Motion Sketch Emitters: following hand drawn animation paths in Trapcode Particular

I'm often asked if you can use the preview window in the Designer to record keyframes in Particular, when dragging to audition the path of the emitter. You can simulate this by using Motion Sketch within After Effects.

I was reminded about this technique in Hashi's excellent Game of Thrones VFX tutorial. Here’s a link to the technique::

The Motion Sketch property allows you to draw an animation in After Effects, and automatically record the keyframes.

You can then map these keyframes to an emitter in Particular, using a simple expression.

This works with multiple systems, with each emitter following the original keyframe path, even if you change the preset in the Designer.

TIP: this works best by recording keyframe on a null and then parenting them to an emitter position.

TIP: Adjust the Emitter/Position Subframe parameter to smooth out curves in the path

TIP: select the keyframes and ALT-drag to spread them out

TIP: set child systems to ‘Position relative to Master’ to follow the master emitter position

Download Project file:

More info about Motion Sketch:

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