The Paint Brush transition is a popular effect that imitates brush strokes. You can use it to gradually move from one scene to another by either covering the video with a paint brush stroke by stroke, or revealing the next image from under a coat of paint. Here is what it looks like:

From this tutorial, you’ll find out how to apply this effect in your videos and tailor it to your vision. The Paint Brush effect is available in VSDC starting version 6.8, so make sure to download it before moving one with the tutorial.

How to apply Paint Brush transition in VSDC

Once you download VSDC, launch it on your computer and import your footage. We recommend using the Import content button unless you want to apply custom parameters to the project. Next, select the video you want to apply the transition to, open the Video effects menu, proceed to Transitions and select Paint Brush.

The Object position settings window will pop up indicating that the transition will be added to the end of the scene. Click OK to proceed and preview the result. Notice that if you want to stretch the duration of the transition, you’ll be able to do it manually. We’ll talk more about it in the following section.

How to access Paint Brush transition settings

To open the effect settings, first make a double-click on the video you’ve applied the effect to. You’ll find yourself in a new tab with the effect layer named PaintEffect. Make a right click on it and select Properties. The Properties window will slide-in from the right.

The Properties window for the Paint Brush transition includes 3 groups of settings:

• Common settings
• Adjustment settings
• Chess settings - Paint Brush effect settings

Let’s go over each group of settings and see what they do.

Common settings

The settings in the first group allow you to rename the transition effect layer, type the exact moment when the transition should begin (in seconds or in frames) and set its duration (in seconds or in frames). Keep in mind that you can also manually move and stretch the effect layer right on the timeline using the handlers.

Adjustment settings

The Adjustment settings consist of a single parameter, named Transparency. Transparency enables you to adjust the opacity level for the paint strokes. For example, if you leave the default value (100%), the paint will be completely non-transparent. However, if you decrease the value, you’ll start getting the see-through effect.

If you expand the Transparency parameter, you can access the Initial and Final values. These values enable you to set the opacity level for the beginning of the Paint Brush effect and the end of it, thus creating a smoother transition between scenes.

Paint Brush effect settings

The settings in the third group allow you to tailor the effect to your needs. For instance, you can change the direction and angle of the brush strokes, choose the brush width, and more.

Directly

The first parameter in this group is named Directly, and it refers to the direction of transition. If you leave this parameter deactivated, the paint brush will gradually cover your footage, stroke by stroke. If you activate this parameter, the transition will work in the opposite way and gradually uncover video from a coat of paint.

Stroke angle

The following parameter allows you to change the brush stroke angle. By default, the brush moves under a 45-degree angle, however, you can change this value to your taste. For example, in the illustration below, you can see how the strokes will look if you use a 90-degree and a 30-degree angles.

In addition to the Stroke angle, you can activate the option called Opposite side and change the side where the brush starts moving. For example, by default, the paint brush moves from right to left. In this case, the opposite side direction will be from left to right.

Starting corner

This parameter defines the corner where the effect starts. There are 4 self-explanatory options you can choose from: left-top, right-top, left-bottom, and right-bottom.

Brush width

Brush width is rather self-explanatory as well. This parameter defines how wide and thick brush strokes are, and you can leave its value consistent or make it dynamic. For example, if you set the Initial value at 10% and the Final value at 50%, each subsequent brush stroke will be thicker.

Blur

This parameter adds blur to the paint and makes brush strokes less defined. The higher the value, the more blurred the strokes will be. As a matter of fact, if you type 100%, the effect will resemble spray paint.

Brush movement direction

Brush movement direction is the brush movement pattern defining the order in which brush strokes are applied. The are 5 options you can choose from:

• Non-continuous – each subsequent brush stroke will start on the same side of the scene.
• Continuous – each subsequent brush stroke starts on the opposite side of the scene.
• Area-based – the scene gets divided into several areas, and each area gets covered with paint
• Random (same angle) – each brush stroke appears in a random place on the scene under the same angle.
• Random (random angle) – each brush stroke appears in a random place on the scene under a random angle.

