Fairy Dust
Rating: Three Stars
Background
This is a tutorial on using Particle Playground to make fairy dust using a Quicktime .mov file. View the Fairy Dust Quicktime movie.
Requirements
- After Effects 6.5 Pro
- You can download a trial version of the newly released After Effects 7.0 Pro. However, this tutorial has not been tested in the new version.
- Fairy Dust Sparkle Quicktime Movie
- You can download the Sparkle Quicktime .mov, along with the fairydust.aep project, in this zip.
→ Throughout the tutorial, I have links for screenshots of what everything looks like at a certain point. You can click on the inline images to see a larger version. There are also reminders for you to constantly save your file. :)
PART 1: Playground Setup
The Playground layer will be the main layer where our effects will take place. Follow the directions below to get it set up correctly.
1. Open AE 6.5 Pro and create a new composition, 320 X 240, 10 seconds. Name it Fairy Dust.
2. Make sure the time indicator is at 0:00:00:00 on the timeline. Create a new solid, color black (#000000), and name it Playground.
3. Apply Effect>Simulation>Particle Playground to the Playground solid layer.
Save your file as fairydust.aep. :)
See screenshots of Part 1.
PART 2: Kinetic Floor Setup
The next layer we will need to setup is the Kinetic Floor layer. This layer will be used as a "floor" for the sparkles to die out on, instead of bouncing around using a wall or just floating away using gravity.
4. Create a new solid, white #FFFFFF, and name it Kinetic Floor.
5. Click on the new layer on the timeline and go to Transform>Scale. Toggle off the Constrain Proportions option by clicking on the link next to the values. Change the following:
Change the Scale to 100.0, 12.0 %.
Change the Position to 160.0, 226.0.
6. So that later we will be able to access this layer in the Particle Playground controls, we need to pre-compose it. Go to Layer>Precompose... (Apple/CTRL+Shift+C).
Name the composition Kinetic Floor Pre-Comp. Set it to Move all attributes into the new composition and check the Open New Composition option. Select ok, and the precomposed footage will now be in the timeline. Go back to the Fairy Dust composition in the timeline, and toggle off the Kinetic Floor Pre-Comp layer, and move it below the Playground layer. It should now be second in order.
Save your file. :)
See screenshots of Part 2.
PART 3: Sparkle.mov Setup
7. Now you need to import the .mov file you downloaded earlier.
→ If you have not unzipped the files, do so now. You can move the folder to where ever you are currently work, e.g., Documents>My_Files>After_Effects>Fairy_Dust> so that if you relocate the project files later, you will have all of the requirements together.
In order to import the .mov, go to File>Import>File... and browse to the location of the Sparkle.mov.
8. After importing, we need to set the footage to loop so that it will continue to sparkle throughout our effect. With the movie file selected in the main file window, go to File>Interpret Footage>Main..., setting the Loop to 3 times under Other Options. If you look at the duration of the footage in the main file window, you can see that the time has changed to 3 times the original length.
→You may also get to Interpret Footage by right-clicking or control-clicking on the footage in the main file window.
Save your file. :)
9. Drag and drop the Sparkle .mov into the timeline on your Fairy Dust composition below the Playground solid, above the Kinetic Floor Pre-Comp. The order of the layers should be: 1. Playground, 2. Sparkle.mov, and 3. Kinetic Floor Pre-Comp.
10. In order to set up the footage correctly, we need to set a key color. Notice that the background color of the footage is blue and that it is half the size of our comp. Go to Effect>Keying>Linear Color Key and change the following in the Effects Controls:
Change the Key Color to #112AE6.
→You can do this either by selecting the dropper and clicking on the blue background in the Effects Controls Preview or by clicking on the color box to the right of the Key Color setting and typing in the hexidecimal code.
Change the Matching Tolerance to 0%.
Change the Matching Softness to 55%.
11. If the Sparkle.mov layer is not a full 10 seconds on the timeline, go down to the timeline and adjust the footage to a full length of 10 seconds by clicking and dragging the gray end cap to the end of the timeline. If it is more than 10 seconds, it is ok.
12. To get the sparkle to a better size, first we are going to precompose the footage so that it will be nested.
To do that, select the Sparkle.mov in the timeline. Go to Layer>Precompose... (Apple/CTRL+Shift+C). Name the composition Sparkle Pre-Comp. Set it to Move all attributes into the new composition and check the Open New Composition option. Select ok, and the precomposed footage will now be in the timeline.
Twirl down the Sparkle.mov to reveal Effects and Transform. Under Transform, change the scale to 50%. This now gives us a smaller sparkle for our effect. Go back to the Fairy Dust comp on the timeline.
Save your file. :)
See screenshots of Part 3.
PART 4: Sparkle.mov playground Setup - A
Make sure the time indicator is at 0:00:00:00 on the timeline.
13. Turn off the Sparkle Pre-Comp layer in the timeline. Now you will only have the Cannon particles showing on screen.
14. With the Playground solid layer selected, go to the Effects Controls. (If at anytime the Effects Controls disappears for a certain layer, hit F3.)
