Cross Dissolve is the factory setting for the default transition in Premiere 6.5 because it is so frequently used in video and films. In a Cross Dissolve, one scene “dissolves” into another over a brief duration. You can select another transition as the default at any time. The default transition and the default effect settings apply not just to the current project on which you are working; but to all your projects. Working with a default transition is a quick way to insert transitions between clips. You can modify or replace them after you are satisfied with the general flow of the project.

It is often useful to restore the default preferences of Premiere—including the default transition and the default effect settings—to the factory settings before you launch the program for a new project. In this way, you avoid any unintended carryover of specialized settings changes to another project. See “Restoring default preferences” on page 5.

The default effect settings for all transitions specify a duration of 30 frames with the alignment of the transition centered at the cut between the two clips. You can change both the duration and alignment of the transition in the Default Effect dialog box.

For most transitions, the default direction of the transition is from clip A to clip B (left to right in the time sequence). You alter the direction of the transition to move from clip B to clip A by double-clicking the transition icon and making changes in the transition Settings dialog box. Additional effect parameters, if they pertain to a transition, are also changed in the Settings dialog box for that transition.