VSE Pro — Documentation

What it does

Blender's sequencer ships with three transitions and no easing control. VSE Pro adds 32 of them across 4 categories, each one a live strip you can re-tune afterwards — plus the one thing Blender's Speed strip could never do: change the speed of sound.

A transition mid-way through — Every transition is a single strip carrying its own settings, so it can be re-tuned or removed cleanly.

Highlights

Real easing on every transition. 11 curves from Sine to Elastic, each usable as ease-in, ease-out or both. A push with an Expo ease-out reads nothing like a linear one.
Transitions stay editable. Each one is a single strip carrying its own settings. Select it, change the direction, rebuild — or remove it and the clips it animated are restored.
Node transitions retime themselves. The stylised effects read their own start and end frame, so trimming or sliding one just works. There are no keyframes to go stale.
Speed for picture and sound together. Retime a clip and its audio in one click, with pitch preserved — something Blender's own Speed strip has never been able to do.
Nothing to compile, nothing to configure. Pure Python in a single zip. Install it and the panel is there.

Installing

Open the add-on preferences Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Add-ons ▸ Install from Disk.
Choose the zip Pick vse_pro-2.1.0.zip. Blender installs it as an extension.
Enable it Tick VSE Pro in the list.
Find the panel Open a Video Sequencer, press N and choose the VSE Pro tab.

One optional dependency Transitions and video speed are pure Blender. Audio speed needs ffmpeg — see why. If ffmpeg is on your PATH it is found automatically; otherwise set its location in the add-on preferences.

Quick start

Put two clips next to each other They do not need to overlap — the overlap is created for you.
Select both Exactly two strips, and neither of them a sound strip.
Set the length and curve Duration in frames, then an interpolation and an easing direction.
Click a transition It appears as one strip above the two clips.
Tune it With that strip selected, the Selected Transition panel exposes only the settings that transition actually uses. Changes apply live.

Nothing is destructive Removing a transition also deletes the helper strips it built and clears the keyframes it wrote, resetting the clips it animated back to their original transforms.

Transitions

Transitions come from one of two engines. Which one a transition uses is decided by what it needs to do, and whether your Blender can run it is decided at startup.

Engine	How it works
Transform	Keyframed strip transforms and stock effect strips. Runs in every Blender build.
Node	A compositor node group doing real pixel work. Needs a build with Compositor strips, and retimes itself when trimmed.

Node transitions are marked with a dot The panel puts a small dot next to the transitions that use the node engine, so you can tell at a glance which ones are doing pixel-level work and will retime themselves when trimmed.

Dissolve

Cross fades and their relatives. The difference between these is what happens in the middle: a plain cross holds the sum at full, an additive dissolve lets it blow past, and the ordered dissolves hand over one region at a time instead of all at once.

**Film Dissolve**Gamma-correct dissolve that keeps highlights from going muddy

**Dip to Colour**Fades through a solid colour, black by default

**Blur Dissolve**Both clips defocus into each other

**Bloom Dissolve**Highlights flare out and resolve into the next shot

**Additive Dissolve**Both shots stay hot through the middle -- the blown, filmic dissolve

**Luma Fade Node**Dissolves in order of brightness -- highlights give way first

**Grain Dissolve Node**Organic speckled dissolve with no visible edge

**Halation Node**Highlights bloom and bleed warm through the cut

Motion

Transitions that move the frame. Push moves both shots together, Slide Over moves only the incoming one, and Slide Reveal moves only the outgoing one — three different edits that are easy to confuse until you see them side by side.

**Cross Zoom**Punches hard into the cut and pulls out of the next shot

**Slide Over**New shot slides in on top of a stationary old one

**Slide Reveal**Old shot slides away to uncover the new one

**Zoom In**Punches into the outgoing shot and settles on the new one

**Zoom Out**Pulls back out of the outgoing shot

**Whip Pan**Fast directional swish with motion blur -- the vlog staple

Wipe

A moving boundary between the two shots. Softness controls how hard that boundary is; the Soft Luma Wipe adds a little noise to the edge so it does not read as a straight line.

**Barn Door**Wipe opening from the centre outward

**Iris**Circular iris opening or closing

**Soft Luma Wipe Node**Wipe with a soft, slightly organic edge

Stylised

The pixel-level effects, built from compositor node groups. These follow the strip when you trim or slide it, because each one reads its own start and end frame rather than relying on keyframes.

