Tao Neon Test 01A

The result of my first experimentation with the new Trapcode Tao plugin. It's pretty gnarly (the plugin - not my work!)

AE Plugins used: Trapcode Tao, Trapcode Lux, Trapcode Shine, Trapcode Particular, Trapcode Starglow and JAE RealGlow.  Soundtrack: "Endogeny" - from AudioBlocks.com. Edited in FCPX.

Download the project file from: http://www.digitaldistortion.net/resources/projects/taoNeon01A/taoNeon01A.zip

Fractal City - using AE fractal noise to generate complex forms in Mir

I really love the fractal noise generator in After Effects, and it works beautifully as a source for displacement maps in Mir. This is almost entirely procedurally generated - no bitmaps or external assets used.

You can download the After Effects project files from digitaldistortion.net if you want to have a play with it.

Music by Conelrad 

Form Galaxy II, by Dan Sollis

My first major test of the new OBJ import functionality of Trapcode Form 2. I created the galaxy object using the "Spray Points" tool in Lightwave, painting them into the rough shape of a galaxy. I then applied a vortex deform to it, to further twist it into the right shape.

This object was then brought into After Effects as an OBJ and I layered a couple of instances of Form to create the richness of the stars. I also used a luminance-tracked version of it with Video Copilot Optical Flares for the bigger stars, seen as you move in closer (as well the hot central star/singularity in the centre).

There's some fractal-noise-derived nebula objects in there too, to add to the overall texture of the piece. I've used Trapcode Horizon for some distant ones, along with some basic masked 3D planes. Anyway, hope you like it - the project files are available to download for free from the Digital Distortion website.

Music is "Cad Goddeu (Revised)" by Nest - serein.co.uk/​releases/​sere001/​nest-retold

Volumetric fractal smoke - 2 approaches

Two little experiments to create pseudo-volumetric smoke objects in After Effects, one using Particular, the other using the built-in fractal noise plugin in AE and an awful lot of layers.

Both have their own unique look. The Fractal noise version took hours to render compared to the Particular version (which took about 30 mins). The project files are free to download and reuse under a Creative Commons license from the Digital Distortion website.

Particular version:

Fractal noise version:

There are issues with visual artifacts when you get closer in to the fractal noise version (you can see the individual layers, creating an ugly "scanline" effect), so hopefully someone else out there can improve the technique and share it!

Update: Based on feedback, I've done a new version of the Particular one, using a custom smoke comp generated using fractal noise. This gives kind of a hybrid look of the two approaches.

The project file is downloadable here.

Form Galaxies 1, by Dan Sollis

Created in After Effects CS5 as part of my ongoing experiments with Trapcode Form. If I was doing this for a production, I'd almost certainly be using Particular 2 (and other plugins) for this as well. But I wanted to really get my teeth into Form, so I've restricted myself to just 2 third-party plugins, listed below.

You can download the project file here.

Third party plugins used:
Trapcode Form
Video Copilot Optical Flares

Soundtrack by Conelrad

Posted by Dan Sollis, Digital Distortion