• Adobe After Effects

  Snow Storm in Particular

  Posted by Eric Kirk on September 18, 2011 at 4:59 pm

  Hello,

  Does anyone know of a specific tutorial for making a pretty realistic snow storm in TC Particular?

  I’ve searched all over and there sure don’t seem to be any decent ones. In fact, I’m quite surprised at how little I can find.

  I am looking over the Michael Park Christmas scene but look for something approaching blizzard like.

  Appreciate the help.

  Eric

  Eric D. Kirk
  http://www.kirkproductions.com

  Walter Soyka replied 14 years, 7 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Roland R. kahlenberg

  September 19, 2011 at 3:48 am

  What specific issues do have with Michael’s example? Perhaps that will allow folks to help you out.

  Cheers
  RoRK

  Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Asia.
• 

  Walter Soyka

  September 19, 2011 at 4:42 pm

  Particular is very powerful, but as you’re seeing, getting a nice snow storm can require some tweaking.

  I like GenArts M_Snow and Digieffects DE SnowStorm quite a bit — they’re both specialized snow particle systems.

  Walter Soyka
  Principal & Designer at Keen Live
  Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
  RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
  Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events
• 

  Eric Kirk

  September 19, 2011 at 5:14 pm

  Thanks. I do have DE snow storm but not sure I am too pleased with it but to give credit, I am not well versed in using it.

  The snow flakes were very rounded and maybe there is a setting for that.

  I got to a pretty good point with Particular, which I love and wish I could attach the draft here.

  Also, DE kept crashing, especially if I used the “pile up” setting. It was pretty scary because when it opens back up, you are in a loop with the crash and BETTER have a previous version of your AE project.

  Maybe I need to post my own tutorial now. 🙂

  Eric

  Eric D. Kirk
  http://www.kirkproductions.com
• 

  Walter Soyka

  September 19, 2011 at 7:10 pm

  I’ve done a couple snowstorms with Particular, too, and I think the biggest challenge with making blizzards in Particular is getting a good, organic-looking wind and swirls.

  For wind, I’ve just done a lot of trial-and-error with Bezier handles on wind keyframes. I’ve used a blizzard sound effect and tried to match the visuals to the audio for a good feel on the pacing and strength of the gusts.

  For swirls, I’ll set up multiple systems; a main background system, and a hero foreground system (or a set of systems). The hero system gets swirls via Particular’s motion paths.

  I haven’t had to pile up snow in a shot, but I’d probably approach it with multiple systems like the swirls and a floor layer.

  I think a tutorial here would be good — snow seems like a slam-dunk for a general particle system like Particular, but making it look realistic requires a bit more work than you’d think at first glance.

  Walter Soyka
  Principal & Designer at Keen Live
  Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
  RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
  Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up