Overlap coefficient

Overlap coefficient defines the percentage of brush strokes that appear on the scene at the same time. For example, if the total number of brush strokes required to cover the scene entirely is 12, and the overlap coefficient equals 30%, at any given moment, you’ll be seeing 4 brush strokes instead of just one.

Try the Paint Brush transition for free

The new Paint Brush transition effect is available in the free version of VSDC Video Editor, so if you liked this tutorial, go ahead and download VSDC from the official website.

Feel free to message us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for a weekly doze of video editing inspiration.

So you want to learn how to make the old film effect in a video. While we’re all familiar with the quick Instagram-style filters, to achieve a more authentic look, it’s good to know what else contributes to the vintage look of old movies.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you the color correction effects, framerate settings, overlays, and aspect ratio hacks used to achieve the old film effect. You can select just one effect or use multiple tricks on the same video. Before getting started, download VSDC, the free video editor for Windows we’ll be using in this tutorial.

5 Easy tricks to achieve the old film effect in VSDC

To get started, launch VSDC on your computer and use the Import content button to upload your footage. By using this option, you preserve the original footage properties, such as the size of the video, its aspect ratio and resolution.

1. Try pre-designed Old Film styles

If you’re here for a quick solution, the pre-designed styles are your best friends. In VSDC, there are 3 pre-designed Old Film styles. To apply them, click on the video you’ve uploaded, then open the Quick style menu at the top, and select one of the Old Film options.

To unselect a style, make another click on its icon in the menu. Keep in mind that there are more vintage-looking styles and Instagram filters in the menu, and you can apply more than one to the same video.

2. Use a vintage film look overlay

The second relatively easy way to achieve the old film effect is by using a ready-made overlay from one of the stock video marketplaces.

Overlays are videos that you blend with the main footage to achieve the desired atmosphere. They typically have a monochrome background and contain particles, flares, or other visual components such as smoke stripes or water droplets. If you want to learn more, read our brief guide to working with overlays.

Vintage film look overlays aren’t different. They may contain film dust, flashes, scratches, light leaks, letterboxes, and other “attributes” of an old movie. Here is an example of an old film overlay:

Now, if you want to try this technique on your video, go to one of the free stock video marketplaces, such as Videezy, Pexels, or Pixabay, and search for an “old film look overlay” or a “vintage film overlay”. Once you find the video to your taste, download it and drag it to the scene where your main footage is. Place the overlay above the main footage, then go to the quick access menu at the top and decrease the Opacity level of the overlay.

As a result, the overlay will become semi-transparent while maintaining its distinguishing color tone and the particles.

3. Add the grainy look

Ever noticed that some old movies look grainy? This effect is also easy to replicate. Once you’ve added your footage to the scene, open the Video effects menu, proceed to Filters, then select Noise.

If you want to make the video look less grainy, make a right mouse-click on the filter layer and select Properties. Then use the Properties window on the right-hand side to reduce the noise and transparency levels.

4. Apply the grayscale effect

Now that we’re approaching the end of the tutorial, it’s time to talk about good old black and white videos. If this is what you’re trying to achieve, just open the Video effects menu, proceed to Adjustments and select Grayscale.

Since old-school videos also tend to have a brighter and less contrasting look, we also recommend toggling the controls in the Basic effects window on the right-hand side to see what works for your footage. But most importantly – and this is a lesser-known tip – old movies had a lower framerate and a 4:3 aspect ratio. Once you apply these two settings, it will be hard to tell whether your video was recorded yesterday or in the 1920s. We’ll show you how to go about it in the following section.

5. Change the framerate and resolution of your footage

The fastest way to set the desired framerate and resolution is by creating a new project with the said properties. This means that instead of importing your video with the original properties, you’ll need to set the properties that will be applied to the video you’ll be working with.

Once you launch VSDC, hit Blank project. Then select the 4:3 aspect ratio in the Resolution menu, and the desired framerate in the corresponding menu below.

