Which is better for particles?

[Darby Edelen]

Trapcode’s Particular and AE’s Particle Playground both have distinct advantages over one another, but I would say that Particular is my choice pretty much 100% of the time. It renders much much faster than Particle Playground and I believe it is more flexible in ways that matter.

Darby Edelen

[Tom Scott]

I think “better” is a matter of personal preference. While I prefer Particular, there will be some folk who like to use Particle Playground.

Of course, if you want real power when working with particles, try the stand-alone program, Particle Illusion.

[Mark]

I like Particular, as it works in 3d space (you can create the particle effects then take a camera and fly around the particles).

I always found Particle playground complicated and very heavy on computing ressources.

Mark

Mark Harvey
Senior Editor
Le Réseau des sports

[Christopher Rotter]

Tough choice, but I do like Particular, you can’t work in 3D space with Particle playground?

And is particlar really faster ? I don’t want to buy something that I will say “this stuff was in particle playground” I want to get a little more from it.

[David Bogie]

There are many “particle systems” in AE besides Particle Playground. I do not have Particular, never needed it. I have envied the tutorials for Particular but have always managed to figure out a way to do without it. All depends on the nature of the assignment. One day someone will come in with a concept that simp;ly can’t be done without Particular…I hope.

bogiesan

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

[Shawn Miller]

I can’t think of anything that AE’s particle systems can’t do that Particular can… that said, Particular (IMO) is more intuitive and renders faster than Particle World or Particle Playground… at least on my machines. I use Particular for 99% percent of my particle needs… but that’s mostly because it seems to render so much more quickly than anything else. I also like Particle Illusions, but it falls short if you need to work in “3D” space.

Thanks,

Shawn

[Tom Daigon]

Particle Illusion has a wonderful library of presets, but its only 2D. What I love about Particular is that it is 3D and interacts dramatically with the After Effects environment and camera.

[Darby Edelen]

[Shawn Miller] “I can’t think of anything that AE’s particle systems can’t do that Particular can…”

3D turbulence, depth of field, physics time factor, fairly robust 3D bounce physics, motion paths, auxiliary systems… I could probably come up with a few more as well 😉

That said, there are things you can do with the built in particle systems that you can’t do in particular… I’ve just never had a reason to use those features. On the whole I think particular is a much more relevant particle generator.

Darby Edelen

[Christopher Rotter]

Alright, thank you everyone for your input. I won’t be working all the time in 3D space but then again it helps if I need to or want to with a project. I’m still a bit hesitant but I will probably get particular and use it when a projet needs it like the one I’m working on and down the road. I’ll switch between the two, thank you.

[David Bogie]

[Darby Edelen] “3D turbulence, depth of field, physics time factor, fairly robust 3D bounce physics, motion paths, auxiliary systems… I could probably come up with a few more as well 😉 “

Umm, okay, I yield. As I said, I’ve never used any of Trapcode’s products and the boss ain’t buyin’ me no new toys in fiscal 2009 except for the updates to all of our CS4 suites which, I see from the various AE forums, is a terrible retrograde when it comes to rendering on the Macintosh compared to CS3.

bogiesan

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