**Glitch Node**Digital tearing with chromatic split

**Zoom Blur Node**Radial blur punch through the cut

**Spin Blur Node**Rotational blur whip between shots

**Warp Dissolve Node**Organic liquid displacement

**Pixelate Node**Blocks up and resolves into the next shot

**Light Leak Node**Warm flare sweeps across the cut, like film fogging

**Prism Node**Colour channels drift apart and reconverge

**Directional Blur Node**Motion-blur smear along one axis

**Displacement Map Node**Each shot warps the other by its own brightness

**Lens Dissolve Node**Barrel distortion and colour fringing swell through the cut

Settings

Each transition exposes only the settings it uses, so the panel stays short. Direction means the direction of travel; Strength scales the overall intensity; Softness controls edge hardness on the wipes.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
Duration	Int	15 2 to 120	Length of the transition in frames
Curve	Enum	CUBIC	Shape of the acceleration curve
Ease	Enum	EASE_OUT	Which end of the move is eased
Direction	Enum	LEFT
Strength	Float	1.0 0.0 to 3.0	Overall intensity of the effect
Softness	Float	0.25 0.0 to 1.0	Edge softness of the transition boundary
Color	Float	0.0 0.0 to 1.0	Colour dipped through, for dip transitions

Interpolation

Curve	Character
Linear	Constant rate, no easing
Sine	Gentlest ease
Quadratic	Soft ease
Cubic	Balanced ease, a good default
Quartic	Stronger ease
Quintic	Very strong ease
Exponential	Snappiest ease, dramatic
Circular	Sharp ease
Back	Overshoots slightly before settling
Bounce	Bounces on arrival
Elastic	Springs past and oscillates

Easing direction

Easing	Meaning
Ease Out	Fast start, slow finish -- best for entrances
Ease In	Slow start, fast finish -- best for exits
Ease In-Out	Slow at both ends
Auto	Let Blender choose

A good default Cubic with Ease Out suits most entrances: fast off the mark, settling gently. For exits, Ease In is the mirror image. Expo is the snappiest; Back and Elastic overshoot, which is lovely on titles and usually wrong on footage.

Every transition

Transition	Category	Engine	What it does
Cross Dissolve	Dissolve	Transform	Eased cross fade -- the classic, but with a real acceleration curve
Film Dissolve	Dissolve	Transform	Gamma-correct dissolve that keeps highlights from going muddy
Dip to Colour	Dissolve	Transform	Fades through a solid colour, black by default
Blur Dissolve	Dissolve	Transform	Both clips defocus into each other
Bloom Dissolve	Dissolve	Transform	Highlights flare out and resolve into the next shot
Additive Dissolve	Dissolve	Transform	Both shots stay hot through the middle -- the blown, filmic dissolve
Cross Zoom	Motion	Transform	Punches hard into the cut and pulls out of the next shot
Push	Motion	Transform	New shot pushes the old one off screen
Slide Over	Motion	Transform	New shot slides in on top of a stationary old one
Slide Reveal	Motion	Transform	Old shot slides away to uncover the new one
Zoom In	Motion	Transform	Punches into the outgoing shot and settles on the new one
Zoom Out	Motion	Transform	Pulls back out of the outgoing shot
Spin	Motion	Transform	Rotates between the two shots
Whip Pan	Motion	Transform	Fast directional swish with motion blur -- the vlog staple
Linear Wipe	Wipe	Transform	Soft-edged wipe across the frame
Barn Door	Wipe	Transform	Wipe opening from the centre outward
Iris	Wipe	Transform	Circular iris opening or closing
Clock Wipe	Wipe	Transform	Sweeping radial wipe
Glitch	Stylised	Node	Digital tearing with chromatic split
Zoom Blur	Stylised	Node	Radial blur punch through the cut
Spin Blur	Stylised	Node	Rotational blur whip between shots
Warp Dissolve	Stylised	Node	Organic liquid displacement
Soft Luma Wipe	Wipe	Node	Wipe with a soft, slightly organic edge
Pixelate	Stylised	Node	Blocks up and resolves into the next shot
Light Leak	Stylised	Node	Warm flare sweeps across the cut, like film fogging
Prism	Stylised	Node	Colour channels drift apart and reconverge
Luma Fade	Dissolve	Node	Dissolves in order of brightness -- highlights give way first
Grain Dissolve	Dissolve	Node	Organic speckled dissolve with no visible edge
Halation	Dissolve	Node	Highlights bloom and bleed warm through the cut
Directional Blur	Stylised	Node	Motion-blur smear along one axis
Displacement Map	Stylised	Node	Each shot warps the other by its own brightness
Lens Dissolve	Stylised	Node	Barrel distortion and colour fringing swell through the cut

Speed

Select a clip, choose a rate, and click Apply Speed. Video and audio are ticked independently, and connected strips are followed in both directions — so selecting a movie retimes its sound too, and selecting the sound retimes the picture.

