[Mike Park]

Check out my video tutorial on creating a realistic 3d earth using CC sphere here:
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/park_michael/3d_Earth.php
I think this is exactly what you are looking for. If you want the earth to spin faster or slower, just adjust the multiplier in the rotation expression “time*___” to a larger or smaller number to make the earth spin faster or slower.

Any other questions, just post to this thread, and I am sure I can point you in the right direction. Shoot, the project file is included, so all you need to do is open it up, and take a look under the hood.

Best of luck,

Mike Park

[Mike Park]

The answer to your question is probably. I could come up with something that would look like pouring beer into a glass, complete with the head. I already did a champagne facsimile, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. The real question is what would we use it for. Maybe Homer Simpson would be interested. Any other requests. I am always looking for new tutorial ideas, especially those involving particles.

[Mike Park]

OK guys,

Here is the project file. It uses AFX CS4 and Particular 1.51
113_waterfall.zip

Best of luck

Mike Park

[Mike Park]

Why are you using after effects. It looks like you want an NLE like Premiere. Would be easier. Also Premiere will let you add transparent titles on top of your movie, which I believe, is what you want. You can use AFX, but it is like using a pair of pliers to drive in a nail. The pliers will eventually work, but why not use a hammer instead which is designed for the task.

Best of luck

[Mike Park]

Adam,
shoot me your email address and I’ll send you a project file. It is a little too much of a pain to type all of the instructions on the forum. I used Particular and I think it will work well for your needs.

Mike Park

[Mike Park]

In response to Roland’s post, you could use the wind paramaters to control direction. However, in order to get a straight line, you would have to have the velocity of the particles start at 0 and then the wind would accelerate the particles in the direction you wanted. This will require some trial and error and won’t be super precise. Also, it does not allow the particles to have any initial velocity, unless you correctly orient the particles in the direction of the wind, which defeats the purpose of your original post.

If you really dont want to use expressions and picwip, you could cheat and create a camera in the scene, create a 3d null, parent the camera to the null and use the null’s rotation to control the relative direction of the particles. Obviously, this only works if you are not using any other cameras in the scene. If so, you will have to precompose the Particular solid layer with the orientation camera…and that can get messy if you need to make many adjustments or the main camera in your scene changes. I like the expression method the best.

Mike

[Mike Park]

John,

What version of particular and After Effects are you using. I currently have CS4 installed on this machine with the latest version of Particular, 1.5.1. If you have these, I will send you a project file with the emitter all linked up. All you have to do is move the target null anywhere in 3d space and the particular emitter will automatically orient toward the target null. Positive values in z space go back, negative values of the target null in z space come towards you out of the screen. Just give me your email, and I will send it your way.

Mike

[Mike Park]

When I need precise control over particular, I usually create a null object for the particular source and a null object for the target. I then picwip the rotational values of the particular emitter to the source null rotation. (make sure the source null and the particular emitter occupy the same space) Next, I use the lookat function to make the source null always rotate toward the target null in 3d space. Then, just position the target null anywhere you want and the particle emitter will shoot towards the target.

Hope this helps.

[Mike Park]

What exactly do you want to do? Where to you want the values to go? Are you duplicating the layer a bunch of times or trying to link all different layers to the same rotation?

[Mike Park]

You can absolutely do this in AFX with Particular, if that is what you have. You will basically need to take your color layer, without the white background, make it a 3d layer in a comp. Next, create a new solid layer and apply particular. For an emitter choice, use either layer or layer grid, depending on the look you want. Create a new, small comp, say 200×200, and draw out a leaf shape. If you want to get more creaive and varied, you can make multiple leaves in this comp and use each randomly in particular. Back in your main comp, drag the small leaf comp in and turn its visibility off. Next, change particle type to cusom colorize or fill, depending on the look you want and choose the small leaf comp layer. Then, just play with either gravity, or wind to animate the leaves. Turning on a bit of turbulence and/or spin will help create a more random look. Play with the settings. This will have your logo blow away. If you want it to come together, simply time reverse the comp in another comp, or play with physics time in the negative.

Hope this helps