15. First, we are going to set the footage as the particles. Go to the Layer Map for the Particle Playground effect on the Playground solid. Under Layer Map, do the following:
Change Use Layer from none to 2. Sparkle Pre-Comp.
Change Time Offset Type from Relative to Relative Random.
Change Random Time Max from 0.00 to 1.00.
Twirl down Affects in the Layer Map and:
Change Older/Younger than from 0.00 to 0.75.
Change Age Feather from 0.00 to 1.00.
If you do a RAM preview right now (hit the zero key), you will notice that the same red dots are still present, but that they turn into our sparkle.mov footage after about half a second.
Save your file. :)
16. We are going to use the Cannon for this project. Still in the Playground solid effects, twirl down the Cannon and make the following changes:
Change the Barrel Radius from 0.00 to 3.00.
Change the Particles Per Second from 60.00 to 20.00.
Change the Direction to 1 x +5.0°.
Change the Direction Random Spread from 20.00 to 15.00.
Change the Velocity from130.00 to 30.00.
Change the Velocity Random Spread from 20.00 to 10.00.
Change the Color from red to white.
Change the Particle Radius from 2.00 to 0.00.
If you do a RAM preview, you should see the footage shooting quite quickly from the cannon in the middle of the screen. Notice that the dot particles are now gone.
Save your file. :)
See screenshots of Part 4.
PART 5: Sparkle.mov playground Setup - B
We have set up the Layer Map and the Cannon. Now we are going to set up the Gravity and the Persistent Property Mapper.
17. In the Effects Controls for Playground, make the following changes under Gravity:
Change the Force from 120.00 to 15.00.
18. Make the following changes to the Persistent Property Mapper:
Change the Use Layer As Map from none to 3. Kinetic Floor Pre-Comp.
Under Affects:
Change the Map Red to from none to Kinetic Friction. Set the Max from 1.00 to 0.10.
Change the Map Green to from none to Opacity. Set the Max from 1.00 to -3.00.
Change the Map Blue to from none to Scale Speed. Set the Max from 1.00 to -1.00.
Save your file. :)
See screenshots of Part 5.
PART 6: Text Setup
Now that we have a lovely streaming fountain of sparkles, we are going to give them some company by setting up a Text layer. Make sure your timeline is set to 0:00:00:00.
18. Go to the tools palette and select the Horizontal Type Tool (Apple/CTRL+T).
19. Click on the Fairy Dust composition window about 3/4 down the screen - this will be close to our Kinetic Floor - and type Make a Wish. Use either the V shortcut key or click on the direct selection tool in the tools palette so that you will not accidently type anything on the composition.
For my font, I chose Goudy:Oldstyle Small Caps and Oldstyle Figures, 36px, white #FFFFFF in the Character palette. You may choose whatever font you like, but I suggest staying away from decorative fonts for this tutorial, making it fairly large, and keeping it white or another light color.
Save your file. :)
20. Go down to the timeline and select the Make a Wish text layer, then twirl down to Transform. Change the following:
Change the Position to 163.0, 182.0.
You may need to adjust this position later so that it is sitting nicely on the Kinetic Floor.
Save your file. :)
See screenshots of Part 6.
PART 7: Playground Keyframes
At this point, if you do a RAM preview, you can see the fountain of sparkles flowing down behind the text layer we just added onto the floor. Now we are going to add some movement to the Cannon, making it fly around shortly before dying out. Make sure your timeline is set to 0:00:00:00.
21. Go to the Playground layer's Effects Controls for Particle Playground and twirl down the Cannon.
22. Now, we are going to set the first keyframe at the beginning of the timeline. Make sure you toggle of the stopwatch to set the first keyframe. On the Cannon, set the following:
Set the first keyframe with Position to -17.0, 142.0 at 0:00:00:00.
Change the Position to 47.0, 137.0 at 0:00:00:16.
Change the Position to 147.0, 199.0 at 0:00:01:05.
Save your file. :)
Change the Position to 283.0, 140.0 at 0:00:02:05.
Change the Position to 270.0, 105.0 at 0:00:02:15.
Change the Position to 53.0, 84.0 at 0:00:03:09, then Toggle Hold Keyframe (right- or control-click) on keyframe.
Change the Position to 53.0, 71.0 at 0:00:03:24, then Toggle Hold Keyframe on keyframe.
Change the Position to 346.0, -18.0 at 0:00:05:00.
Set keyframe for Particles Per Second to 20.0 at 0:00:04:15.
Change the Particles Per Second to 0.00 at 0:00:04:21.
Save your file. :)
Now with everything set up, do a RAM preview. You should have a lovely little fairy flitting around your Make a Wish text leaving pretty little sparkles before she darts off the screen.
See screenshots of Part 7.
PART 8: Experimentation
Now with everything set up, go in and try some different things with the settings in Particle Playground. Have fun!