18. Light Streaks
January 08, 2007
• Use Trapcode's Particular to generate light streaks
• Use an expression to generate random movement
Additional Tutorial Notes:
No information available at this time.
144 Responses to "Light Streaks"

by AJ 09/19/2007

Very good~
thank you(^^)
by AJ 09/19/2007

Very good~
thank you(^^)
by James 09/20/2007

Cheers.. your tutorial won us a pitch..

but... How do make the light source follow a specific shape?
I want it to write on a logotype!

J
by Rolando Rivera 09/20/2007
I got the same question of James, any way this tutorial it´s really cool, thanks a lot.
by unrealbug 09/23/2007
Great ! thanks a lot
by 7hiago 09/24/2007
Muito bom o tutorial! Acho que dá para adaptar ele e fazer com que as luzes sigam pontos específicos usando ao invés do wiggle, o anchor point do particular, animando ele como se fosse um position


Very good the tutorial one! I find that it gives to adapt and to make with that the lights follow specific points using instead of wiggle, the anchor point of the particular one, livening up it as if position was one
by AppleTart 09/25/2007
Wow!! Great! Thank a lot for your kindness tutorial! God in hand.
by Cekalovic 09/26/2007
Very cool tutorial!

One thing to help.
A other way to solve the problem when you have hard corners in the streaks effect is to recomp it and set the FPS from 25 to 100. So 4x the original FPS. Then enter the first comp and stretch the time back to 25%.
Now you got a nested comp running on 100FPS BUT with the time stretch of 25%. that's it.

keep on Rocking!
Greetz From
www.cekalovic.com
by Alma 09/27/2007
Enhorabuena, este y todos los tutoriales son geniales.
Pero en este en concreto me he encontrado, que cuando le coloco la capa "particle 50" al plugin me desaparece, ha alguien le ha ocurrido algo así?

Enhorabuena, the this and all tutorial are brilliant.
But in this in particular I have been, that when I place the layer to him â
by Alexandre 09/28/2007
Muito Bom o tutorial, parabens!
Estou aprendendo muito com esses caras.
Obrigado
Alexandre - RJ - Brazil
by DEX 09/28/2007
Brillian
by Kevin Trefflich 09/28/2007
An very very nice tutorial like evereytimy by Andrew . But I`ve got a question... It`s a 3D-room so I want to create a path for the light that looks from one site like an random path an from an other view when you use the Orbit Cam looks like a signature. That`s all no real problem but when I create the path by hand it don`t looks so smooth like when I use the wiggle function. It don`t looks good? So is there any smooth funtion i could use?
Kevin - Germany
by dan martino 10/03/2007
to answer the question, probably just use a motion tracker to track the movement of the object you want this effect on.
by rata 10/03/2007

EXLENTE APORTE MASTER!!!+
TANKS+
by fabi8bit 10/05/2007
cool! thanx! you rule!
by firas zabad 10/07/2007
hey , from lebanon , thx a lot for this tutorial . so cool . i'm using it a lot on my work , thx again
by ooxxya 10/11/2007
...thx a lot...great job..!!!
by LightsaberTman 10/14/2007
Andrew u are so smart i don't get how u figure these stuff out
by Teri 10/18/2007
Hi Andrew!!! Good tutorials
I'm studing fine arts (specificly sculpture and audiovisuals) and this tutorials are useful to do my work.
(I'm sorry, I think my english isn't good, I'm from Spain, je!)
Thx u so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Ba 10/19/2007
man, that a good one! I love this tutorial.
I saw a few now and actually I prefere to watch one of those than watching tv or play a game on my PC. Can't wait for the next one!

Good Ending!!!!!

greetz from austria
by Kirat Gurung 10/21/2007
thank you soo much brother.
by Chuck You 10/22/2007
Man, you are the truth. Thanks for the knowledge base upgrade.
by kieran 10/22/2007
can somebody plese help me

im new to after effects .... and i think the problem is the plugin just works for power pc on the mac and not under the universal settings????

hope this make sense to someone kieran
by Jenine 10/31/2007
I know! I'm having the same problem as Kieran. The Trapcode plugin doesnt seem to be working on my Mac with AE7.

