Trapcode Particular Particle Path Tutorial

By your request, Michael made a quick Trapcode Particular tutorial on the effect from Red Giant's June nineteenth 2023 post. It demonstrates using Motion Paths in the Displace category to make particles follow the motion of lights in Adobe After Effects.

Quick tip: set your keyframes to roving keyframes to make the particles keep the same speed throughout.

0:00 - Intro
0:15 - Making the background
1:02 - Quickly tracking the phone screen with Spot Clone Tracker
3:08 - Trapcode Particular Motion Paths
6:11 - Adjusting the look of the particles
9:22 - Using Supercomp to quickly integrate things
9:59 - Tying things together with Magic Bullet Looks

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[RoPanuganti]

This was one of my favorite tutorials, quick and covers a very common use case I've been doing less optimally! I'd love to see more on the fluid sims and tracking with those kinds of particle behaviors.

[Rdtroid]

that's insane, thx for the tut. You r best

[edenpalmer]

Michael, this is great! What method/tutorial for when the start point is a floating track. For example: the end of a horn player with notes blowing out following a path. Thanks again

[HaveAnother]

I always go back to this tutorial...not because I need too...because I suck

[WShawn]

As someone who had permanent licenses of all of the Trapcode products going back to the early 2000s (pre-Red Giant acquisition) I used this technique many times. I really like the plugin, but now that Maxon has rolled the Trapcode plugins into the huge Red Giant subscription suite (that costs almost as much as the entire Adobe Creative Suite) I'm trying out other particle systems. I just can't justify the cost. If I could get just the Trapcode plugins for, like, $10-$15/month I'd subscribe.

[antonioferreiraprods]

Amazing tutorial. Thank you. It would be great to see a tutorial about an effect similar to a flock of birds swirling and swooping in the sky. The so called "murmuring" or "murmurations" effect. That effect is amazing to organic stuff, sci-fi labs, etc. Could you guys please make a tutorial about that? :)

[vernardfields]

This is pretty good! Can this method also be used to create the proto plasma ray from the guns in Ghostbusters?

[raphaeljahndel]

Hey, nice, but please show us how to orient the hearts/sprites to motion path flow direction (without turning "facing camera" ON, but OFF !). It is not working since 2020 or so, when they changed ON/OFF button to slider for orient to motion), and I just cannot use Particular because of that bug. For example I want Arrow sprites to follow fully 3D, not 2D-locked facing the camera. Then the slider "orient to motion" works, yeah - but thats not cool, it needs to work in 3D directions like it did before the upgrade of Particular. Super annoying bug, because you almost always need it when using sprites. There are also other people complaining about this since 2020 at least on google.

[tarikkodokuna]

Great tutorial, hope a tutorial for clouds, I would like to learn how can we make cloud from particles in 3d on trapcode particular thx

[Joshua_S]

Good and solid 3d Tracking tutorial please. AE tracker ALWAYS slips. No matter how good I remove moving objects and how many points I delete to refine the track.

[timaging]

interesting this is not working on my scene. Did something change in the newest version of Particular?

[StylishGaz]

This doesn't work at all, the emitter stays in the centre, Did you change the way it works since this tutorial?

[evemearavfx]

anyone know how to slow down the movement? Is the only way adjusting the light path a shorter distance?

[JonGPxl]

Tutorial request: How to orient particles along a path without them moving. I can't seem to figure out how to get this to work, be it a motion path, or by having the emitter move.

[azizal]

What is the difference between trapcode and cc praticle world

[Sungdenly]

not working roto layour why?? please save me

[thenamesmango]

Hey, we’ll I did absolutely everything explained in this video down to a T and the PARTICLES STILL DECIDE TO NOT FOLLOW MY FUCKING PATH, I don’t understand what’s going on and I hate this program