After Effects CS5 203: Secrets of Particle Playground

45 videos | 209 minutes | by Richard Lainhart

Learn the little-known secrets of After Effects' Particle Playground plugin with special effects expert & Star macProVideo.com Trainer Richard Lainhart.

The Adobe After Effects Particle Playground plugin is a powerful environment for particle systems & other eye-catching special effects, but few After Effects users even know it's there! And what's more, many of those who do find its interface mysterious and intimidating. Yet Particle Playground is a wonderful environment for all kinds of effects (particularly text effects) that are difficult or impossible to achieve with other tools.

Our Particle Playground expert Richard Lainhart fills you in on the basics of how particle systems work, and how they differ from After Effects' standard keyframing techniques. Richard dives in at the deep end to show you how to create unique particle effects like snow and fountains, before taking you into Particle Playground's incredible particle text effects.

You'll learn cool techniques you can use in your productions, like the ever-popular revealing of a logo from a string of randomized letters, bouncing animated text off a wall with real physics properties, and blowing up selected letters in a line of moving text. You'll also learn how to use image sequences to create run cycles and animated particles. From there, Richard walks you step-by-step through creating the Matrix Code Effect, as featured in the popular Matrix films, and how to customize it for your own title sequences.

Particle systems can be confusing and difficult to understand, but once you complete this tutorial, you'll be well on your way to mastery of the Secrets of Particle Playground.