Electric and Eclectic: Particle Effects Projects for After Effects

The particle effect has a futuristic feel—tiny granules move and interact together to form an animation. These effects would feel right at home on the silver screen, but you can create them with Adobe After Effects on your own computer!

In this round-up, I'm sharing 15 projects that you can use to create this effect with your own logo and assets. Each of these projects gives you a big head start. Even if you don't know animation, you can use these to create the effect easily.

Here are 15 of my favorite particle effect templates for Adobe After Effects:

1. Particle Transform — Image Animation Project

Take any image and give it the particle effect thanks to this project. Simply drop your own image onto the canvas, tweak the effects, and see your image come to life in particles.

2. Elegant Particles Titles — Animated Text Sting

Customize the text and color effects in this project to animate your own details into the scene.

3. Particle Reveal — Particle Logo Sting

This project will bring your own logo into view through a cloud of particles. Drop your logo in and watch it animated with a professional three dimensional effect.

4. In Particles — Particle Logo Sting

This project offers a light and airy effect for your logo. Again, you can simply drop in your own logo and see it come to life with a particle effect.

5. Colorful Particles Logo Reveal II — Colorful Logo Sting

This is an impressive pack that features realistic particle animations with colorful lighting. This pack is reminiscent of ink dissolving in a liquid with brilliant colors.

6. Particle Reveal — Animated Logo Sting

This clean and easy project will assemble your logo using tiny particles. It's a clean and simple effect that illustrates how great the particle effect works.

7. Particle Builder — Particle Toolkit

The Particle Builder project makes it easy to add the effect to a variety of situations. As you can see in the screenshot below, you can use it to accent your existing video footage.

8. Colorful Butterfly Logo Reveal — Animated Logo Sting

It's certainly a unique effect, but the Butterfly Logo Reveal illustrates a colorful and creative way to add your logo. This would be ideal for an outdoors driven YouTube channel or production.

9. Particles — Opener Template

This pack is a geometric inspired project that uses particles and lines to create a stunning effect. Use your own text and captions to animate an opener for your video.

10. Particle Logo Title — Animated Logo Sting

This video combines an animated wave effect with particles combining to animate your logo.

11. Explosive Particles — Opener Template

Your logo will explode through a sea of particles and come onto the canvas with this project. It's easy to use with your very own logo.

12. Particle Titles — Animated Title Intro

Don't want to use your logo? This project is a nice changeup in this roundup. Use text and titles to animate them through a sea of particles.

13. Particle Formation — Particle Image Animation

Here's a project that you can use with your own images to assemble into a finished product. Drop your own set of photos into this project and they will become the particles that form a shape.

14. Elegant Particles — Abstract Particle Animation

Bright and airy, the Elegant Particles project is perfect for grabbing the audience's attention. The explosive particles in this project will introduce your logo onto the canvas.

15. Particle Logo Formation v2 — Particle Logo Sting

A fitting end to this round-up, this project is a stunner for animating your logo using particles. The clean canvas contrasts beautifully with the particles that will animate your logo into view.

More Easy Projects

The projects in this round-up show that you don't have to be an animation expert to create stunning effects. The particle effect is one of my favorite for creating a modern or futuristic look with my own assets.

If it's not your style, check out the other projects below to see more ways to create animation on a shoestring.

• 15 Top Flat Design Templates for Adobe After Effects

  Apply the flat effect for your own logos and graphics using these easy After Effects projects.

• 15 Top Glitch Video Templates for Adobe After Effects

  Learn to get funky with these 15 easy-to-use Adobe After Effects projects in this roundup.

• 10 Easy Photo Slideshow Templates for Adobe After Effects

  We take an awful lot of photographs these days, particularly with our mobile devices. But what do you do with potentially hundreds of photographs? Why not...

• 15 Top Corporate After Effects Templates for Your Inspiration

  Learn how to use After Effects to create your company video with these 15 helpful projects.

Keep Learning

Want to dig deeper into particle effects? Check out these tutorials:

• The Circular Distortion Effect

  In this tutorial I'll show you how to create an abstract reveal animation, with Trapcode Particular, using features like the layer emitter and turbulent...

• Understanding Particles and Dynamics in Maya—Part 1

  In this tutorial series, I'll be exploring particles, n-particles, dynamics, n-dynamics, n-cloth, n-hair and so forth in Maya. In this tutorial I'll explain...

• How to Create a Space Scene With Element 3D

  In this tutorial I'll show you how to create a space scene in After Effects using Element 3D. I'll also be using a few free assets found online and some...

• Atom Simulation in After Effects: Part 1

  Learn how to create an atom simulation using Particular and After Effects in this two-part tutorial from Ran Ben Avraham.