To imitate a movie recorded on an old-school camera, you can choose anything between 10 and 15 frames per second. The lower the framerate is, the more noticeable the transition between the frames will be.

Now, when you create a 4:3 project and import your footage, chances are, the video will not fit the scene properly – that’s because the vast majority of modern videos have a 16:9 aspect ratio. The ideal solution will be to crop your footage and make it fit the 4:3 project. This is not the most elegant solution since some of the footage will get cropped out, however, this is the only way to achieve the authentic old film effect.

To crop the video, click on the Crop icon at the top and proceed to Auto cropping. The footage will be automatically cropped to fit the scene.

Once you’re ready, go ahead and save your video. Open the Export project tab, select the final destination of the video, and proceed to Export.

Want to achieve a more artistic old film look? Consider the VHS effect

There are many ways to achieve the old film effect. If you’re ready for a more advanced post-production technique, check out this guide to replicating a stylish VHS look.

Got any questions? DM us on Facebook or leave a comment on our YouTube channel.

The Paint Brush transition is a popular effect that imitates brush strokes. You can use it to gradually move from one scene to another by either covering the video with a paint brush stroke by stroke, or revealing the next image from under a coat of paint. Here is what it looks like:

From this tutorial, you’ll find out how to apply this effect in your videos and tailor it to your vision. The Paint Brush effect is available in VSDC starting version 6.8, so make sure to download it before moving one with the tutorial.

How to apply Paint Brush transition in VSDC

Once you download VSDC, launch it on your computer and import your footage. We recommend using the Import content button unless you want to apply custom parameters to the project. Next, select the video you want to apply the transition to, open the Video effects menu, proceed to Transitions and select Paint Brush.

The Object position settings window will pop up indicating that the transition will be added to the end of the scene. Click OK to proceed and preview the result. Notice that if you want to stretch the duration of the transition, you’ll be able to do it manually. We’ll talk more about it in the following section.

How to access Paint Brush transition settings

To open the effect settings, first make a double-click on the video you’ve applied the effect to. You’ll find yourself in a new tab with the effect layer named PaintEffect. Make a right click on it and select Properties. The Properties window will slide-in from the right.

The Properties window for the Paint Brush transition includes 3 groups of settings:

• Common settings
• Adjustment settings
• Chess settings - Paint Brush effect settings

Let’s go over each group of settings and see what they do.

Common settings

The settings in the first group allow you to rename the transition effect layer, type the exact moment when the transition should begin (in seconds or in frames) and set its duration (in seconds or in frames). Keep in mind that you can also manually move and stretch the effect layer right on the timeline using the handlers.

Adjustment settings

The Adjustment settings consist of a single parameter, named Transparency. Transparency enables you to adjust the opacity level for the paint strokes. For example, if you leave the default value (100%), the paint will be completely non-transparent. However, if you decrease the value, you’ll start getting the see-through effect.

If you expand the Transparency parameter, you can access the Initial and Final values. These values enable you to set the opacity level for the beginning of the Paint Brush effect and the end of it, thus creating a smoother transition between scenes.

Paint Brush effect settings

The settings in the third group allow you to tailor the effect to your needs. For instance, you can change the direction and angle of the brush strokes, choose the brush width, and more.

Directly

The first parameter in this group is named Directly, and it refers to the direction of transition. If you leave this parameter deactivated, the paint brush will gradually cover your footage, stroke by stroke. If you activate this parameter, the transition will work in the opposite way and gradually uncover video from a coat of paint.

Stroke angle

The following parameter allows you to change the brush stroke angle. By default, the brush moves under a 45-degree angle, however, you can change this value to your taste. For example, in the illustration below, you can see how the strokes will look if you use a 90-degree and a 30-degree angles.

In addition to the Stroke angle, you can activate the option called Opposite side and change the side where the brush starts moving. For example, by default, the paint brush moves from right to left. In this case, the opposite side direction will be from left to right.

Starting corner

This parameter defines the corner where the effect starts. There are 4 self-explanatory options you can choose from: left-top, right-top, left-bottom, and right-bottom.

