Meteor crash

[Steve Roberts]

It looks like two applications of a particle effect to me: one for the smoke trail and one for the smoke explosion. I don’t think anything included with AE will do it, so you’ll need a third-party plugin. You could try Trapcode’s Particular or Wondertouch’s Particle Illusion.

[Bill Kelly]

On the tags in the youtube video, two of the words are particle and illusion, so I’m guessing that’s what he used. You’d also have to duplicate the original video layer, put it on top of the explosion, and do some masking around the foreground areas so that the explosion would appear to be taking place farther from camera.

[David Bogie]

I’m always surprised and shocked at the number of posts we see that imply third party plugs are required to achieve an effect. The youtube clip was particularly awful but I don’t see anything that can’t be done easily in After Effects. “Easily” requires familiarity with the included particle systems and some practice. Convincing explosive ballistics require patience. Smoke and internal illumination require several layers, compound blends, patience.

The plugs that will generate these effects at the push of a button are complex in their own ways and they’re relatively expensive. Might be easier to buy some stock footage.

Of course, my favorite way to generate trails like that is to go retro and shoot a cloud tank.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”