Overview
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Learn to create Harry Potter–style smoke, fire, and explosions with particle systems in After Effects.
Syllabus
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Introduction
- Welcome
- Using the exercise files
- Breakdown of final comps
- Setting up the project in After Effects
- Working with Cineon files
- Color grading for night
- Generating a particle blob
- Hand tracking particles into the plate
- Patching the background
- Creating a particle puff
- Creating a trailing particle sparkle
- Creating a streaked particle blast
- Creating light spill
- Adding a fake shadow and flare
- Copying footage and effects
- Motion tracking elements
- Continuing with motion tracking
- Creating smoke with simple particles
- Creating sparks with particles
- Reusing particles
- Adding the blast as a 3D layer
- Integrating a CG explosion
- Creating glowing embers
- Rotoscoping the foreground
- Color grading the shot
- Preparing the green screen
- Keying green screen
- Time remapping and split screening
- Reusing particles
- Preparing CG particles
- Using the Liquify effect
- Layering the particles
- Final relighting
- Looking at the final project
- Next steps
