How do you have a crumbling effect that starts from the middle and works its way out?

To create a crumbling effect starting from the middle and spreading outward, begin by setting the center as the origin. In Photoshop or After Effects, use a mask or shatter/disintegration effect, animating particles to radiate from the center. In 3D software like Blender, apply a fracture or shatter modifier with the origin at the middle, then animate pieces exploding outward with physics for realism. In code or WebGL, break the object into particles, calculate their distance from the center, and move them outward proportionally. This creates a natural, expanding crumbling effect !

I don’t have time to post an example right now but you would use a custom shatter map and custom particle size. Yoi would probably also want to have two layers so if you want to reveal the crack. You could use a fractal noise layer to make the layer break apart instead of a Force.

There are very few good tutorials on Shatter so the best thing to do is to check out the user guide. You can find it using the search help feature in the top right-hand corner of AE.