Creating a Nuclear Explosion using both After Effects and Trapcode Particular

[JBJB1029]

How do I Create a Nuclear Explosion like this (below):

using both After Effects and Trapcode Particular?

[Mylenium]

Not easily. Layers and layers of particles and complex setups in the particular editor. The video alone has around 12 distinct particle systems and it isn't even the most realistic nuclear explosion. anything from the initial pillar to the radial blasts to the debris being pushed around. I suggest you actually spend some time learning Particular and experimenting with settings. Unless you can find a long-winded tutorial already, this realyl comes down to your understanding of what each setting in the plug-in does and what effects it can produce. Certainly not something one could explain in a few lines on a forum.

Mylenium

[JBJB1029]

Really @Mylenium!?

1. It's NOT the most realistic nuclear explosion?
2. This is something that anyone can explain in a few lines on a forum?

[Mylenium]

Yeah, it's not realistic. It's too close to the ground, there's too much "smoke" and several other things. It's the fancy movie/ game version of a nuclear explosion, not a "real" one. Anyway, I can't see how you expect someone to explain a plug-in that has 400+ controls and a custom editor to you on a forum. With all respect, that's simply impossible beyond "Create a radial emitter for the shockwave." and other simplistic stuff. You really have to study tutorials and play with the effect settings yourself, then piece it together from what you learned using multiple layers and particle systems as already mentioned. There's a boatload of tutes on all kinds of explosions in Particular, there's equally many that create dedicated nukes in Blender, Houdini or other 3D programs. Point in case: Even a tutorial not made specifically made for AE can teach you a lot on what emitter types to use, how to use force fields and fake collisions to sculpt your particle streams and so on. That and of course you can alway explore other venues like creating everything using conventional effects and painterly techniques like we used to do it when particle systems weren't even a given in 3D programs 25 years ago...

Mylenium

[JBJB1029]

So how does it compare with this Nuclear Explosion @Mylenium?

[Joost van der Hoeven]

You might want to ask Google. It gave me:
https://youtu.be/O1tN7PMmuJg

[Mrtn Ritter]

I can recommand the actual USA test bombing footage, if you are aiming for a realistic blast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnrLY-phipw&list=PLvGO_dWo8VfcmG166wKRy5z-GlJ_OQND5&index=2

*Martin

[JBJB1029]

Thank you & No Offense, @Mrtn Ritter, but how do I use that video to create a (realistic-like) Nuclear Explosion for a video project, whether it's using Blender, both After Effects & Trapcode Particular, etc.?

[P.M.B]

I'll tell you how you DONT do it.  You DONT do it by being rude the people who are taking time out of their day to try and help you.  

Doing something like that requires years of experience and practice.  Not something for a begginer.  Sorry.  It's the truth.

[Mrtn Ritter]

You can take the videos as reference how an actual A-bomb explosion looks like and try to recreate the shapes, lights, dusts, shock waves and so on in a tool of your choice.

This is a whole playlist of videos all from USA test sites in the 50ies. It's plenty of ressource. The explosions looks differently and some also show the early microseconds of the detonation.

*Martin