Any suggestions what up?
by poonam 11/01/2007
hey andrew, dat was a gr8 tut... was trying so hard 2 get some effect like dis 4 sometime now ... u made it so simply... thanks a lot dude u made life easier 4 me...
by Tone Malone 11/06/2007
Thanks dude! awesome stuff, but uhh... you spelled "Colour" wrong. haha jk.

nice ending.

uhhh.... shoot
by hamid 11/06/2007
cool thank you
by Hahn 11/08/2007
Great turoial!! im a total beginner at after effect, but after watching this trailer i kind of get the idear... but if i wan't too use a movie clip and make the light streak follow a point of movement in the clip.. (like in the nano movie) is that possible??

But great and enlightning work...
by cham 11/11/2007
Great work. Thank you lot
by Lukas 11/11/2007
Thanks for this Tutorial!
Is it possible to use Motion Tracking to let the Streak follow an object, like in the Nano Ad?
I'll try that now
Hope it works.
by Paulo 11/15/2007
Did anyone managed to aply a pat or a motion to that particular, instead of the wiggle?
by Mariano 11/18/2007
very good man, congratulationas, I am from Argentina
by Rafael Bechlin - from Brasil 11/23/2007
Muito Bom!!!! very good
by Milad Shahjani 11/27/2007
good . really good

Thankd a lot .
by Brad 11/28/2007
I really worship you.
by Naguib 11/29/2007
All I can say is Wow!! You saved my ass..Thanks for this tutorial
by Bert 11/30/2007
Hey, what a tutorial.

A good ending? maybe: have a good scene
by Rob 12/03/2007
Same same.. /Lukas Says:

Is it possible to use Motion Tracking to let the Streak follow an object, like in the Nano Ad?

I tried, but this dosent seem to work out?

Have any one got this working?

GREAT TUTORIAL!
by Poloderomo 12/05/2007
C'est top, merci beaucoup !!
Bravo !
Youhouuuu !
by Dimone 12/08/2007
GooooooooooooooooooD
by Rick de Boer 12/08/2007
Thanks for this great tutorial!!
I learned a lot!
by Ben 12/10/2007
It is possible to follow a object. Just right click on your movie, and choose follow movement, or something similiar like that. ( I didn't know really the english name, because I have the german version. Then choose your object, which you want to follow an hit play on Following Tool... hope you'll understand.

greets
by Zeeshawn 12/11/2007
Alot of people are asking how to make it follow a specific shape okay for this my method isnt the best so no critics here its an easy way that doesnt require too much thinking just make postition keyframes and drag the light to the shape you want
by Eric 12/15/2007
Please help here,

Is there ANY way to do this on AE 5 ?
Is it possible for ae5 to have the plug ins,
final word... help?
by Adam Kandulski 12/19/2007
Awesome Tutorial!!!!!!! Muy Bueno!!!! Bardzo Dobrze!!!!
by Sora 01/07/2008
Thanks a lot! Your tutorial is very cool! I like it!
by xzmh 01/09/2008
Thanks a lot!
by xzmh 01/09/2008
Thanks a lot!
by P-san 01/09/2008
Thank you. I used this effect to great EFFECT in a Tokyo Motorshow car interface. I will put the link here....
....
no.
thats secret!
Oooops!
by karthik 01/11/2008
hi!

wow thats great...where can i download the tutorial video pls help!

thanks.
by very 01/12/2008
sexy
by AM 02/04/2008
this is my first time to come to this web-page, you're awesome man.
by weba andando 02/04/2008
TENGO WEBA!!!
by Matt Eley 02/05/2008
For the tracing issue, I'd probably trace my object in PS that I want to motion the emitter around then bring the path in into AFX and set it as a motion-path for the emitter to follow. Havn't tried it myself yet, but it should work!

Ps. as per usual superb tutorial mate ;)
by Kenneth 02/12/2008
I don't usually comment, but stay admiringly in the background; However, while looking for ideas to spice up the name titles in the trailer that's been laid on my desk to cut, I decided to watch this and it's sister file. I just wanted to say, loved the inclusion of the ipod commercial. Hurray for fair use!
by Boris Wild 02/19/2008
with love from Russia! Very cool!
by Manuel 02/21/2008
muy chido el tutorial esta fantastico
me gustaria conocerte Alma, haber si me mandas tu correo,.
saludos y gracias andrew
by Sofia 02/24/2008
Great tutorial!! thanks!
but the trapcode plug in wont work on my AE cs3.. can´t figure out why, and the trapcode web doesnt seem to have an answer to this either ( I downloaded the demo) does anyone know how can I make it work!?
thankss
by Jerry 02/25/2008
hi guys i have a question that who knows where i can find TRAPCADE ?
thanks
by ivan huerta 02/26/2008
gracias por toda tu sabiduria y enseñanza me declaro tu alumno mas agradecido
pudieras hacer un tutorial mas amplio del trapcode particular

hasta la proxima clase master
by Ascher 03/05/2008
Hello

I would like to understand how to pass on a tape behind a character on affter effects and if possible!
I show you a video that is really super ...

