# Color-Distance Blend — effect skill for transitions

> **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q=<what the person wants>"` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page.

A blend that swaps pixels by how different their colours are, so similar areas change first.

- **Type:** [Effect](https://varg.ai/how-to/effects.md) · [Transitions](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/transitions.md)
- **Slug:** `xfade-distance`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** HeyGen (community)
- **License:** Apache-2.0
- **Source:** https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/tree/main/registry/blocks/cross-warp-morph
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Claude.ai, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Gemini CLI, Any MCP client, varg Studio
- **Requires:** ffmpeg, HyperFrames (npx hyperframes)
- **Cost:** Free — the take renders locally; generated footage, if any, bills by the model

## What it does

Built on [Cross Warp Morph](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/tree/main/registry/blocks/cross-warp-morph) by HeyGen (HyperFrames), Apache-2.0. The write-up and recipes below are varg's.

Shapes of B emerge where A and B already share colours, then the rest follows: a soft, organic morph.

**When:** Two shots with matching palettes or composition: sky to sky, face to face.

**Watch out:** Using it on unrelated shots, where it looks like a muddy dissolve.

**Timing:** 0.8–1.2 s.

**Also called:** Morph blend

### In FFmpeg

Both inputs need the same size, frame rate, timebase, SAR and pixel format (`settb=AVTB` fixes the timebase error that `fps` alone leaves). `offset` is where the transition starts on the first clip's timeline (its length minus the overlap).

```bash
ffmpeg -i a.mp4 -i b.mp4 -filter_complex \
 "[0:v]fps=30,scale=1920:1080,setsar=1,settb=AVTB,format=yuv420p[a];[1:v]fps=30,scale=1920:1080,setsar=1,settb=AVTB,format=yuv420p[b];\
  [a][b]xfade=transition=distance:duration=0.5:offset=4.5[v];[0:a][1:a]acrossfade=d=0.5[a]" \
 -map "[v]" -map "[a]" out.mp4
```

### In HyperFrames

Closest: the `cross-warp-morph` or `domain-warp-dissolve` shader transitions.

### Ready-made components

- [Cross Warp Morph](https://skills.varg.ai/component/hf.cross-warp-morph/) (hyperframes): npx hyperframes add cross-warp-morph
- [Morph](https://skills.varg.ai/component/glt.morph/) (gl-transitions): npm install gl-transitions

### Where this comes from

- [FFmpeg filters: xfade](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#xfade)
- [FFmpeg xfade gallery (trac wiki)](https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Xfade)

## Use when

- Two shots with matching palettes or composition: sky to sky, face to face.

## Not for

- Using it on unrelated shots, where it looks like a muddy dissolve.

## Install

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`
- Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a codex -y`
- Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-video-edit-library -a cursor -y`

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/how-to/previews/a5cbae824201/take-xfade-distance.mp4 — distance between two shots, with the timeline strip of the edit. Footage: Cosmos Laundromat (2015), (CC) Blender Foundation | gooseberry.blender.org, CC BY 4.0; Spring (2019), Andy Goralczyk / Blender Foundation (Blender Studio) | studio.blender.org, CC BY 4.0. (credit: Rendered by varg · Cosmos Laundromat (2015) + Spring (2019))

## More transitions skills

- [editly](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/editly.md): Declarative JSON5 video editing CLI/API: clips, titles, transitions, audio mixing, rendered with ffmpeg.
- [Mix (Cross Dissolve)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/mix-dissolve.md): The two shots blend through each other. The quietest transition: "time passes" or "this continues".
- [Dip to Black](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/black-fade.md): A fades to black, then B fades up. Marks the end of a section or a bigger jump in time.
- [White Flash](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/white-flash.md): The frame blows out to white for a moment and opens on the next shot. Energy, memory or a camera snap.
- [Pull In (Zoom In)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pull-in-zoom.md): The camera rushes into shot A and lands, still moving forward, in shot B. The signature short-form transition.
- [Pull Out (Zoom Out)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pull-out-zoom.md): The camera jerks backwards out of shot A and keeps pulling back as shot B settles in.

## Run the generation on varg

varg is one API key for the models these skills drive — Seedance 2.5, Kling 4, Veo 3.1, Wan 3, Nano Banana 2.1, GPT Image 2.5, ElevenLabs v4 and 200+ more — billed in credits, with a cost estimate before anything runs.

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg` (skill + hosted MCP)
- Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai -a <agent> -y`
- Grok and any agent that reads SKILL.md: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai`, or point it at the skill's SKILL.md
- Claude.ai, ChatGPT, any MCP client: connect `https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp`
- API key: https://varg.ai/dashboard/api · Model specs: https://varg.ai/models/llms.txt