FREE AND EASY-TO-USE PARTICLE GENERATOR

Particle Illusion

Particle Illusion is an easy-to-use, powerful, high-end particle generator that gives editors and artists instant access to photorealistic particle effects for motion graphics, visual effects, titles, lower thirds, and background graphics. Available as a free standalone application, a paid premium filter, and as part of the Continuum suite of plug-ins, Particle Illusion is the choice for anyone looking to quickly and easily add amazing particle effects to any image, animation or video.

FEATURES

From Flat 2D to True 3D

User-friendly node view workflow
3D emitter shapes, forces, deflectors, and emission
3D cameras and views
Lines & turbulence
55 brand new drag & drop emitter presets
Deeper integration with Adobe After Effects (plugin version only)

Node View

Particle Illusion’s Node View will change how you create particle and mograph animations with a simplified workflow. Select any particle node in the tree and corresponding parameters instantly display in the control panel. Creating your own custom animations has never been easier

3D Emitter Shapes, Forces, Deflectors, and Emission

Particle Illusion's move into a full-fledged 3D particle system picks up the pace. Generate 3D particle emitters positioned and animated in a true 3D environment with control over particles emission in x, y, and z space. Push particles in any 3D direction and even in every direction at once. Make particles stick, slide, bounce or even break apart when they collide with a user-defined surface. Real 3D, real fast!

Deeper After Effects Integration (Plugin Only)

After Effects artists will love the new integration between Particle Illusion and AE’s native host tools. Work more creatively and seamlessly with Particle Illusion’s emitters, which can now trace AE native live text and mask layers and attach to AE’s native lights and 3D layers. View tutorials.

3D Cameras and Views

What’s better than 2D particles? 3D!

Particle Illusion 2021 gives you the option to emit particles in 3D with just one simple click. Transform any of the thousands of emitters in seconds and bust open your creative options.

The 2021 release also features a new built-in 3D camera with user-friendly controls. Navigate through generated particle fields using target, position, pan, and orbit modes, new 3D orthographic views, and an off-axis isometric world view with a visible floor grid.

Using the plugin version inside After Effects? Use AE’s host camera to enable easier integration into your 3D scenes.

Lines

Connect your particles together with lines to create fresh new geometric mograph looks.

Quickly join particles to parent emitters, birth position, or even to other particles. Transform any emitter into a brand new animation by selecting multiple connection options or by tweaking line opacity, color, and thickness.

Turbulence

Get ready for the most organic and complex looking particles without any hassle.

Turbulence gives users control over the position and size of particles through auto-evolving noise fields. Think subtle wave-like motion, wild particle scatters, or anything in between.

Deflector Improvements

Bounce, crash, boom! Easily create more convincing particle collisions.

Particle Illusion’s deflectors now have a randomness option that allows particles to bounce much more realistically than before, and if you’re looking to add that extra layer of wow, set your particles to break apart when they hit a deflector.

New Emitter Presets

Creative inspiration at your fingertips.

Each new Particle Illusion release includes a collection of professionally-designed particle emitters that show off new features. Search for the new 2021 emitters fast using the Particle Illusion list or library views, by tags, or manually browse through all installed libraries to find the perfect emitter. And don’t forget to star your favorites to easily find them later!

Want to see emitters in action? View the Emitter Gallery

MORE FEATURES

GPU-Based Particles Generation

High-end production value makes clients happy. Fast particle generation makes creative users happy. Particle Illusion features a user-friendly interface that makes generating effects like sparkles, smoke, fireworks, and explosions simple. Featuring an interactive preview window, see particles how they were meant to be seen. Added benefit: saving your clients time and money.

Emitter Library With Thousands of Presets

Particle Illusion comes with thousands of preset emitters (via a separate free installer). An integrated search makes it easy to zero in on the effect you’re looking for, and the live preview lets you click and drag to see how it will move. Use as-is or adjust the position, shape, life, number size, etc. by scrubbing values in the control panel. Create new presets too by saving any adjusted emitter back into your custom emitter library!

Emitter Sample Gallery

Easy-to-use Preset Driven Workflow

No physics degree? No problem! Particle Illusion makes adding stunning particle animations to your scene as easy as 1-2-3. Select an emitter in the library, double-click, and voila, the emitter is added to the scene. Or choose an emitter and click where you want it on your shot to save a step or two. You can add as many emitters as you’d like, and adjust parameters to dial in the look.

Control Panel With Speedy Keyframe Navigation

Many library emitters contain animated parameters. To make it easy to find and modify the animated values, parameters with animation are highlighted with a red box in the controls view. Navigation buttons make it easy to move through time keyframe by keyframe where values can be easily adjusted, interpolation can be changed, and keys can be added and removed.

