Trapcode (Sprite) [Black Boxes Appearing]

[BenSCR]

I'm trying to make Fire that would appear from a Rocket launching in to space.

I've added Fire Explosion 2, but I only get square black boxes not a full seamless explosion. When I zoom in, I can see all the different particles (pictures of all the different explosions).

What setting do I need to adjust to remove the square black boxes, so I can see a seamless explosion.

[Rick Gerard]

The layer you use for your particle (I assume it is Fire***.mov in Layer 1) does not have transparency. You'll have to remove the black background. Then you may need to pre-compose. It all depends on how you remove the background.

If you select the source footage for the fire in the Project Panel, then choose your Particular layer (Layer 3) in the timeline and press the 'U' key twice; we can see the footage's properties in the Project Panel preview. We can also see what you have modified in Particular in the timeline. Then we will get able to give you suggestions for removing the background.

If you embed your screenshots by dragging them to the reply field instead of uploading them, they are much easier to see.

[BenSCR]

Is this of any help? ......the explosion was origonally made in the 'Black Solid 2' layer/timeline.

 

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Your fire movie is an H.264 file, and there is no transparency. If this was stock footage, they may have included an alpha channel movie as a separate file. If one is available, you can put it above the color movie and use it as a luma track matte. 

If there is no Alpha channel movie available you will have to create a new comp with just the movie you are using as a particle, then add Luma Key and carefully adjust the settings to remove the black background. You will have to set the Threshold to at least 1, then adjust the other settings to soften the edges of the flame. 

When you have successfully removed the background you add the comp to the main comp timeline and use that for the particle instead of the movie.