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How do I create this particle effect?
This has me stumped! I’m pretty new to After Effects and I’m getting to grips with all the particle effects and have managed to create some cool looking animations, but I’m trying to create the particle effect as seen in the image link below. Can anyone tell me how this is done, and what plug-in (if any) would be used to create something like this? I can’t get anything I do to look like it. I’ve played around with the in-built AE particle effects and I also have the Trapcode Particular plugin, but I can’t see any way to achieve this result with either. Any advice? Thanks…
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15 Replies
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That’s not just one effect you see there. Yes there is definitely a particle system, and my guess would be it is Particular using a custom particle. There are also extensive glows, probably using a blur and the add blend mode. Fractal noise in the background. And it looks like Knoll Light Factory or something similar for the Lens Flare (the two large chroma hoops just below and to the left of the dragon as well as the triangular light shapes beyond that).
That’s as much as I can guess on without seeing it in motion.
Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA -
Thanks for that Darby. I have uploaded the movie file of this to the link below. It’s actually my own logo that somebody did this animation for a year or so ago, and I am trying to recreate it. It’s the the lens flare and the particles which are proving so difficult to recreate. I can’t get in touch with the person who did it before to ask them!
https://www.megaupload.com/?d=JIONNYS4
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I have done a very similar effect some time ago…and what I remember the trick was using the source of the particle’s to originate from a light source.
It looks they used a flare and light source combination to achieve this result.
I don’t remember the details, but I do remember it took me quite a while to figure it out how to control the particle emission direction.
Joe
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Thanks for that. These particles are proving a real hassle for sure!
Another puzzle which may be easier to solve is the reveal on the dragon and the text. It has a kind of ripple blue reveal to it. How is that best achieved?
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It looks to me that the initial reveal of the dragon is done using an animated texture as an alpha channel or luma souce. If I had to guess, I think it looks like flames. You would simply use the animated flames as a luma map for the dragon. There looks like a second reveal which is more of a wipe. Here you could use an animated mask with a feathered edge or create a custom wipe and use it as a luma matte as above. Then it is simply a matter of layering the reveals and keyframing the opacities.
Best of luck
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A couple of ways I have done this…
A simple way is to create a water drop like wave on a solid… if my memory is correct, I used my NLE (i.e., Avid/Pinnacle Liquid to create this water drop wave effect… then,…
…I use the Displacement Map effect to complete the warp like movement…
A slightly less simple way but looks better in my opinion is that I used an actual water drop video clip, then…
…I used the Displacement Map effect to complete the warp like movement…
In both instances, (again I’m working from memory and could be off) Layer one is the displacement map on a solid (i.e., background color). Layer two is the video (created with an NLE or video clip. There are few tricks you need to do to get this right and I can’t remember exactly what they are but it has something to do with using a greyscale (or one of the RGB channels) displacement map source to get the optimal contrast. You need to experiment to see which channel will maximize the contrast (use the effect…adjust…levels effect to do this). Also, if memory is correct there is something about the edge behavior of the displacement map to make the effect complete.
Off hand, that is what I remember. I think this should head you into the right direction.
How you use this conjunction with the reveal is a whole ‘nuther story and should be comparitively easy after working with the displacement map effect… in fact, it looks like a simple opacity change of a precomp that has the displacment map effect I described above.
FWIW Joe Moya
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Joe, thanks for that, but that’s way over my head. I’ve only been using AE for about a week, so I’m not sure even where to begin on that one! Even a step by step tutorial would have me tearing my hair out there i think.
Mike, that sounds interesting, and achievable given my limited skill, lol! How exactly would I set up a flames as a luma map?
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It is pretty easy. Take you dragon layer and duplicate it so that you have 2 layers. Next, find an animated flame movie somewhere on the web. If you cant find a flame, you can accomplish a similar effect using a new layer and apply a fractal noise filter and animating the phase over time. However, given the video, it looks like a flame movie would be best. Next, drag you flame layer overtop into the comp so that it is directly above one of your dragon layers. With your dragon layer selected, click the dropdown menu under the TrkMat tab in the timeline. Change the mode from “No Track Matte” to Luma Matte of the flame layer. What this will do is drive the opacity of your dragon image using the greyscale value of the flame movie, so that the lighter parts will be more opaque and the darker parts will be more transparent. Also, is it does not do so automatically, turn off the visibility of the flame layer. As for the other dragon layer, it appears that it is a simple wipe reveal. I would apply a new mask to it by going up to your pen tool and drawing a box around the dragon. Change the mask mode from add to subtract. Next, click the stopwatch next to the mask shape and animate the 2 right points sweeping from right to left to reveal the dragon. Finally you can feather the mask a bit to soften the edge. Place this layer above the flaming dragon and offset the timing so that the solid layer reveals over the flaming layer – if that makes any sense. Lastly, you may want to key frame the opacity of the flame layer so that the flaming dragon fades in. You only need to keyframe the flame layer as the opacity of the dragon layer is controled by it.
I hope this is clear and you can follow along. If not, let me know.
PS – did you say you have particular – If so, I may be able to help you approximate the particle effect. It looks like at least 2 particle layers, one with particles falling from top to bottom, and one with particles shooting into the foreground from the background. It also looks like a camera move forward. I agree with Darby that it looks like a custom shape has been instanced. You will need to play with the color, opacity and size using some fractal map to get the shimmering/glitter effect. Hope this helps
Best of luck
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I’ve only been using AE for about a week
Wow… it appears you picked a project that requires a bit more experience than just a few weeks of using AE…it’s like hearing a song on the radio and picking up a guitar and deciding after only having the guitar a few weeks to play the song I heard on the radio played by a musician with years of experience… it can be done but it will not sound the same and will be a VERY difficult way to learn to play the guitar.
If I was you.. I would stick with the tutorials for a little longer before you tackle something as you details as the project you want to duplicate. If not… then, you’ll have lots of “fun” attempting what you are wanting to duplicate… in that respect, it will be one heck of learning experience or will drive you crazy.
Before you attempt this kind of project, may I suggest a few things…
One learn how to use masks… then, learn how to use maps and/or luma functions… finally, learn how to use the masks and map/luma fitlers with masks… none of those steps can be learned in one pass because there are so many various of these combinations.
Joe
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I agree with Joe, but I like the fact that you are willing to try something difficult. While it seems that you are trying to fly before you crawl, I am a firm believer that the best teacher is to try and fail and try again. I would advise you to pick on element in the composition and attempt to duplicate that effect. Once you have that effect down, move on to the next. In this manner, your project will grow with your knowledge. Plus, this is the way any one of us builds a complex composition, one effect at a time, building on the previous ones. Learning how to accomplish an effect is much more rewarding than having someone do it for you, plus you then understand why things work, and can build on that knowledge for the future.
Simply put – keep trying
Best of luck
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