Brush width

Brush width is rather self-explanatory as well. This parameter defines how wide and thick brush strokes are, and you can leave its value consistent or make it dynamic. For example, if you set the Initial value at 10% and the Final value at 50%, each subsequent brush stroke will be thicker.

Blur

This parameter adds blur to the paint and makes brush strokes less defined. The higher the value, the more blurred the strokes will be. As a matter of fact, if you type 100%, the effect will resemble spray paint.

Brush movement direction

Brush movement direction is the brush movement pattern defining the order in which brush strokes are applied. The are 5 options you can choose from:

• Non-continuous – each subsequent brush stroke will start on the same side of the scene.
• Continuous – each subsequent brush stroke starts on the opposite side of the scene.
• Area-based – the scene gets divided into several areas, and each area gets covered with paint
• Random (same angle) – each brush stroke appears in a random place on the scene under the same angle.
• Random (random angle) – each brush stroke appears in a random place on the scene under a random angle.

Overlap coefficient

Overlap coefficient defines the percentage of brush strokes that appear on the scene at the same time. For example, if the total number of brush strokes required to cover the scene entirely is 12, and the overlap coefficient equals 30%, at any given moment, you’ll be seeing 4 brush strokes instead of just one.

Try the Paint Brush transition for free

The new Paint Brush transition effect is available in the free version of VSDC Video Editor, so if you liked this tutorial, go ahead and download VSDC from the official website.

Feel free to message us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for a weekly doze of video editing inspiration.

Music visualizers have been around for a while, but right now, they’re catching a new wave of popularity. People use them for podcasts, music videos, and social media posts.

Of course, major market players like Adobe Effects do include an audio spectrum effect, but if you’re only posting visuals once in a while, you may not want to break your piggy bank for the subscription fee. So if you’re looking for a free or affordable tool for creating beautiful audio visualizations, below are 10 programs to help you do just that.

5 Absolutely free music visualizers (no watermark)

Without further ado, let’s start with free music visualizers you can use on your PC or right in the browser.

VSDC

VSDC is a free video editing suite for Windows, but it happens to have a powerful built-in music visualizer. Unlike most tools, VSDC works offline, so you don’t have to rely on your Internet speed and worry about the file size. You can use it to create linear or circular audio spectrums, abstract music visualizations, and anything in-between.

Because it’s a non-linear video editor, its feature set is significantly more versatile than what most dedicated music visualizers offer. For instance, you can visualize an audio that is a part of an uploaded video file. You can also upload an image or a video as a background, and place an audio waveform over it. On top of that, VSDC includes lots of cinematic effects that will come in handy if you’re working on a lyrics video. Such effects include raindrops, various video overlays, side-by-side videos, and more.

Download the latest version of VSDC

VSDC supports all popular audio formats and allows you to upload your projects directly to YouTube. If you’re creating videos for social media, there are special export profiles for Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and Instagram that help you save your files using the best parameters for the selected platform.

Read a detailed guide to using VSDC audio visualizer here >>

MusicVid

MusicVid is a popular template-based music visualizer. As you enter their website, you’ll find a gallery of pre-designed templates: circle spectrum, bar visualizer, audio waves, and more. Select any template and click around if you want to test the app without having to start a new visual from scratch.

Depending on the template you’ve selected, you can customize your animation. For instance, if you’ve applied the circle spectrum template, you can adjust the background, spectrum type, color theme, number and size of particles, and other parameters.

The spectrum visualizer seems to be the most versatile template in the MusicVid library because other templates provide fewer settings to play with. However, you can also start an empty project and create your own visualizers. Keep in mind that some templates include an attribution notice and require you to credit the author when you publish your project.

Exporting is very straightforward, although it may take some time while all the elements added to the scene are being rendered. One really convenient feature you’ll notice during the export is the ability to save a fragment of the audio instead of the entire file. It’s a great way to create a short sample, a teaser, or a soundbeat for social media.

Watch the MusicVid tutorial and try it for yourself.

