How to install and use DUKE Transitions in Premiere Pro

WHAT YOU GET

Each one is a preset that you drop on an adjustment layer over a cut. It changes the picture for a moment and hides the cut in the middle.

Built only with effects that come with Premiere Pro, so there is nothing else to install.

Built and tested in Premiere Pro 2026 on a Mac, in 1920 x 1080 sequences.

THE SHORT VERSION

1. Import the preset file once (Effects panel > right-click Presets > Import Presets).
2. Put an adjustment layer over a cut. Make it 1 second long, half before the cut and half after (at 24 frames a second: 24 frames, 12 + 12).
3. Drag a DUKE transition onto the adjustment layer. Done.

INSTALL (about 1 minute)

1. Unzip this folder anywhere you like.
2. Open Premiere Pro and open the Effects panel (Window > Effects).
3. Right-click the Presets folder in the Effects panel and choose Import Presets. (The three-line menu next to the word Effects has it too.)
4. Pick the .prfpset file inside the folder you unzipped and click Open.

You only do this once. The presets stay in Premiere Pro for every project.

FIND THEM

Effects panel > Presets. The folder is named after your pack, for example DUKE Transitions or DUKE Whip.

USE THEM

1. Put two clips next to each other on the timeline. That is your cut.
2. Make an adjustment layer: File > New > Adjustment Layer, then OK. It appears in the Project panel.
3. Drag the adjustment layer onto the track ABOVE the cut and centre it on the cut, half over each clip.
4. Set its length: 1 second is best, never under half a second (the table under HOW MANY FRAMES has the frame numbers).
5. DRAG a DUKE transition from the Effects panel onto the adjustment layer. (Drag it. A double-click only opens the preset settings.)
6. Play it. To try another one, press Undo and drop a different transition.
7. For your next cut, copy the adjustment layer (hold Option and drag it) and put the copy over that cut.
8. To remove a transition, delete the adjustment layer.

HOW MANY FRAMES (how long the adjustment layer has to be)

The transition is exactly as long as the adjustment layer. A shorter layer is a faster transition, a longer layer is a slower one.

BEST: 1 second. Every transition was built and checked at this length. Start here.

SHORTEST: half a second, and never under 12 frames. Under 12 frames some transitions cannot finish before the layer ends, and the last frame jumps.

LONGEST: 2 seconds. A longer layer still plays, it only gets slower.

Half of the layer goes before the cut and half after it, so use an even number of frames.

How to read it: "24 frames (12 + 12)" means the adjustment layer is 24 frames long, 12 frames before the cut and 12 frames after it.

Whips, zooms, spins, shakes and glitches also look good at the SHORTEST length. Light, blur and liquid transitions can run up to the LONGEST.

To change the length, drag either end of the adjustment layer. Premiere shows the new duration while you drag.

Tip: the Up and Down arrow keys jump the playhead to the previous or next edit, which makes it easy to park it on the cut.

Checked in Premiere Pro at 24 frames a second: every transition at 24 frames; every stepped one (glitches, shakes, strobes) and samples of the rest at 12 frames; samples at 48 frames. At 8 frames some did not finish in time, so 12 frames is the floor.

GOOD TO KNOW

• The cut has to sit in the middle of the adjustment layer. Every transition peaks there, and that is what hides the cut.
• The adjustment layer has to be on a track ABOVE both clips.
• You can change any transition: click the adjustment layer and open Effect Controls. The effects are listed by name with their keyframes.
• Made and tested at 1920 x 1080 in 16:9. Moves, zooms and spins scale with any frame size. Blur and wave amounts are set in pixels, so in a 4K sequence they look about half as strong. Raise them in Effect Controls if you want more.
• The glitch and colour fringe transitions use the built-in VR Digital Glitch and VR Chromatic Aberrations effects, which need GPU acceleration turned on (File > Project Settings > General > Renderer).

IF SOMETHING LOOKS WRONG

• Nothing happens: the preset has to land on the ADJUSTMENT LAYER, not on a clip. Drag it there again.
• The cut is still visible: the cut is not in the middle of the layer. Move the layer or trim one end.
• It is too fast or too slow: make the adjustment layer longer or shorter.
• A glitch or colour fringe transition shows no effect: turn on GPU acceleration (see GOOD TO KNOW).
• Still stuck: email bobby@quantosmedia.com and say which transition and which Premiere Pro version.

UNINSTALL

Effects panel > Presets, click the DUKE folder of your pack, press Delete.

QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS: email bobby@quantosmedia.com