making liquid gold

[jxp51442467]

Hello, I am new to after effects as this is my first film I have ever edited, however a few different scenes revolve around an alchemist theory and I am looking for plugins, instructions, advice, and techniques to make a liquid look a vibrant, almost cgi style liquid gold. I want it to have sparkles and look like a melting gold lava, and I want it to shine and be fluid, even in it's still container. I want it to look almost cartoonish, but life-like. I want it to glow an extraordinary shade and look in a sense, magical, as that is what the fluid in the film will stand for. Thank you, any ideas or instructions would be much appreciated! I am on a budget as well, so I would like to do all my editing in the ae workspace. THANKS!!!

[Mike_Abbott]

"I want it to look almost cartoonish, but life-like"

Are you an art director ?  ; )

[Towerguy]

Hi, have a look at the CC Mr.Mercury effect. However I would strongly suggest that you don't use After Effects to edit your film. It's meant for doing titles/effects etc. in very short sequences. It will probably drive you crazy if you are trying to do a whole film, it is hopeless with sound and is only able to load a certain amount to playback amongst many other issues. If you are using Adobe CC you should have access to Premiere Pro which is the right program to be using for editing (and is a hell of a lot easier to learn the basics of than AE is).