circular path

[Nico Jones]

you could lay out the arrows flat, then precomp them and apply cc cylinder to the comp…I reckon that could work.

[Aharon Rabinowitz]

Yup – that;’s the way to do it.

Create a composition that has a width to height ratio of 2:1 (2x as wide as it is tall)

Set up your 2 arrows – each one being a bout half as wide as the comp – in other words so that together the horizontally fill the comp, with some space between them.

Take this comp and nest it into another comp.

In the new comp, select the nested comp (Arrows) and choose Effect > Perspective > CC Cylinder – then play with the rotation until you have it set up the way you want it.

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Aharon Rabinowitz
arabinowitz(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com

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[David Bogie]

You can spice this up by duplicating one of the cylinder layers and making it slightly smaller.
You could use a gradient inside the arrows (applied to the upstream layers of the nested comp) so the air changes temperature as it rises. Don’t forget a drop shadow onto the prairie floor.
The rising arrows in the cloud can be animated very nicely using an expression to create trails.

Some of the best weather animation is even simpler, just cycling color bands easily accomplished with Colorama applied to a gradient.

bogiesan