Smoke Effects and Light Trails – Part 1

Smoke Effects and Light Trails – Part 1

on Jul 13th 2011 with 23 comments
Tutorial Details

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In Part 1 of this tutorial we will be creating some smoke effects and blending those effects in with our keyed footage. In this example, I used Trapcode Particular but can be substituted with the fractal noise effect or by using stock footage as your smoke layer. This is just one of many ways of creating this type of effect and I hope this gives you an idea on creating your own smoke effects.

Tutorial

Download Tutorial .m4v

File size: 111.1 MB

 
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I am an artist who likes to keep busy with different art styles and mediums. I have always been drawn to graphic design but sci-fi and animation has inspired me to take my work to the next level. I have enjoyed making animations in New Orleans Fringe festivals and blending my art with music.  

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  • http://supahfilms.co.tv Anthony

    I think that this tut is not really good and it looks like crappy green screen effects i don’t like it and this is basic stuff

    • http://www.youtube.com/ignitevideos7 reggie

      I agree. I think the average standard for tutorials here on Aetutsplus has been at a very low point for too long. For most people expecting great tutorials and tips daily, we are beginning to become disappointed.

  • chinagirl

    I think its a cool effect. I think it a great tut, looking forward to seeing the next one :)

  • Luke

    The tutorial isn’t bad, always something to learn. But the “final product” video is pretty terrible. Looks like its from the 90′s.

  • Jorge

    Sorry but i don’t like it. Looks…very amateur

  • The Truth

    Not sure how you ingrates don’t understand that a technique is being taught. Learn the technique and make your own brilliant comps.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/leonbenlolo Leon Benlolo

    Hi All, I wanted you to see the video I made with some of the tutorials I found this site, please watch till the end between the middle and end of the movie is most purposes, hope you like it!
    http://youtu.be/Jcxb_7_su_Y

  • http://www.octopuskill.co.uk Freed

    Just one word “GAY!”.

    • Lee

      Chillout people! You people really got your fill of hater-aid today! When I was asked to do a tut for you guys I just wanted to show how I mixed different effects to give you a rough idea. I wasn’t going for an Oscar here. If you are more advanced than what this basic example shows,congratulations! Have a blessed day.

      • jink

        Lee, thank you for the tutorial. The start of the result was very pleasing. however words cannot describe how ugly the end is, and this has left me with no faith or hope for humanity.

      • http://www.vfxrider.com Chandan Kumar

        jink, you just sink. If you are here to see a great show everyday for the so called “advanced” people like you, then you should definitely not visit AETuts+ daily, because there are some beginners and some intermediate too who visit here for their stuff.Let them breath too, let them learn too and you do a favor…spare the community! LoL

        @Lee:- I haven’t seen the tutorial yet but I never felt that this tutorial is not worth for. You have done a good job. Keep it up!

      • jink

        chandan, you’re just…. random? Everyone wants to learn from the best. I know it’s free so i can’t complain.

  • Brendan Woolbert

    Lee; good tutorial; however the final effect could have had some polishing done just to make it look a little better.

  • Axel

    What! That’s videocopilot stuff in the beginning!

  • http://www.thedesignportfolio.co.uk Laurence

    i appreciate that its a tutorial and could be of use to beginners which is awesome (after all that’s the whole point of this), however, unless the outcome is visually appealing you’re not really going to encourage people to actively follow the tut, if anything you’re essentially marginalising your demographic.

    what im trying to articulate is that you need to MAKE IT LOOK NICE!

    technical skill is one thing but presenting that skill in an attractive way which encourages people to learn is something very different.

    • Mike

      Well said Laurence. Thanks for taking the time to try and teach others, but make it something people will want to learn. One of my biggest complaints about tutorials is when the authors have a good skill to teach, but have an output that is not visually appealing. Then they say some nonsense like, “Nevermind the output, this was just to teach a concept.” If you are expecting people to respect you as an author and somewhat of an authority on your subject, have the end product be something people will want to learn and use. Otherwise, you look like either a lazy author or incompetent…either one is not good. Just my 2 cents.

  • ActionCamStudio

    Sorry for my english…but i really don’t understand people that wants only super cool tuts for free…in a tut you have to learn some techniques from other people and than you can do your work faster and maybe in a better way. All of you MASTERS why don’t came here and show how to do it better? If you don’t like it or is too basic for you…show to the community your works and make your own tuts. Otherwise i have to think that you’re only good to talk…bla,bla,bla…
    Thank you Lee for the tut!

    • Mike

      Speaking only for myself, of course, I was not belittling the author for his tutorial. Most of us learned the majority of our core skills from online tutorials. What I was saying, and what I believe is correct, is that if you are going to teach a concept, make an end product which is useable. The techniques demonstrated are defiantly ones which people should know and be taught. They could have resulted in a much better, polished composition had the author spent a little more time tweaking the concept and final output. I must put this discussion up to the discussion people had on Wren’s tutorial regarding the flamethrower and the final product looking a little too washed out and transparent. Instead of simply saying, it was a free tutorial, take it or leave it, he admitted it could use some tweaking and tweaked the result so it looked better. Everybody won, including Wren, the original author. Lee should take the comments constructively and learn from them in order to be a better artist and author, just as we can glean valuable tips from this tutorial even if we may not use the final look in our work. Some people may go overboard in their responses and criticisms, but authors could use some feedback, good and bad, at times to improve their own skills.

  • http://www.cgmotionbox.com John Paul

    Nice Tut :) Thank you for this.

  • phil johnson

    Nice tutorial dude, but you really need to work on your audio. Half the time I couldn’t hear what you were saying.

  • ali atoui

    very nice

  • Diogo

    This is strange. I have trapcode 2.1 but it doesn’t seem to have a presset bar like yours :/ Any thoughts on that?

  • http://www.facebook.com/lukasound Luka Štemberger

    This is a nice tutorial and i am learning a lot from it to use in my project…
    But please improve your narration. You keep skipping steps, going too fast and not explaining what you are doing. At about 4:20 you make the particles rotate with absolutely no explanation how… “I also set up some keyframes here…” – which values did you change? I can see no changes in your keyframed vales when you play it.