Blowing Dust with After Effects
By Jeremy Fuksa (jeremy.fuksa@3rdmartini.com)
Conventions used in this tutorial:
Bold text - Composition/Layer Name
Italic Text - Filter/Plug-In Name
Underline Text - Parameter Name
Download the compressed project file. zip (126 kb)
One eye-catching effect that many motion graphics artists have been looking to achieve is the blowing cocaine text effect used in the trailer for the movie "Traffic." I'd like to show you that the effect is easily reproduced, although render times can be kind of substantial if you are on a slower machine.
The greatest thing about using Adobe After Effects 5.0 or later to achieve this effect is that the filter primarily used is built into both the Standard and Production Bundle packages. Those using earlier versions of After Effects can follow the steps in this tutorial using the Shatter plug-in from the Atomic Power Evolution plug-in package.
The first step is to create a composition to hold our text object. I created a comp called text comp with a solid object in it to which I applied the Basic Text plug-in. In order to make it look a little more like grains of white dust piled to form the letters, I also applied happy helpings of the Scatter and Noise plug-in.
Next, I created a comp called scatter map that includes a solid with a fractal turbulence plug-in applied to it. Use the one of your choice, but I used IL Fractal Clouds from the Puffin Image Lounge plug-in series.
This comp will be nested into other comps for use as a gradient
matte for the Shatter plug-in that we will use.
At this point I will begin the disintegration of the text using the Shatter plug-in.
First, I created a comp that I called the dust that will
be only the rendered particles of dust. I simply applied the Shatter plug-in
to a nested instance of the text comp comp, using the scatter
map comp as the gradient matte.
Using the gradient matte allows the effect to be executed in a more organic fashion. I placed two layers of this Shatter effect into this comp so that I could place a slight drop shadow and a slight blur onto a layer to simulate camera depth (a version of this tutorial that may actually utilize 3D objects and depth of focus may be made once I get more familiar with those features and if it looks OK). I used tinderbox 1's T_Blur filter because of its faster render time, but you can certainly use the built-in Gaussian Blur filter. I also placed an adjustment layer in this comp that has the FE Force Motion Blur filter applied so that the particles have motion blur applied to them for a more realistic look.
To finish the effect, I created a composition called big piles of dope. Basically, all I have done here is put the text comp comp and the dust comp together. On text comp I applied the Shatter plug-in with duplicate parameters, except I set the Render parameter to Layer instead of Pieces.
That's all there is to it! Remember, have fun with it, and next time we'll figure out how to replicate the Optics effect built into flint*, flame* and inferno* systems (or get as close as we can).