In Particular 3, you can now use OBJ objects as emitters. In addition you can see any presets that you want to use or create. While you can also adjust all of these parameters in the Effects Window dialog, the Designer gives an immediate visual representation of your particle systems that you can drag around and see how it interacts with movement. Here you design your particle system, including the look, speed and overall lifespan of your system.

The updated designer window is very reminiscent of the Magic Bullet Designer window, easy and natural to use. From fire to smoke to star trails, it can pretty much do whatever your mind can come up with, and Version 3 has some powerful updates, including the overhauled Trapcode Particular Designer. Particular allows you to create complex particle animations within After Effects. Trapcode Particular is one of Red Giant’s flagship plugins and it’s easy to see why. From there it is up to your After Effects camera skills and Tao artistry. To enable the new Depth-of-Field, wander over to the Rendering twirl-down menu under Tao and either select “off” or “Camera Settings.” It’s pretty simple. It’s a simple but insanely powerful update that really gives your Tao creations a sense of realism and beauty. In the Tao 1.2 update Red Giant has added a Depth-of-Field tool to create realistic bokeh effects on your Tao objects. If you do a quick YouTube search of Tao you will find some amazing examples of what it can do. Trapcode Tao allows you to create 3D geometric patterns along a path in After Effects.

However, you still get the rest of the products with the Trapcode Suite 14: Mir 2.1, Shine 2.0, Lux 1.4, 3D Stroke 2.6, Echospace 1.1, Starglow 1.7, Sound Keys 1.1 and Horizon 1.1įirst up is the Tao 1.2 update.

There are three updates to the Suite that warrant the $199 upgrade fee: Trapcode 3, Form 3 and Tao 1.2 update.

Red giant trapcode suite 17