Http://xplsv.tv/movie/2264/

Thank you
by Carlos Paz 03/07/2008
all this tuts are great and I have all the collection of dvds but I don't know how to change the comps from secs to fps from00,00,00.00 to 00000 got it?
by jan 03/11/2008
thanks a lot for the tut!
by HYC 03/12/2008
Music on the Music!
so cuti
thanks for tuto!!^^
by cesar carrasco 03/12/2008
esta super salvaje, eres un maestro. sencillo, claro y directo, mejor no se puede
by Arthur 03/18/2008
yeah!! I did it!! thanks and check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3b0aDZlVFA
by kate 03/19/2008
how can you make the light streak write a word? I mean is that possible?
by WOW 03/26/2008
Subliminal message! no?, so awesome, Cool stuff, let's move on...
by Marko S. 03/26/2008
Hey im pretty new to After Effects and im using 6.0 can you tell me how i can install the trapcode into the program?
by StephenWard 04/01/2008
Check out www.templatemonster.com/flash-templates/18937.html
Anybody recognise that transition?
by cheese 04/07/2008
I got the smae question as Carlos Paz how do I change my comp settings to show fps instead of secs any help would be sweet.
by Urbs 04/08/2008
Hey great tut!
Do you've seen the simple Plan video "when I'm gone"?
They are using a similar technique.
Greetings from germany!
by Ramya 04/13/2008
Wow..grt tutorial...I never thought i wud be able to present the same as urs.But it worked out fine in my first try...thanks.Excepting more tuts frm u

Luv frm INDIA
by Geo 04/13/2008
To change your comp settings to show fps instead of seconds, click File > Project Settings

or you can Ctrl+Left click on the blue time numbers (?) in your timeline
by Kun 04/13/2008
Hi i need help this particular Video seem to stop playing after 6min 15s the light streaks vid.
Thanks to any other alternative method of viewing it.
by Sabir jami 04/22/2008
Andy| u r king of visual art,i like your this tutorial,wonderful |||| ShabasH
by Panic 04/23/2008
@ James

Try using Track Motion
by Daniel 04/24/2008
Just watched a thing called "Bingolotto" (a gaming show here in sweden) and i saw this very effect in there at a couple of points. Seemed like they just downloaded the project file though, since everything looked EXACTLY like it did in the project.

Anyway, great tutorial! Big ups!
by Oliver 05/02/2008
Andrew, seriously?

This helped me a lot - thank you...

When youll be in slowakia or austria letme know :)

(btw. I love your sense 4 humor ... "anonymous dating websites - letme put this away ...")

:D
by Sébastien 05/06/2008
Hi! How are you? I'm sébastien and i'm french.

I had a problem...When I opened "Position" of Emitten I saw (or I seen? i don't know)... http://enemizz.free.fr/pb.jpg


Can you help me? (simply sentences please !! )

Thanks a lot !!
by Deen 05/16/2008
Hi, Its really a cool fx, and your tips like motion preview ,90 fps etc are really useful.

Thanks a lot, keep going
by JuNie 05/19/2008
hi ~ andrew~~ very very nice tutorial~~
by Joel 05/21/2008
Gracias excelente tutorial, Con estos tutoriales he aprendido mucho, hace mas de un año descubri Video Copilot y desde entonces sigo todas su creaciones e innovaciones. Mil Gracias. Bendiciones y Pura Vida
by cameramon 05/22/2008
you are the best,cameramon from youtube
by maher 05/24/2008
thaks you,excelente
by Hax 09 05/27/2008
Thank you so much for this tutorial Mr. Kramer.

