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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects Particles in AE

  • Particles in AE

    Posted by David Horler on September 24, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    Hi,

    I have been given a task by a client to create a motion-graphic video accompanying a voiceover.

    It involves molecules tumbling through a pipe before landing in a chemical tank and becoming ‘stuck’ to an adsorbent. I have never really worked much with particles in this way, so I was wondering how would be best to do this.

    Here is an example of the kind of animation that my client wants:

    I have tried Particle Playground as it seems to have a good set of 2D physics which is what I need. However, I can’t change the particle sprites to circles (rather they stay as default squares) and I also can’t set their speed to 0 when they enter a certain area (however, I have managed to make them shrink to 0.5 scale when they enter the area as a test).

    Particular is 3D and almost instantly out of the question.

    Any help? Thanks

    Brian Charles replied 14 years, 11 months ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • Roland R. kahlenberg

    September 24, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Foam is likely a better particle system for such an effect as it has built-in physics capabilities. You’ll need to Google for a tutorial.

    If you need help with Particle Playground, I’ve got a couple of COW Tutorials on the effect.

    HTH
    RoRK

    Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Asia.

  • Brian Charles

    September 24, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    [David Horler] “I have tried Particle Playground as it seems to have a good set of 2D physics which is what I need. However, I can’t change the particle sprites to circles (rather they stay as default squares) and I also can’t set their speed to 0 when they enter a certain area (however, I have managed to make them shrink to 0.5 scale when they enter the area as a test).”

    Particle playground can use any layer as a particle the setting is under Layer Map. It uses Property Mappers to control size and speed. As Roland wrote, there are plenty of tutorials on the Cow.

    Another option is CC Particle World, better still if you have it Trapcode Particular.

  • David Horler

    September 24, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    Thanks for the responses.

    I tried Trapcode Particular but it doesn’t seem to handle 2D very well, being a 3D oriented plugin. Can you change the sprites from those annoying bubbles in Foam and create a ‘wall’ system so they bounce off edges?

  • Brian Charles

    September 25, 2011 at 1:45 am

    To use a custom bubble change the Bubble Texture under Rendering, you can use a layer as a custom texture.

    In fact you can also use an environment map on the bubbles so they reflect their surroundings.

    Use the Flow Map to control where the bubbles flow.

    See: https://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103a9d3c597-7abba.html

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