Make organic lines in particular BEHAVE.

[Steve Roberts]

Are you sure the emitter is following the path? Did you select the mask shape parameter, then copy, then select the emitter parameter, then paste?

Have you tried using one of the organic presets, just to see one way of how the effect can be done?

Steve

[Helgi Johannsson]

Thanks for the reply Steve.

Yes, I am sure. I even watch as the emitter goes along the path, but it it doesn’t follow. Even though I use just the t_organicLines preset. I think I know why I have this problem, but I do not have a clue how to fix that. In the t_organicLines preset, the emitter only emits once 20 particles, and then stops it. And as it’s the emitter that follows the path, not the particles, how can a particle with a Aux follow some path?

Please, I so badly need to solve this.

[Helgi Johannsson]

I accidentally “post direct” the latest reply, I’m going to explain a little better.

The emitter follows the path, that is for sure, but the particles it emits, (as in this case, the emitter only emits 20 particle once, and then the aux system “takes over”) do not follow, and also the aux system doesn’t follow either.

[Steve Roberts]

Hmm … well, the particles shouldn’t follow the path, right? Each particle should be emitted, then stay right where it is and die (or shrink and die) as the emitter moves on.

If the aux particles followed the path of the emitter, you wouldn’t see the trail, right? You would see a fat emitter, surrounded by all the aux particles that are still with it.

If you change the aux velocity to , say, 50, you’ll see how the aux particles behave. They are emitted from the main particle. Here’s the rub: they do not have a direction parameter. So they only emit outward.

Have you considered moving the Particular layer?

So … unless I’ve covered the problem, I’m not sure what you want to see, or what the preset is doing that isn’t adequate. Say … don’t tell me what you want the effect to do … tell me what you want to see. Describe it as if you knew nothing about After Effects.

You want to see a moving light?
You want to see it leave streaks behind?
Do the streaks hang in the air and disappear?
Do the streaks move? If so, how?

HTH
Steve

[Helgi Johannsson]

Ok, thanks a lot.

In general, I would like it to resemble the organic lines in the video(the link that I posted). Start there and evolve from that would be ideal.

And yes, I was aware of that they can only emit outward and not follow the path, but how then do the do it in this video?

[Steve Roberts]

What seems to move is the 3D camera to follow the live action.

Steve

[Helgi Johannsson]

Ok, sorry, I must be totally misunderstanding all this or not explaining this very well.

What I want to do is to:

a ) Make a path.

b ) Let an organic line follow that path.

I cannot in anyway control how the t_organicLine preset moves, at least certainly not in a path that I make. But they seem to have done it in the video(when the organic line is tracked on his finger). How do I do that? I’ve tried and I’ve tried. I manage to make other forms of particular follow a path, but when it comes to Organic Lines using Aux, I have no clue.

[Steve Roberts]

Within Particular, only the emitter can follow a mask/path. End of story.

Let’s try this, using the Trapcode music video as a guide:

1. Animate the position of the footage so the sparkler-writing talent stays static, not moving across the frame.
2. On another layer, draw a mask that follows the motion of the writer’s hand. Apply Particular.
3. Copy that mask shape parameter and paste to the emitter parameter.
4. Set up Particular to emit aux particles with velocity 0. You should have a static actor (not panning across) drawing a streak.
5. Delete the keyframes for step 1 and center the footage normally.
5. Make a 3D camera and animate its position (no auto-orient) so it pans across the frame and so the Particular streaks follow the talent across the frame.

Let me know …
Steve

[Helgi Johannsson]

Ok, I took a clip from the music video that tracks to the right as a girl moves her hands. I tweaked it so she always stood at the same place and then made a mask for the movement.

But it is when I add the 3d camera when I get into trouble.

Ok, I can animate it and have the origin of the particular always on the same spot, but that doesn’t animate the stroke itself, only where I’m looking at the stroke at any given time. So the stroke doesn’t change shape when she moves her hands, it doesnt “follow”(as in the reference video), a part from a slight change in orientation because of the 3d camera.

[Christian Remde]

Don’t mean to be a pest, but wouldn’t this be a job for 3D Stroke and not Particular? Or maybe I’m wrong…

Christian Remde
https://www.christianremde.com