Vizzy

Vizzy is another online music visualizer from the creators of MusicVid. Although this app is still in the Alpha version, Vizzy is rather impressive and definitely worth trying. You can work with animated text objects, spectrums, images, and effects. The most outstanding feature in the Vizzy toolset is called Analyzers. Analyzers allow you to manually control how objects added to the scene react to the music beat.

Unlike MusicVid, Vizzy brings many more cinematic effects you can apply to the visualizer. Some of the most stylish ones include Glitch, VHS, and Fisheye.

Of all tools in this list, Vizzy seems to have the most intuitive interface, although to upload your own files, you’ll have to log into the program using your email. For testing purposes, however, you can open the Creations library and use animations created by others. This is a very user-friendly approach, especially if you’re in the process of comparing tools and don’t want to register on every website. Besides, seeing other creators’ projects can be inspiring!

Headliner

Headliner is an online audio visualizer designed for podcasters. Its newbie-friendly wizard-based interface will walk you through the process of creating a beautiful visual within few minutes. To get started, you can either upload your own track or paste a link to your existing podcast. Next, the app will ask you to select the range for visualization and the output video size. However, the most exciting part starts at the Customization step. This is where you can select the waveform style, add a background image and text. If your muse is taking a vacation, you can just jump to the template gallery and select any pre-designed visual.

Once you’re ready, you can share your video directly on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, save it to Drive and Dropbox, or download it to your computer in the MP4 format. The paid tiers include extra features like captions, unlimited audio transcriptions, and custom fonts. The free plan allows you to download up to 5 unwatermarked videos per month and produce under 10 minutes of transcription.

Like Vizzy, the Headliner gallery features audio visualizations created by other users. Unlike Vizzy though, the Headliner featured user base includes celebrities and media outlets such as Julie Andrews, The Economist, Smartless magazine, and more. Be sure to check it out if you’re onto finding a new podcast to subscribe to.

View the gallery of videos created in Headliner and try it for yourself.

WoFox

WoFox is a content creation and management platform that boasts dozens of helpful tools including graphic design builder, video maker, and a music visualizer. The app is currently in the Beta version, but it works well albeit the loading speed seems a bit low. The interface of WoFox resembles a slideshow maker: it seems familiar and straightforward. Once you choose a template, you can adjust the text, the color theme, the visualizer type, and the graphics.

Most templates are designed to help musicians promote their songs on social media platforms that don’t support audio formats per se. What makes the templates especially convenient is the ability to quickly change the video type and aspect ratio for the platform where you’re planning to publish it.

The free plan of WoFox generously provides you with an unlimited choice of templates and graphic assets. You can export videos up to 30 seconds and 360 px each without watermarks. Keep in mind that the free version includes built-in ad banners (which are small and unobtrusive) and provides no commercial use rights. To change that, you’ll need to upgrade to one of the paid tiers starting at $10/mo.

Check the WoFox template library and try it for yourself.

5 Paid (although affordable) music visualizers

To be fair, most free tools include virtually everything you’d want to find in the paid ones. However, since some of you may not be willing to put up with the embedded ads, the lack of customer support or customization, we’ve included 5 more music visualizers that come with a price tag, yet remain somewhat affordable.

Renderforest

Renderforest is a popular content creation platform for non-techies who need marketing visuals and have zero design skills. A large part of that content creation toolkit is a video maker that allows you to create explainer videos, animations, presentations, and music visualizations.

The Renderforest interface is a complete no-brainer. For each template in the gallery, there is a set of style variations to help you adjust the look and feel of your animation. Once you’re ready, you can decide whether you want to export your video for free or willing to pay for better quality.

The free version allows you to export 360p videos for up to 3 minutes with a watermark. The upgrade system is very flexible though: you can pay just for a single export, a subscription, an HD quality, or a custom watermark. In other words, Renderforest utilizes the pay-for-what-you-use system and it seems fair, especially if your project is a one-off and you’re hesitant about getting a subscription. The lowest price for exporting a single video without a watermark is $9.

