Particle Effect Animation

What’s the point of all this variety in animation? Can’t we just decide on one element and stick to it? Well, the truth is that utilizing a variety of animation techniques results in more dynamic and engaging videos. If you fully understand how individual styles function, you’ll have an easier time conceptualizing an animated video project that unites different technologies.

With that in mind, let’s dive into particle effect animation! It’s a great way of adding a little kick to video projects. Often establishing a “wow” factor, particle effect animation distinguishes your content from other films or other companies within your market. If you want to stand out as a brand leader in your industry, a little particle effect animation in your next video project will go a long way.

How it works

This animation style focuses on the movement of small bits and pieces within a video. Images, regardless of size, are broken down into dots. The more dots you have, the more impressive the effect. That’s because when you have more dots, you can create more movement.

Basically, particle effect animation is the animating of a “random mass” within an image. Things like rain, snow, grass, swarms of insects, or even objects breaking apart into millions of flying pieces. Even smoke can be manipulated into realistic, intricate patterns using particle effect animation! It’s a complex process involving color coding, structuring, and properly layering an image. Then, and only then, can you emulate just the right movement.

But when it’s done right, each of these elements broken down into their “dots” creates an attention-grabbing animated element for your video. Particle animation enhances realism and makes your production project so much more memorable.

Case study: shattering mirror

One of the most common places to see particle effects in action is in a music video. Due to location and budget issues sometimes inherent to the genre, it’s almost always easier to create special effects in an animator’s suite instead of on set. In the music video New Kids by MattyB, we captured the look of a shattering mirror using this animation effect. Since the mirrors were a central set piece, it was imperative that we could “shatter” them without having to actually break anything. Using particle animation gave us the impact we wanted without the mess or liability of doing it practically.

Case study: breaking wall

This commercial for Theravent placed an impractical event within a very realistic scene using a combination of special effects and animation that included particle effect animation. Shot against a green screen, a typical couple trying to sleep opens the ad. Everything looks like a generic bedroom until a full-scale freight train comes busting through the wall. It represents the jarring nature of snoring, and the wall that falls away in chunks as the train goes through was created using particle effect animation.

Saving time

As these two examples show, this style of animation can really serve as a time and budget saver on a video production. Bringing motion to life without having to film it ultimately provides more control. What would you do if you needed snow to swirl across the screen in the middle of summer? And what if you needed that snow to form a very specific pattern? Whether it’s getting objects to move exactly how you want, or being able to film any element regardless of what’s going on outdoors, particle effect animation gives you control.

Not only does it save you from having to travel or film in an uncooperative outdoor environment, particle effect animation creates organic-looking effects in less time. True, there’s nothing quite like the real thing; but, if you’ve ever had to account for safety precautions, specialty crew to handle these effects, etc., you know the benefits of creating them in post. Not only does it give you more control over the look of the effect, it can save your bottom line on production expenses.

The importance of experience

Using particle effect animation can be very powerful when done well. However, it can also look cheesy if done badly. Using an effect like this in an animation project is best accomplished with the help of experienced and knowledgeable animators. Particle animation is one more tool under the ECG animation team’s tool belt.

Creating an additional practical element, ECG animators use Trapcode Particular and Realflow software to get just the right natural movement. They’re able to add in realistic dust, smoke, and other particle effects into footage using tracking software like Syntheyes. Combining the latest software with their animation experience, the team at ECG is ready to help you add any dynamic element into your next video project.

To get more information on this and other animation effects possible through the team at ECG Productions, contact us today.