Whip-Swish Pan in After Effects

Use After Effects to create your own transitions between clips. One interesting transition is a whip pan, or swish pan. This is when the camera pans quickly so the picture blurs. This technique is useful to add energy to a scene or transition to a new scene or different time.

First, place your first and second clip on the timeline. Then, add a new Adjustment Layer above the clips. Add the Motion Tile effect to the adjustment layer, which is found in the Stylize effects.

Once you have determined the length of your pan, set your keyframes for Tile Center. If you want a 10-frame Whip Pan, then set your first keyframe 5 frames before your clips change. Then, set another keyframe 5 frames after the clips change. On this keyframe, change the tile center position so that another “tile” of your image fills the screen. If you are panning to the left, change the tile center so that a new version of the clip comes from the right side toward the left and fills the screen. Then, add an Easy Ease to the keyframes for a better look.

Next, add a blur to the Adjustment Layer. You can add a Fast Box Blur (which includes the “Repeat Edge Pixels” option), a simple Directional Blur, or another type of blur. Set keyframes with 0 blur at the same time as your Tile Center clips, and then in the middle set a keyframe for the amount of blur you would like to see.

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