change the position of your first clip and the second clip will follow. Decide which direction you want to pull your first clip and align the edges again.

To finish this transition off, turn motion blur on and feel free to add a little horizontal blur to blend it even more.

Matte Transition

One of the sleeker slide transitions are called matte transitions. These transitions are very easy to use and can be turned into more complex transitions when you combine them with elements like rotoscoping.

Using them is easy, you simply choose which transition you want to use, drag it onto your timeline above your first and second clip. Ensure your first clip is extended to the length of the transition and cut the excess. Then change your track matte to the matte transition, switch it to Luma mask and boom, you have an amazing transition within seconds.

You can download Matte transitions for free when you download the Venter Visuals free pack. Additionally, you can explore 50 unique Matte transitions when you download the full Matte Transitions pack.

Freeze Frame Transition

One of the most creative slide transitions are freeze frame transitions. This involves tracing out our subject into multiple pieces and sliding them together like a puzzle. On top of this, we can add a shake impact to really emphasize the pieces coming together. To do this, I like to use Shake Sauce; a brand new plugin for After Effects with one-click shake presets.

Step one is freezing our second clip and then duplicating our frozen layer 3-4 times. Next, use the pen tool to mask the different “puzzle pieces” of each layer.

Now all you have to do is animate each layer by using keyframes to change the position, rotation and scale.

Once it’s all said and done, line up your freeze frame transition with the end of the first clip and add some impact using Shake Sauce.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know down below. If you’re looking for more video editing sauce definitely check out our main website where you have access to video editing templates, overlays and more!