Preview

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to create an abstract reveal animation, with Trapcode Particular, using features like the layer emitter and turbulent displace to achieve the unique visual design.

Tutorial Details

• Program: Adobe After Effects
• Version: CC
• Difficulty:Intermediate
• Estimated Completion Time: 20 minutes

Requirements

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

• After Effects CC
• Trapcode Particular

Tutorial

Step 1

Create a new composition by clicking Menu > Composition > New Composition. 

Name it Logo and change the resolution to 1280×720, set the Frame Rate to 24 and change the duration to 8 seconds.

Step 2

Put your Text, Image, or Logo in the Logo composition.

Step 3

Create a new composition by clicking Menu > Composition > New Composition. Name it Main and change the resolution to 1280×720 and set the duration to 8 seconds.

Step 4

Open the Main composition and create a new solid by clicking Menu > Layer > New > Solid. Change the resolution to 1280×720 and name it Background. 

The color is not important.

Step 5

Select the Background layer and after that go to Effect > Generate > Ramp and change the ramp shape to linear ramp. 

Change the Start Color to #410F80 and the End Color to #031019.

Step 6

Create a new composition by clicking Menu > Composition > New Composition. 

Name it Emitter and change the resolution to 1280×720 and set the duration to 8 seconds.

Open the Emitter composition and let’s create a new solid by clicking Menu > Layer > New > Solid. 

Change the resolution to 1280×720 and name it Emitter. Change the color to #FFFFFF. The name is really important.

Step 8

Select the Emitter layer and after that go to Effect  > Generate  > Circle and change the following settings. 

To make a circle animation go to the first frame and click on the Radius Stopwatch and set the value to – 61. 

After that go to 8 seconds and change the Radius value to 905.

Step 9

Select the Emitter layer and go to Effect > Generate > 4-Color Gradient and change the following settings. 

Set the Color 1 and Color 2 values to #D826A8 and the Color 3 and Color 4 to #00C0FF

I’ve renamed the effect to “change the colors” and I also add a Fast Blur effect to create  smooth edges.

Step 10

Drag and drop the Emitter and the Logo composition in the Main composition and turn off the Emitter composition.

Step 11

Create a new solid by clicking Menu > Layer > New > Solid. 

Change the resolution to 1280×720 and name it Particular. Change the color to #000000.

Step 12

Go to Effect > Trapcode > Particular and set the following values under the Emitter tab.

Use the Emitter Composition as a Layer Emitter so if you modify the circular shape in the Emitter Composition then you can achieve a different looking effect. 

For example if you delete the circle effect and just create a rectangle mask on the Emitter layer and animate it from left to right then you can create an abstract moving line effect.

Step 13

Let’s change the Particle properties.

Step 14

Here are my Air settings. Change the Affect size and Affect Position under the Turbulence field tab if you wish to achieve more distorted effect.

Step 15

Add some glow effect. Go to Effect > Stylize > Glow and apply the following settings.

Step 16

Enhance the glow effect by increasing the project’s color depth. You can do that by alt-primary click on the bpc text.

Step 17

Create a new adjustment layer by clicking Menu > Layer > New > Adjustment Layer. Change the resolution to 1280×720 and name it Distortion.

Step 18

Select the distortion layer and go to Effect > Distort > Turbulent Displace and change the following properties. 

Alt-primary click on the Evolution stopwatch and type in the following Expression time*150. 

Go to the first frame and click on the Amount stopwatch and change the value to 230. After that go to 8 seconds and change this value to 0.

Step 19

Select the Logo composition and select the Ellipse Tool to create an elliptical mask on the Logo composition.

Press the M key twice on the keyboard to reveal the mask properties, go to the first frame of the animation and scale down the mask. 

Click on the Mask path stopwatch and go to 4 seconds and scale up the mask. 

If you wish to create a more precise mask then create a ring mask. To do that, duplicate the mask on the Distortion layer and change it to Subtract, then change the Mask Expansion. 

Conclusion

With this method you can create abstract looking logo reveals, background elements or transition effects.