The Shape Transition is very creative category of transitions to help break up long sequences into short bite sized clips that are easier for your audience to digest.  As the name implies, the transition style makes use of changing shapes between the end of one clip and the beginning of the next for a seamless and cool transition. 

Because there are many shapes in existence, this transition category takes advantage of this and packs so many different variations of the shape transition within this one category making it quite versatile.

So, in this example, we will use the shape transition for After Effects to create a phone conversation between two characters. We start off with the first character on the phone, then we apply the shape transition before revealing the character on the other end of the phone. This gives the viewer the sense of being transported from one-character’s perspective to another character’s viewpoint, thereby helping move our story along.

This is only one example and you’ll probably find that the shape transition works with just about any sequence you’d like to break up into smaller clips. 

But as always, be careful…don’t go over board and use all the various shapes in the same composition. That will be distracting. Rather choose a few good shapes and use them sparingly.