--- title: "Cube" url: "https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/html/cube.html" description: "A 3D transition that places layers onto the sides of a cube, which can rotate right, left, upward, or downward to reveal a second layer of footage." --- # Cube Universe ## CUBE [Video: Uni_Cube_hero.mp4](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Multimedia/Uni_Cube_hero.mp4) A 3D transition that places layers onto the sides of a cube, which can rotate right, left, upward, or downward to reveal a second layer of footage. --- ### Presets Four Cube presets make short work out of setting up your transition's directional movement. Simply keyframe the **Mix** duration (see below) and tune to taste! Find these presets via the blue **Open Dashboard...** button or the **Choose a Preset...** button below it. ![Image: Uni_Transitions_Cube_presets.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Transitions_Cube_presets.png) As with all other Universe tools, you can modify or create a Cube look and then save it under its own name by pressing the **Save Preset...** button. --- ### Getting Started in a Timeline ![Premiere_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/premiere-pro_universe.png) ![FinalCutPro_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/final-cut-pro-x_universe.png) ![Vegas_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/sony-vegas-pro_universe.png) ![Resolve_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/resolve_universe.png) ![Image: avidmedia_universe.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/avidmedia_universe.png) 1. Drag the transition over your edit in the timeline, placing it at the end or beginning. Alternatively, you can place it between two successive clips. 2. Modify the **Duration** of the transition either by entering a length in the field or dragging directly in the timeline. 3. You can choose the **Alignment** (**Center at Cut**, **Start at Cut**, **End at Cut**, or **Custom Start**) either by positioning the transition in the timeline or by choosing from the **Alignment** drop-down in some host applications. ### Getting Started in a Compositor ![AfterEffects_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/after-effects_universe.png) ![Motion_icon](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/motion_universe.png) 1. Apply the transition to the layer from which you want to transition. 2. Choose the footage layer you would like to transition to in the **Transition B** drop-down menu. *(Note for Motion users:* Drag the footage layer up to the **Transition B** box.) 3. Animate your transition using the **Mix** slider from 0% to 100 percent. Set a keyframe for 0% where the transition should start, then set another at 100% for the end. --- ### Modify the Transition - The **Animation** drop-down menu offers multiple interpolation styles for your transition's animation. [Click here for more information about these animation presets](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/html/animation-tween-examples.html.md). - The **Dolly** slider lets you move the camera closer in or farther away along the z axis from the transitioning layers. Bringing the control to 0 will move the layer directly to the camera. Increasing the slider value will move the camera away from the layer. - The **Direction** drop-down menu can change which direction animation Tiles are moving: **Right**, **Left**, **Upwards**, or **Downwards**. Compare this use of **Upwards** to the **Right** setting used in the "hero" clip at this page's top. [Video: Uni_Cube_Upwards.mp4](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Multimedia/Uni_Cube_Upwards.mp4) - **Motion Blurz\`** - Add realistic motion blur by choosing a setting from the drop-down menu: **Off** (shown left, below), **Low**, **Medium**, or **High** (right).\ ![Image: Uni_Transitions_Cube_MotionBlur.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Transitions_Cube_MotionBlur.png) - The **Motion Blur Shutter** angle defaults to 180 degrees. Raising it will spread the motion blur iterations, with a high number of blur levels. Lower values can help minimize banding artifacts. - The **Edge Smoothing** drop-down menu provides levels of anti-aliasing to your edges, making them less jagged. Options for smoothing strength are **None**, **Low**, **Medium**, or **High**. Higher settings may increase playback and render time. - **Lights** adds lighting to your transitions. - Turn on **Lights** from the drop-down by selecting **Local** or **Global**. - Choose the **Light Type:** - **Ambient** activates the Ambient color picker and affects the overall composition. - **Directional** allows you to use the **Light Diffuse** color and **Light Position X/Y/Z** controls. - **Positional** activates the **Light Specular** color and **Light Factor Constant/Linear/Quadratic**controls. - **Spotlight** gives you the most control, activating the **Light Direction X/Y/Z** sliders as well as the **Light Cutoff** and **Light Exponent** controls. Note that some **Light Types**, including **Spotlight**, place a control marker (tied to the **Light Position XY** control) in the comp. In the following comparison, we show **Lights** being **Off** (left), then place the **Spotlight** control in the top-left and bottom-right corners.\ ![Image: Uni_Transitions_Cube_Spotlight.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Transitions_Cube_Spotlight.png) - The **Light Intensity** slider controls the brightness. The default value is 100, but a little bump can go a long way. The spotlights in the above examples use a value of 120. - **Light Ambient/Diffuse/Specular** color pickers allow you to control the color tones that appear within the light. You'll want to experiment with these parameters, but to give a rough idea of what to expect, here's a setup with Lights: Local, Light Type: Positional, and Light Intensity: 100. At left below, we have all light colors set to white. Then we changed only **Light Ambient** to yellow (center), then **Light Diffuse** to yellow (right). Notice how the **Light Ambient** change resulted in a darkening or muddying of the overall light.\ ![Image: Uni_Transitions_Cube_Lights.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Transitions_Cube_Lights.png) - **Camera** allows you to enable the **Local** camera (as opposed to the **Global** default), then **Zoom, Rotate,** and **Trans**(late) its position in 3D space. For example, the following image shows **Camera Y Rotate** values of 40 (left), 0 (center), and -40 (right) degrees.\ ![Image: Uni_Transitions_Cube_CameraRotate.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Transitions_Cube_CameraRotate.png)\ Play around with the **Camera X/Y/Z Trans** controls enough and you just might "break" the cube-ness of your transition, as shown below.\ ![Image: Uni_Transitions_Cube_Translation.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Transitions_Cube_Translation.png)\ The **Camera Ortho** checkbox allows you to see the transition in an orthographically projected view that has no depth, which means you can view the layer with more accuracy without the distortion of parallax. As you can see below, however, enabling this box may negate the spinning cube effect that makes this tool distinctive. [Video: Uni_Cube_Ortho.mp4](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Multimedia/Uni_Cube_Ortho.mp4)