Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 5, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Red Giant’s Trapcode Suite is especially well suited to transforming particles into surreal, moving structures. Various templates are available for this, whose parameters can be played with a little to achieve impressive results quickly.
Trapcode Suite 13 includes, among other things, Trapcode Particular 2.5, which can be used to create particle effects such as fire, water, smoke and other organic things with the new Effects Builder, and Trapcode Tao 1.0, which can be used to animate 3D geometries along a path. Plug-ins for 3D light-ray effects, 3D surfaces, glows, infinite backgrounds and audio-driven motion graphics are also available.
A free trial version is available on the Red Giant website; the full version for After Effects costs 999 US dollars, an upgrade is available for 199, and a student version for 499 US dollars.
Here is all further information about Trapcode Suite 13.
