Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 14, 2014. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Shatter is a plug-in included in Adobe After Effects that can be used to create broken glass pieces, puzzles and similar things. The AE plug-in can also be used to create 3D text or shape blocks. The first tutorial is from Total Training from 2011. Although the Comp Cameras feature has since been added to Shatter, the plug-in’s interface is still almost the same. There are also many useful tips in AE Help.
Shatter contains both glass presets for quick results and custom shader maps that enable the creation of user-defined fragments and particles.
First, here is the Shatter interface explained in 45 minutes:
The second Shatter tutorial is from PremiumBeat. It explains how to create a dynamic shattered-glass animation using only the tools in After Effects.
But there are also options for artists who do not want to use Shatter: here Mikey Borup shows how glass shards can be built with shape layers, using refraction from displacement and AE’s ray-traced 3D renderer.
AE tutorial master Andrew Kramer naturally has a worthwhile tutorial for glass in Element 3D up his sleeve. Kramer creates the glass effect with Element 3D’s animation engine from minute 20:50.
In this video, BakersTut uses Element 3D to create broken glass with an icy look.
All further information about Adobe After Effects can be found here.
Information about Element 3D from Video Copilot here.
And if you need reference material, here is slow-motion footage from Epic Slow Mo:
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