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Trapcode Particular Essential Training

with Chad Perkins

In this course, veteran author and animator Chad Perkins explores Trapcode Particular, an industry-standard third-party Adobe After Effects plugin for generating particle effects. After exploring the menu structure, basic operations, and some key tips and tricks, the course tackles a series of short projects that represent the kinds of design and animation tasks that motion graphics or VFX artists can create, such as camera flashes, smoke, sparks, or even a flock of birds.

Topics include:

Understanding the Particular paradigm
Working with different emitter types
Understanding the curve-drawing interface
Animating the emitter's position
Adjusting the particles' life span
Using custom particles
Using Particular's auxiliary particles
Integrating the After Effects lights and cameras
Using a motion path
Working with gravity and wind
Using movies as particles

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author: Chad Perkins
subject: Video, Motion Graphics, Visual Effects
software: After Effects CS5.5, CS6, Particular 2
level: Beginner

duration: 4h 37m
released: Sep 27, 2012

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viewed duration

Introduction 6m 34s

Welcome 2m 38s

Using the exercise files 1m 19s

The prerequisites to this course 48s

Using Trapcode Particular vs. Trapcode Form 1m 49s

1. Getting Started 8m 40s

Applying the Particular effect 2m 44s

Using the included presets 3m 12s

Understanding the Particular paradigm 2m 44s

2. Working with an Intro Project 6m 10s

Creating the smoke emitter 2m 14s

Refining the smoke 2m 8s

Using the particles as an alpha matte 1m 48s

3. Understanding the Emitter 29m 48s

Adjusting the particles per second 6m 43s

Working with different emitter types 7m 48s

Animating emitter position 3m 43s

Understanding direction and velocity 9m 32s

Creating a pre-run 2m 2s

4. Adjusting Particle Attributes 25m 26s

Adjusting particle life span 3m 4s

Choosing the look of the particle 4m 12s

Using the Particular curve-drawing interface 6m 11s

Drawing particle opacity 4m 20s

Coloring particles 7m 39s

5. Working with Custom Particles 16m 3s

Using another layer as a particle 6m 30s

Working with sprites and polygons 3m 18s

Rotating particles 6m 15s

6. Integrating After Effects 3D 22m 28s

Using Particular in 3D scenes 6m 58s

Using After Effects lights as emitters 6m 22s

Using light falloff on particles 5m 29s

Achieving a shallow depth of field 3m 39s

7. Tips and Tricks 28m 0s

Adding glow 6m 50s

Using Particular with multiple effects 7m 6s

Using 32-bit particles 5m 15s

Linking emitters to other layers 3m 16s

Using a motion path 5m 33s

8. Intermediate Features 38m 41s

Using a movie as a particle 8m 12s

Working with gravity 4m 31s

Moving particles with wind 8m 24s

Bouncing particles off of other layers 6m 18s

Globally adjusting particle timing 3m 53s

Adding complexity with the aux system 7m 23s

9. Project One: Camera Flashes 15m 31s

Creating the basic flash particle 5m 33s

Simulating camera flashes 9m 58s

10. Project Two: Campfire Smoke 20m 46s

Making the smoke 9m 36s

Adding embers 5m 34s

Enhancing the effect 5m 36s

11. Project Three: Welding Sparks 11m 32s

About particle motion blur 3m 16s

Creating welding sparks 8m 16s

12. Project Four: Light Streaks 19m 47s

Creating and animating the emitter 3m 44s

Creating the light streak 7m 51s

Smoothing with subframes 1m 43s

Enhancing with aux particles 6m 29s

13. Project Five: Flock of Birds 14m 22s

Examining the bird particle movie 2m 0s

Creating the bird particles 8m 59s

Using World Transform 3m 23s

14. Project Six: Logo Dissolve 12m 30s

Using a layer emitter 4m 55s

Dissolving the logo 7m 35s

Conclusion 1m 11s

Goodbye 1m 11s

Suggested courses to watch next:

After Effects Apprentice 11: 3D Space (4h 49m)
Chris Meyer

CINEMA 4D: Rendering Motion Graphics for After Effects (3h 53m)
Rob Garrott

After Effects CS6 New Features (2h 13m)
Chris Meyer

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