The missile smoke effect is a great way to create quick smoke trails.
Animating a smoke trail
By default the smoke trail sits in the center of the screen, creating a smoke ball.
There are two ways of animating the smoke trail, each of which will create very different results.
- If you use the layer’s Transform properties the entire effect will be moved. This will not create a smoke trail.
- If you want to create a smoke trail, you should use the Position property in the layer’s General section.
General
- Preview – toggles between preview and textured particles.
- Active – turns the entire effect on and off.
- Attach to layer – the smoke’s position can be linked to another layer.
- Position – the position of the smoke emitter.
Smoke
- Density – higher density creates thicker smoke.
- Linger – changes how long the smoke remains visible.
- Linger variation – increasing variation introduces a random variable to the linger.
- Size – adjusts the size of the smoke particles.
- Size variation – increasing variation introduces a random variable to the size.
- Speed – adjusts the speed of the individual smoke particles.
- Speed variation – increasing variation introduces a random variable to the speed.
- Color – the base color of the smoke.