How do I make a piece of paper blow in the wind?

Hi there!

Generally speaking I dislike forums since they tend to provide unwanted information or opinion and the answer gets lost in the comments (if there IS an answer).

But as I search for another way to make paper flutter like you are wanting, I simply must send you the following videos. They are simple, well-explained, and I believe EXACTLY what you are seeking to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I52wVbd5kOc&t=605s

Additionally, to add a shadow and back page color the following video is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2qw6SpIEw8&t=2315s

at minute 32:5 he starts explaining the page flip, but at 36:35 he explains the shadow and back color of the page (which is better than the previous videos solution).

All this is done in After Effects (can being in Illustrator or any image to animate, but be sure to watch a video on how to import correctly if your image is svg. I have some videos on that too if you would like).

Hope this is as helpful as I have found them to be.

I agree with Rick.  Free Form Pro is definitely worth it.  I did this credit sequence for a film a few years back using FFP.  So here's an example of what you can do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SdjvzpU__M

Eric

If you have the budget Freeform Pro + a displacement map and maybe Camera Projection would do the best job. It will cost you a couple of hundred plus three or four hours figuring out how to use it.

If you don't have the budget a combination of or just Mesh Warp, Displacement Map, Liquify and/or other distortion effects in a 3D layer with a light casting a shadow and some ambient light filling the scene. 

Another option: C4D lite or if you want a really good simulation Blender (http://blender.ort) a very robust open-source 3D app that I use all the time.

What is your experience level?