2.00×

Twice as fast, half the length

1.00×

No change (the button says so rather than doing nothing)

0.50×

Half speed, twice the length

Reset Speed puts everything back: the Speed strip is removed, the clip returns to its original length, and the audio strip is pointed back at its original file with its original in and out points.

Repeated changes compound from the original Applying 2× and then 4× gives a quarter length, not an eighth. Each change is measured from the clip as it was before any retiming, so you can dial the number in without having to reset first.

Preserve Pitch

On by default, and it only affects audio. With it on the sound is time-stretched, so a voice keeps its pitch at any speed. With it off the sound is resampled, so pitch rises and falls with the rate — the tape-machine effect. Right for a deliberate stylistic choice, wrong for dialogue.

Why video and audio work differently

Video uses Blender's own Speed Control effect strip, which resamples its input. That is a normal, non-destructive strip.

Audio cannot use Blender's sound retiming, because that feature cannot be driven from Python. Two independent problems block it:

Moving a retiming key through the API only takes effect on the first strip in the sequencer. In any real project the clip you want is not that strip, so the call silently does nothing.
The retiming operators refuse to run from a script — their poll needs interactive selection state that has no scripting API, even with a full sequencer context override.

So audio speed renders a time-stretched copy of the sound file with ffmpeg and points the strip at it. It is slower than a live retime, but it is exact, it behaves identically on every Blender version, and it is the only approach that actually works.

Your original file is never touched Retimed audio is written to a vsepro_audio folder beside your .blend (or your temp folder if the file has not been saved). The strip remembers where it came from, which is how Reset restores it exactly.

Trimmed clips

Trims are preserved. The whole clip is retimed and your in and out points are scaled to match, so the section you chose still plays — at the new rate — and the clip keeps its position on the timeline instead of sliding out from under the edit.

Requirements

Blender

5.2 LTS or newer

ffmpeg

Only for audio speed. Transitions and video speed do not need it

Platform

Anything Blender runs on — there is no compiled code

All 32 transitions and the full speed controller are available on Blender 5.2 LTS. Nothing else needs installing: the add-on is pure Python and ships as a single zip.

Finding ffmpeg If ffmpeg is on your system path it is picked up automatically. Otherwise set its location in Preferences ▸ Add-ons ▸ VSE Pro. The Speed panel tells you plainly if it is missing, and video speed keeps working either way.

Reference

Operators

Operator	Name	What it does
`vsepro.add_transition`	Add Transition	Build a transition between the two selected strips
`vsepro.apply_speed`	Apply Speed	Retime the selected strips to the chosen speed
`vsepro.rebuild_transition`	Rebuild	Regenerate this transition with its current settings
`vsepro.remove_transition`	Remove	Delete this transition and restore the clips it animated
`vsepro.reset_speed`	Reset Speed	Return the selected strips to their original speed

Panel settings

Everything in the sidebar, including the audio speed controls.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
Duration	Int	15 2 to 120
Curve	Enum	CUBIC
Ease	Enum	EASE_OUT
Direction	Enum	LEFT
Ripple	Boolean	Off	Shift later strips back so the timeline does not gain a gap
Speed	Float	2.0 0.1 to 10.0	Playback rate for the selected strips; 2.0 is twice as fast
Preserve Pitch	Boolean	On	Time-stretch the audio so voices keep their pitch. Turn off for a tape-style pitch shift
Video	Boolean	On	Retime selected video strips, and video connected to selected audio
Audio	Boolean	On	Retime selected sound strips, and audio connected to selected video

Known limitations

Node transitions do not pan. Large translations in the compositor shrink the image domain and crop the composite. Panning is left to the transform-based Whip Pan, which the sequencer handles correctly; Lens Dissolve is the distortion effect without the pan.
Changing a transition's type means removing it and adding the new one; every other setting can be changed in place.
Audio speed re-encodes. A long clip takes a moment to render, and the result is a 16-bit WAV rather than a live effect. That is forced by Blender's sound retiming not being scriptable, not a design preference.