Video Compilation and Final Output - Blender Foundations: The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.6 - page 384

Figure 14.7 The MetaStrip.
is easily done, but it would be nice to move the clatter sound along with it so that they stay in sync.
Actually, it would be great if we could just bind the animation and clatter sound together so that we don't
have to worry about messing up their relationship. By selecting both the animation and clatter sound strip
and choosing the Make Meta operation, either from the Strip menu on the header or with the M key,
you merge the two strips into a single one called a “MetaStrip.” MetaStrips act like a single Sequencer
strip and can contain any number of individual strips. They are intended to group strips of which the
relationships in time have already been determined, like these two. If you change your mind, you can
always break the MetaStrip back into its components with the Alt-M command, much like Alt-P breaks
a parent-child relationship elsewhere in Blender. Figure 14.7 shows the Image Sequence of our animation
and the clatter sound merged into a MetaStrip.
Move the MetaStrip that represents the animation and clatter sound to the right, but don't move it the whole
way to the end of the title card strip. Try to leave about 12 frames (one-half a second) of overlap. While it's
true that the upper strip (the title card) will obscure it because of its place in the stack, we can play with
that. First, RMB select the title card strip, then Shift-RMB select the MetaStrip. With both selected, use
Shift-A to Add an Effects Strip . The Effects Strip pop-up is shown in Figure 14.8 . Choose Cross , which
is short for “crossfade,” a technique for smoothly blending from one shot to another. When you do, a new
red strip appears that occupies the same slice of time as the overlap between the two strips. This represents
the crossfade effect. Position the current frame marker just before the cross strip and use the → key to step
through it a frame at a time. The preview shows the title card fading out over roughly 12 frames.
By adding strips that represent different shots of animation, video or still images, then arranging them in
time, stacking them in the sequencer, and transitioning among them using effects like the crossfade, you
create a finished piece of animation work. For the example scene, we've also added a little credits card at
the end and crossfaded into it.
To export your final animation and include the sound, you need to enable the Audio section of the
Encoding panel of the Render properties. Earlier in the chapter, we discussed some of the different