Hey and welcome to… I guess Just the Tip, although it’s sort of a full on Makin’
tutorial, but it’s all about combining stuff from other Just the Tips and adding a bit
of particle know-how.
How about we all agree you don’t care what I call it and I just show you how I made this
Twister… Tornado? Well there’s a movie called Twister, so if it’s good enough for
Hollywood - damn it!
Here’s my comp and I’ve created a floor using a 3D layer with a Checkerboard effect.
Now, I’m going to go to Layer > New > Null Object and use this to pilot my Twister.
I’ll make it a 3D layer. And then go back to Layer > New and make a solid
Make sure it’s comp sized and click OK.
Now, if you’ve seen my tutorial: Linking CC Particle World to a 3D Null, then in that
video I made a preset. If you haven’t, watch it as it explains this next step, but in either
case both this project and the expressions I use are in the Description below.
So, I’ve now used Expressions to link CC Particle World’s producer to my Null object.
And now I’m going to check the height of my Floor by selecting it and tapping P to
show the position properties and then I’m going to set my NUll’s Y position value
to match.
Then I’m going to set some keyframes for my Null to move across the floor.
And then I’m going to use the Wiggle expression - also in the Description and add a bit of
random movement in the X and Z axis.
Now for my twister particles. Select the CC Particle World effect and...
From the top down, I’ll set the birth rate to 10
The longevity to 5.
In producer, I’ll set Radius X and Z to 0.005
And Radius Y to 0
In Physics, I’ll set Animation to Twirly
Velocity - drop that to 0.07. I do love the bizarre units CC Particle World uses.
Gravity to 0.02
And Twirly uses Extra and Extra Angle - Set EXtra to 0.1 and Extra Angle to -1
Extra Angle is the directional speed about the particles as they twirl around. So 1 is
clockwise and -1 is anti-clockwise.
Open up Gravity and set the gravity vector to -1.
And that’s it for Physics.
In Particle, set the Type to Faded Sphere.
Leave the Birth Size, but up to Death Size to 0.8
And max out the Size Variation.
Change the Birth and Death colours to dark and darker greys.
And set the Volume Shader to about 70%
In Extras you’ve got a Light Direction, so you’ll have to mess with that to get
your shadows matching your scene.
Looking good so far.
Now let’s add the Debris around the base.
Making sure the Effect is selected, go to Edit > Duplicate
Tap on the Title of the first effect and hit Enter to rename it Debris.
And then repeat for the copy and name it Twister.
In Twister, expand Extra and check the Composite with original checkbox.
And then turn the effect off for the moment.
Now, in Debris, again from the top down, drop the birth rate to 0.4
In Producer, set the Radius X and Radius Z’s to 0.095
In Physics, change the Gravity to 0.003
Now in Particle, change the Type to Quadpolygon. These are going to be our debris particles,
so i want some sharp edges.
Set the birth and death sizes to match. Probably around 0.2
Set the size variation to 25%
And the max opacity to 100%
And now, set a matching brown for the birth and death sizes.
And up the volume shader to 100%
Cool, but it looks a little like a Pixar test. So, go to Effect > Blur and Sharpen > CC Vector
Blur
And drag this effect above Twister.
Change the Type to Constant Length
Set the Amount to 15 and the Property to Alpha.
Cool.
Now, turn Twister back on and turn on Motion Blur for the layer.
And one last touch.
Duplicate the layer
Select the top layer, tap Enter and name it Twister.
And on the second version, name it Damage. Solo this and the Floor layer.
From this layer, delete Vector Blur and the Twister CC Particle world.
Set the Birth Rate to 5
The longevity to 60
Set the Radius X and Z to 0.095
Change the animation type to Explosive. We don’t want any movement here.
Set the velocity and gravity to to 0.
In Particle, change the type to Faded Sphere
Expand the opacity Map and fill in the right-hand portion. We don’t want particles fading
out here.
And set some really dark greys for both birth and death colours.
And set the Layer’s transfer mode to multiply.
I’m really pleased with how this turned out. I’m particularly pleased with the way
the debris particles pass in and out of the main twister. I’d never got very far with
CC Particle World for Twisters before, but I stumbled across the beginnings of this and
thought I’d share.
If you’ve found this useful - fantastic - please let me know if you use this in your
projects - if you have any comments or questions give me a shout too and of course, make sure
you subscribe so you know about the next tip.