I'm glad that there are people like you in this world who (unconditionally without taking any fee) give their self learned knowledge to others like us who are willing to learn.

you really are the best. your tutorials are exciting too.. nothing monotonous. always funny and entertaining . you can tell by your voice you care..

thanks once again Mr. Kramer... keep them coming
by Malte 05/28/2008
Thank you Andrew, that helped me a lot!
By the way: The best part of the tutorial was the end

Malte
by mark 05/28/2008
hey this is my first time ever using after effects, i want to thank you for your generous contribution to your viewers first off
but i'm having some trouble with this module... i cant use my trackball to position the camera the way i would like it.. the setting is on active camera but its grey. any ideas?
sorry if i sound newbish lol
by Hai 05/28/2008
very nice !!!thank Mr.Kramer ^^ i love u :D
by Kaiwin 05/30/2008
This tutorial is as amazing as all the others! I love it! But Trapcode's particular plug in costs $300!!! THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! I can't imagine how to justify that.
Does anyone know a product that's similar to trapcodes plugin, that's not so expensive?? I'll be buying the 11DVD package from here soon, is there anything included in it that's similar to trapcode's particular?

by GF 06/04/2008
Great tutorials.

"listen, listen to the music, yeah"

haha that's hilarious.

Thanks for the cool trick.
by theo 06/24/2008
this tutorial is so cool, i bow at the presence of greatness, ur the man
by Pablo 06/24/2008
Andrew, you are the best! my congratulation from Argentina!
by Julian 06/27/2008
Hey, thank you so much! You're just great

Greetings from Austria,

Jul
by hzx 06/30/2008
Very good~
thank you
by Annoosey 07/01/2008
جÙ
by jose antonio 07/05/2008
Mentor, Jedi, Guru!!
Thanks for your Time!!!
Really appreciate it!!
wanna make some Biz? let me know....
by incoonum 07/07/2008
merciiii bcp pour touts les tuto je vous remercier bon continuation
by ahmed 07/07/2008
Hi Andrew, your king of the world . greating from Africa- Tanzania
by Lucas 07/12/2008
Hi andrew, this tutorial is super =) good continuation ;) thank you
by Emake 07/14/2008
HI andrew,the effect is really off d hook,but ive not bought "Trapcode" yet cos credit card buyin is not my style.How can I do d effect without "Particular?Thanx
by Matt Cann 07/14/2008
So How Would You Make Something Like This??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6A_QjxDFk&feature=user

please Do a Tutorial!!!!!!

or I Will End Up Dieing trying to Work It out!!!



P.s is That how You Spell Dieing?

by WILL 07/15/2008
YOU R SO COOL .SUCH A GREAT VISUAL EFFECT.LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT TOTURIAL.
by Rohullah hares 07/16/2008
that was relly nice tank u andrew sir
by Know 07/21/2008
very very very very very very very good
by Jon Likes AE 07/21/2008
THIS
TUTORIAL
IS
AMAZING!

Thank you very much! C: I'm definitely using this in my next video!!
by scott 07/27/2008
I NEED CC!!!
by Videocopilot (Y) 07/28/2008
Dude! The streaks in the original commercial really suck ass! Your streaks really own the shit out of there's!
by Allan 07/31/2008
this is the best of the best site!!!
by Dmitry 08/03/2008
where do you get the streak preset. Please tell.
by No more 08/04/2008
thanks!!!!
by Adel. 08/07/2008
Shit is a good thing to say at the end of all your vids ^_^
by `n3xu5` 08/07/2008
Awesome..o_0`

very Nice.. (",(V)
by eevandogee 08/08/2008
HATUR NUHUN AKANG ......MUACCCH
by Ram Kumaran 08/18/2008
Here is RIP or COPY or REMAKE of your tutorial : http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/ae/lightingstreaks/index.html
by Jeremy Panse 08/21/2008
How can you rip something off that was done inside after effects? I think it's cool people are copying and Andrew... that means he's the man.

ta dow!
by Laith 08/24/2008
Hi! This is great! I tried installing trapcode particular, but for some reason it isn't showing up in after effects. I installed it several times and still no luck.

i really want to do this, but for some reason trapcode wont install properly.

do you know what I am doing wrong?

thanks! :]
by David 08/28/2008
Your streaks look better then the ones in the ad! All the tutorials here have helped me a lot! Keep it going! I have learned a lot here.