Videobolt

Videobolt is an online video maker with a music visualizer on board. It seems to be tailored more toward music creators, rather than podcasters because most templates in the gallery are designed with music animation in mind.

Videobolt allows you to upload audio from your computer or directly from SoundCloud. When you first open the app, a quick walkthrough window pops up, however, it is seemingly unnecessary. Using the main screen, you can quickly upload your track, the artist info, and the background. For further customization, you can use the options in the left-hand side menu.

Once you select the color theme, the beat frequency, and the effects, you’ll be prompted to produce a 15-second low-quality preview with a (rather huge) watermark to see the result before exporting the entire video. From there, you can either go back to editing or choose a subscription plan to export the video in high quality. Pricing plans start at €7.99/mo which includes up to 6-minute videos, a commercial license, fully licensed music library, lots of stock footage, and cloud storage for your media files. There’s no free plan or trial period.

Songrender

Songrender is like Canva for podcasters. It helps you create simple music visualizers and podcast clips for social media. To get started with this tool, you’ll have to register an account. It does seem a bit of a hurdle, especially given that most tools allow you to run a test drive without signing up. However, from there, the process is smooth and simple.

In the array of black-themed interfaces, Songrender feels like a breather. It loads fast and walks you through every step during the onboarding process which includes 2 screens: you upload your track and the background on the first one, and customize the style of the waveform on the second one. Before rendering your file entirely, you can export a shorter sample just by dragging the handles on the timeline. From there, you can either proceed with a watermark or buy a “credit” for $5 to export 1 video without a watermark. If you’re going to produce music visualizers on a regular basis, there are credit packages and monthly subscriptions available.

Using the free trial plan, you can export as many 720p watermarked videos as you want as long as they’re under 5 minutes. Unlike Videobolt, Songrender allows you to actually save watermarked videos to your computer and publish them online.

Specterr

Specterr is an online music visualizer and a lyrics video maker. This means that in addition to the audio beat visualization, it enables you to add synchronized song lyrics to the scene.

It’s hard to call the Specterr templates somewhat unique, yet it can boast about quite a few customization controls that allow you to turn your music beat into a truly unique video. For instance, one cute detail missing from most music visualizers on the list is the ability to create depth by adding particles to the video.

When finished, you can either save your project in the cloud or export it to your desktop. At this point, you’ll be prompted to sign up and create an account. The price tag for using Specter is higher than what similar tools ask for. The free plan includes 2 watermarked videos per day with a duration of up to 5 minutes. If you want to download a single video without a watermark, you can do it for €11.99 (720p) or €15.99 (1080p). Otherwise, you’ll have to select a subscription plan. For a fee, Specterr offers two options: 4 high-quality videos for €20 per month, or an unlimited number of videos for €60 per month.

OFFEO

OFFEO is a video maker designed for marketers. This app is an official Facebook partner, and it offers tools for creating intros, GIFs, memes, video ads, and other assets. You can very well use it as a music visualizer, too! There’s a dedicated gallery featuring stylish quick-start templates.

If you’re a creator promoting your brand (or your band) on social media, OFFEO seems like a really handy all-in-one platform that comes choke-full of design tools. However, to try it out, you’ll have to register an account and provide your payment info. There is no free plan or commitment-free trial period, which seems to be an outdated practice for SaaS. Although the company does offer a 30-day refund guarantee, it makes it harder to compare apps and make a decision. For those on the fence, there is a private Facebook community where OFFEO users share their projects and insights.

Choose a music visualizer that works for you

As you can see, there’s a wide choice of music visualizers on the market. With this roundup, we’ve just scratched the surface trying to find free or affordable tools for those on the budget. At their core, most apps are nearly the same: they do the job and allow you to create beautiful music videos without being a video editing pro. At the end of the day, your choice will depend on three questions:

• whether you prefer a cloud-based solution or a desktop app;
• whether you want to have full customization freedom or you can make do with a pre-designed template;
• and whether you’re ready to pay for unwatermarked videos or not.

Finally, it’s also important that you like the way the app looks and feels. So go ahead and try a couple of them from our list to find the one that works for you.