How to Create Fade In & Fade Out Effects in After Effects

Learning how to fade audio and video will be one of the most valuable lessons you can give yourself in Adobe After Effects. You’ll end up using it in nearly every project, whether you’re transitioning between clips or gently fading the music away at the end of the video. All in all, it will make your editing cleaner and more professional. 

Before you start editing audio, make sure you’re completely comfortable with how to add audio to After Effects.

We’ll be looking at 3 different types of fading in and out: in videos, elements and audio tracks. Let’s dive in.

Part 1: How to Create Fade-in and Fade-out Transitions in AE

To fade in and out of your video clips, first make sure your project is open in Adobe After Effects.

1. Select the clip you want to fade into and press T on the keyboard.
2. Move the playhead to the start of the clip and click on the stopwatch to set a keyframe.
3. Set the Opacity to 0%.
4. Move the playhead to where you want the fade-in effect to end. Generally, 1 second works well, but you might want it to last longer or quicker. 
5. Set the Opacity to 100%.
6. To fade out, move the playhead to where you want the fade-out to start.
7. Create a new keyframe by clicking on the diamond.
8. Move the playhead to where you want the fade out to end and the clip to disappear completely.
9. Set the Opacity to 0%.
10. Align multiple clips on the timeline in the way you want them to fade in and out of each other. Or keep them separate if you want them to fade in and out of a black screen.

Part 2: How to Fade in and Fade Out Elements in AE

Another way to fade in and out of elements in After Effects is to use a preset. This is a quick way of applying a fade, but the trade-off is that you will have slightly less control.

1. Go to the Presets menu and search for Fade. You will be presented with multiple options in the Behavior section.
2. To apply a preset, simply drag it onto the relevant clip.
3. Fade In Over Layer Below will fade a clip in over the layer beneath it for the duration of the clip.
4. Fade Out Over Layer Below will do the same but fade it out.
5. For more control over how long your fade lasts, use the Fade In+Out – Frames and Fade In+Out – msec presets.
6. Once you have applied these presets, you will be able to drop down the Effects panel on the clip in the timeline and choose the number of frames or milliseconds you want the fade to last for.

Part 3: How to Fade in and Fade Out Audio in AE

The principle of fading in and out audio in After Effects is the same as with visuals. The difference is that you’ll be changing an audio track’s levels rather than a video track’s opacity.

1. Select the audio track you want to fade into.
2. Move the playhead to the start of the clip and click on the stopwatch by Audio Levels to set a keyframe.
3. Set the Levels to 0db.
4. Move the playhead to where you want the fade-in effect to end. Generally, 1 second works well, but you might want it to last longer or quicker. 
5. Set the Levels to the maximum volume you want.
6. To fade out, move the playhead to where you want the fade out to start.
7. Create a new keyframe by clicking on the diamond.
8. Move the playhead to where you want the fade out to end and the audio to stop completely.
9. Set the Audio Levels to 0db.

And that’s it! When learning how to cut in After Effects, take the time to learn how to fade in and out of videos and audio tracks to make your editing smooth and professional. You can either manually adjust the opacity of a video or levels of an audio track to fade in and out in your own way, or you can apply a simple preset to do the work for you. Whatever works for your process.