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ShiveringCactus
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 19, 2020
Question

Tutorial: Makin' a meteor / atmospheric re-entry

  • December 19, 2020
  • 0 replies
  • 706 views

 

In this tutorial, I use Adobe After Effects' included effects and two free plugins from Video Copilot to recreate the look of flaming plasma as a spacecraft enters Earth's atmosphere. CC Particle World is used to make the flames, sparks and smoke. I use VC Orb to create the rock falling to the planet and VC Saber as a way of creating a firey surround to the plummeting asteroid.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtepOBF-oFc&

 

In the tutorial, I also show a 3D Space Shuttle - I struggled to find a free 3D model of this spacecraft that could be used in either VC Element or Cinema4D Lite, so I imported one into C4D Lite and edited it to make it work. I have included this model in the download links too. I used C4D Lite to prepare the shuttle for VC Element and applied textures in that program. I haven't included the VC textures I applied as they are not royalty-free for distribution, but everything is labelled in the model.

 

Original Model (with textures) can be downloaded from https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/shuttle-hi-res

 

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Expression used:

X = thisComp.layer("Meteor NULL").transform.position[0]+effect("3D Point Control")("3D Point")[0];
Y = thisComp.layer("Meteor NULL").transform.position[1]+effect("3D Point Control")("3D Point")[1];
Z = thisComp.layer("Meteor NULL").transform.position[2]+effect("3D Point Control")("3D Point")[2];
[X,Y,Z];

 

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Other tutorials mentioned:

Linking CC Particle World to a 3D Null: https://youtu.be/dYYmeBOWXpw 

Makin' 2D, 360 and 3D stars: https://youtu.be/xG0GQLHRvHw

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Project Download: https://bit.ly/3nzCNUr

Space Shuttle Orbiter: https://bit.ly/2ICb9Yn

 

Video Copilot plugins:

Saber: https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/saber_plug-in/

Orb: https://www.videocopilot.net/orb/ 

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