After we reviewed Knoll Light Factory Pro with the Spectacular portion that interacts directly with Trapcode Particular last month, we felt it only fitting that we review Particular this month. Plus it also fit in quite nicely with the in-depth look at special effects programs we’ve been doing a lot of recently.
For those of you not familiar with Particular, it is a particle-generation plug-in for After Effects. It allows you to create realistic smoke, fire, snow, 3D grids, warp trails, and even rain. (Though rain isn’t a preset and will take a bit of experimentation to make yourself.) As the program is designed for only one type of visual effect, rather than as a suite, it is inherently simpler to use, but, on the flip side, more limited in its abilities.
With that said, let’s break it down.
Ease of Use
When you first install Particular and it shows up in your After Effects Plug-in folder, most users will be tempted to try and drag and drop it over a video clip. This is where it’s a bit counter-intuitive. You must instead create a solid the size of your work area and apply the plug-in to this. (They include a Quick Start guide which you’ll need to open outside of After Effects to realize this.) Once you’ve done this, you can position explosions, bursts of smoke, or snow fall any place you want.
While you can adjust a multitude of options about all the particles you can generate, what makes this plug-in very easy to get started is 45 custom presets that cover everything from abstract swirls of color to exploding fireworks with smoke trails to warp tunnels to TNT explosions. And to keep you from even having to render each of these to find what you want, there is a preview window that will let you see a small Real-Time version of the effect in 3D space when you click on it. Click with just the left button and you can rotate the effect in 3D space. Press the Shift Key and Left Click and you can drag the effect anywhere on the screen. Unfortunately, you can’t hot-swap these keys to, say, drag an explosion to the right side of the screen and then release the key to rotate. While it’s a minor inconvenience to not be able to do both, the ability to do either so simply makes deciding on effect before you utilize it ultra simple.
Depth of Options
While the range of options is limited to particle generation with this plug-in, the amount of control you have over these particles is pretty mind-blowing. You can choose to tweak any of the six large categories of: Emitter, Particle, Physics, Aux System, Visibility, and Motion Blur. Emitter determines shape and location of the emitter, as well as how many particles and in what direction they go. Particle determines the type of particle, the life expectancy, and the coloration of the particles. Physics determine the type of environment the effect is happening in, such as if there is gravity, if there is wind resistance, and if the particles might be only in the air or if they might bounce off of 3D surfaces. Aux Systems control sub-particles that come off of main particles, which are especially useful in things like smoke and fire. Visibility controls vanishing points, obscuration levels, general opacity, and the new Depth of Field function. Finally, Motion Blur allows you to blend your effect with your camera shots and allows you to disregard certain elements that may conflict with your render.
