That worked like a champ, Nat! I was wary of using the overlay track because I was piecing together about 30 clips and I had nightmare visions of the overlay track growing up and up and up with each overlay. Then I realized I could just flip between overlay and track 1, and back and forth, to do the fading. That make the project much cleaner, and I love the fading with the shape transition.
Thanks a million! :D