Using Particles for Visual Effects

Another use for particles is to create visual effects to make something look more realistic. As a motion graphics artist, you're not only responsible for making the project elements interact within the frame; you also need to create a sense of reality within the context of the project. For example, in an animated movie it's understood that everything happening to the characters isn't really taking place. However, within the animated world, the rules of the physical world still apply. Gravity still works, characters bump into things, and if the characters fall in the water, there should be a splash. Whether you're adding realism to a fictitious world or fiction to a real world, particles can be very useful for everything from explosions and tornadoes to clouds of dust responding to impact.

In the next series of exercises, you'll use particles to apply a little realism to a fictitious world.

Opening the Bounce Project

First, let's close the current project and open the 6-2 Bounce project.

1.	Choose File > Close to close the 6-1 Oakley project.
2.	Choose File > Open and select the 6-2 Bounce project from the Lesson_06 folder. Then click the Open button to open the project.
3.	Choose File > Save As and save your project in the My Motion Projects folder on the Desktop. Then press the spacebar to begin playback. This simple project is a ball bouncing on a surface and then falling into a hole. Your goal is to apply Drop Impact particles each time the ball hits the floor, to make the action seem more realistic.

Analyzing the Project on the Layers Tab

Let's look at the elements of this project before we add the particles.

1.

Press Cmd-4 to open the Layers tab. The 6-2 Bounce project includes one layer with two objects. The first is a Rectangle object, created with the Rectangle tool and positioned at the bottom of the frame to visually represent a hard surface that will cause the ball to bounce on impact. The second object is the AquaBall with Throw, Gravity, and Edge Collision behaviors applied to create the illusion of a ball bouncing.

2.

Press Cmd-4 again to close the Layers tab.