Forces

Particles that move like the wind! The Forces feature makes it easy to add force fields that create complex, organic movement or can attract or repel particles. From swirling chaos to a controlled flow of particles, the result is even more interesting, realistic particles.

Deflectors

Need particles to bounce off a logo? Simulate interaction with your footage or graphics using Deflector objects! Easy to add and use, deflector collisions are just one more way to add something extra to your particle-based projects.

Interactive Stage Window with On-Screen Motion Path

A visible motion path will appear over the composite window when an emitter’s position has been animated over time. The motion path displays the changes to the position and velocity of the emitter source over time. The on-screen path is fully interactive. Control velocity by repositioning points on the visible motion path within the composite window. Modify bezier keyframes with directional handles via on-screen controls.

Pre-Render for Speed

Both the plugin and standalone version of Particle Illusion feature the ability to “pre-render” a particle animation to a ProRes QuickTime movie. This will allow you to dramatically speed up your final render when using the plug-in version, or render out a movie for use in a compositing or editing application from the standalone version.

Mocha Motion Tracking (Plugin Only)

The integration of Mocha’s Academy Award-winning planar tracking and masking tools inside Particle Illusion gives users a unique advantage over other particle plug-ins. Both the particle emitter position and the position of the world camera can be driven independently or together using Mocha’s tracking data. The Mocha Essentials UI makes accomplishing advanced VFX even easier whether you’re a Mocha newbie or an experienced Mocha user.

COMPARISON

Feature	Standalone	Premium filter
Price	Free	$295
3D Particles
Integrated 3D Render Camera
Integrated 3D View Cameras
AE 3D Host Camera Support
Lines
Turbulence
Requires Host Application (AE, Premiere, Vegas, Media Composer, etc.)
Unlimited Hardware-Accelerated Particles
Unlimited Number of Emitters
Forces and Deflectors
Supports Projects up to 8K
2500+ Presets Included
ProRes Rendering with Alpha
Integrated Motion Blur
Direct Compositing on Source
Mocha Planar Tracking for “World” (Camera)
Mocha Planar Tracking for Emitters
PixelChooser/Mocha Masking
Particle Color/Alpha from Source
Continuum Beat Reactor Audio Driven Particles
Integrated Particle Glow
Email & Phone Technical Support
Forum Technical Support

LEARN

Installing Particle Illusion Standalone

Particle Illusion - Quick Start

Particle Illusion - The Basics

Particle Illusion - Understanding The Controls - Emitter Controls

Particle Illusion - Understanding The Controls - Particle Properties

Particle Illusion - Understanding The Controls - Particle Parameters

Particle Illusion - Understanding The Presets

Particle Illusion - Understanding Super Emitters

Particle Illusion - Understanding Forces and Deflectors

Particle Illusion - Understanding the Render Window

Particle Illusion - Building a Preset From Scratch

Particle Illusion - Putting It Together

Particle Illusion - Customizing a Preset

Particle Illusion - Creating Motion Backgrounds Fast

Particle Illusion - Fun with Forces & Deflectors

Particle Illusion - Fun with Fire

Particle Illusion - Let it Rain

HOSTS

(For the plugin version of Particle Illusion. No host required for standalone version.)

TECH/SPECS

Product:	Particle Illusion 2021
OS Requirements:	Mac OSX: 10.14 or higher Windows: Windows 8 and 10
Hardware:	Recommended Hardware: Processor: 64-bit Intel or AMD CPU with four or more cores Memory: 8 GB or more Disk: High-speed disk array or SSD storage Graphics Card: Most modern graphics cards from ATI, Nvidia and Intel are supported. click here for a full listing
Licensing options:	Free Standalone application Paid Premium Plugin

SUPPORT

The best way for all Particle Illusion users to ask technical questions or find answers to many common problems is to post in the Particle Illusion Forum, or read the Particle Illusion FAQ. Also, there is a large Particle Illusion library of online training that can help with many common questions.

For more dedicated customer support, any customer that has purchased Particle Illusion as part of the full Continuum suite and has a valid Boris FX Upgrade and Support contract is entitled to email support. All questions, concerns, and issues can be resolved by filling out a support request here.

Any customer who has purchased Particle Illusion as a Premium Filter or as part of the Continuum Particles Unit is entitled to email support only. All questions, concerns, and issues can be resolved by filling out a support request here.

The Particle Illusion standalone application is not eligible for email or phone support, but all technical questions can be posted in the Particle Illusion Forum.

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