Nice!
by sk8rphink 09/01/2008
Great tutorial, but I did not like how the Particle_50 shape was static the whole time. Instead I made Particle_50 a one second clip where each part of the shape moved a bit. At the end of the second all the parts were at the same spot as the beginning so there would not be a jump once every second. My problem is that the final result looks like this
http://web.mac.com/benjaminfinkel/iWeb/Site/Library_files/swirlies.jpg
Is there a way to smooth it out? Am I going about this the wrong way all together? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
by sk8rphink 09/01/2008
I figured it out on my own. I just increased the frame rate to 90 and it looks fine. The other problem I get is that the trail continues to change as time goes on. I want just the beginning of the swirly to have movement within the particle_50 comp and then once it becomes part of the trail, I want it to be static. If that makes any sense. I think it would look more like the Ipod commercial that way. Anyone have any idea how to do that?
by sane 09/09/2008
Thank
by hyun 09/09/2008
Very Good!!!
Thank you~
by Charles 09/14/2008
heyy great tutorial! i love everything you do!

i just have one quick question:
i have an imac dual core 2.4ghz running leapord and i have after effects cs3. i made a video with this tutorial that was 1 minute 30 seconds long, and it took 4 HOURS to render!!! thats 2 min 30 secs of render for every second of actual video!

is there any way to make this faster?

thanks a lot! keep up the great work!
by igadson 10/01/2008
Great tutorial. The only problem I encountered was that my light stream does not travel around the screen as does yours. What do I need to do in order to change this.
by mahyar 10/04/2008
Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaahyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar
by Menagament 10/08/2008
AWESOME!!!!!!

Thank you Andrew :)
by skm 10/10/2008
nice~
by Jake 10/10/2008
Great tutorials every time;)
by Howel 10/28/2008
hi Andrew "IdoL" Kramer

thanks for your brilliant mind!!
i really love to edit a film or a movie,

and now im so addicting in AFTER EFFECTS because of YOu IDOL"

keep going, and i will keep watching:D

<<<<
by Devious Productions 10/28/2008
hey, i have a prob, and u guys seem to have this down. the prod is, the colorization layer, with the saturations , i did ever he said, but all i get is a boring white. email me

deviousalien@hotmail.com
by Stalin 10/30/2008
God bless u A.K.

Creo que eres el maestro mas perfecto.

que dios te de larga vida!!!
by Chmielus 11/02/2008
Thx Andrew,

Bravo for the ending words :>
by studionightbird 11/02/2008
I am so buying your DVDs. all your tutorials are GREAT thank you oh damn so much ^^
by Reginald 11/07/2008
Hello Andrew,
For many you are a good tutor but for me you are more like a dream come true. I
by Gunnar 11/09/2008
hey when i go to effects there is nothing that says trapcode?! im using AE CS3 does it work with this? help!
by ROhullah hares 11/15/2008
Hey Andrew Sir Nice Tutorial, But Make Some Light Streaks like iPod Nano That Going Aroud An Abject How We Can Make Like That Plz Show As Make Tutorial ,,,Thanks
by brad hammett 11/24/2008
have you tryed to use the tracking tool this may work.

1 act
2 trak the (i-phone)
3 apply to the light beam and done

please tell me if you found this to help you James, Rolando Rivera
by brad hammett 11/24/2008
don't wiggle!
arsk too track. useing the script or the pully sperly, thing you now
by Marfreax 11/29/2008
This is cool...
But it's look more great if add some object in this part..
Thanx
by A Fan 12/04/2008
I REALLY LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU ANDREW !!!!
by Chris 12/14/2008
Hey does anybody know how to make the the stream follow a certain point, such as if you imported a movie of your hand moving it would follow your hand? If anyone knows please email me at: admin@elitecs.info
by Lucas 12/16/2008
Where is "Trapcode" in CS3 version?
Is completly different, please help me...
by VoIcEs 12/17/2008
Great tutorial. I just have one little problem. My light streak isnt as clear as yours. Yours looks HD while mine looks kinda grainy and its got some lines in it. Anyone know why this is?
by Dan 01/04/2009
VolcEs you need to increase the particles/sec in the emitter options!

Can anyone tell me why is it when I link my light stream to a null it always shows a picture of my custom particle on the first keyframe of the null's position and it stays there its so annoying and it means i cant get anything done.

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