How to create Fairy Glitter in Adobe After Effects

Want to learn how to create great looking Fairy Glitter effects?
In this tutorial I show you how to use CC Particle World to create cool fairy glitter particles directly inside of Adobe After Effects.
If you want to follow along with the tutorial, you can download the 'Walter The Fairy' clip here:
www.surfacedst...
Personally, I am a big fan of the Trapcode Particular plugin, but you can create some awesome effects with the CC Particle World plugin that comes included in After Effects.
Check out this tutorial if you want to better understand all the awesome things you can do with the CC Particle World effect:
• How to create cool par...
If you want to know about motion tracking instead of hand animating the particle producer, check out this tutorial:
• After Effects Motion T...
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Thank you!
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[@ruthlrich5411]

Just want to let you know this is the MOST ENTERTAINING tutorial I have watched yet. I love the comedy. Makes learning after effects a whole lot more fun and less like pulling teeth.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you so much for the awesome feedback :) Really happy to hear you enjoyed the tutorial!

[@marvininer]

The tutorial is great. Looked like it is shorter than the actual length of the video. Entertaining and intuitive.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you very much for the comment!

[@christinascotto7125]

Tobias, you helped my friend and I make our special effects project for our TV Production class look 10x better. You truly are a work of art and your video is the best tutorial I’ve ever seen on KZbin. Keep shooting for the stars! You are awesome. Thank you!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Aw, thank you so much for the kind words! It’s always very humbling to hear that my weirdo videos seem to be helping others out there :) Makes me happy to hear it helped you spice up your Tv production class project!

[@DrewVissX]

I DIDN'T KNOW YOU CAN USE COMPOSITIONS AS PARTICLES!! THIS..... is going to help me SO much. Thanks again for this tutorial, man.

[@chartokai]

+DrewViss X All of the participial types that say textured can do this. Remember they are 2D textures in 3D space so some settings start you off with them rotating revealing they are flat that you may or may not want.

[@alexanderreyer2134]

You 're a real artist. Even Harry Potter would like it.

[@SurfacedStudio]

I'm no artist but that's not gonna stop me putting out weird stuff on the Internet haha :D

[@innov8ting]

Thank you for this tutorial! I only occasionally use AE so never have remember how to do things, but over the last few years I have had to create fairy glitter in various bits of film for people. This tutorial is my go to reminder!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the awesome feedback :) Glad to hear you’re finding some use for this tutorial even after it’s been out so many years!

[@MrSupernaturalLife]

I'm putting my sister's name in the most current Disney logo to celebrate. I needed to learn how to put in the sparkle effect, and this is perfect! Thank you!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear you found the tutorial helpful :D

[@MrSupernaturalLife]

@@SurfacedStudio Update: She cried and we hugged. I am very thankful to have learnt AE and these online resources.

[@sequoia5934]

7 years later and this is still so helpful!! Thank you

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear it still helped!

[@JohnTCano]

Very helpful, thank you! I'm not looking to make "fairy dust", but I learned a lot about particle effects and just other effects that I wasn't aware of before. So thank you! :)

[@SurfacedStudio]

+John Cano No worries at all! Glad you enjoyed the video even if you're not after the glitter. I do always hope that there's something useful in these tutorials that can be applied to other effects :)

[@KIMBEAUX]

I never thought Drew Brees would be teaching me After Effects tutorials ;) This helped me a lot! Thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Haha, I think I actually heard that before! Also, no football involved in my tutorials (at least not yet) :D

[@morahannover]

I am so happy this was uploaded on my birthday. I have always been waiting for VFX tuts to return!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Mora Hannover That lined up nicely :)

[@hiyuodin]

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear you found it helpful!

[@GunnarDeMinecraft]

this is the greatest video on KZbin

[@SurfacedStudio]

I doubt that very much, but I definitely appreciate the sentiment :D

[@hellyeahchannel4328]

it is great all the things that you know. and I like that you now display the keys that you are pressing. sometimes it's hard to understand all that you are saying. it helps alot

[@SurfacedStudio]

+HELLYEAH Channel That's great to hear, recently switched my screen recording program - trying out a few options to see what works best. I do like the auto keyboard display :)

[@This_Guy-]

wow i missed so many videos i thought you were not uploding , now i am up-to date with your videos . Satisfied :-))

[@SurfacedStudio]

+naturealtaf :) And I've been uploading a lot more frequently recently so hopefully lots of new videos for you to watch!

[@Dirkanador]

Very well done and I love the fact that you can make fun of yourself while doing the tutorial!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the comment! And I find it hard to take myself too serious in anything I do - makes life a happier place for me that way :D

[@thenar]

Tobias...thanks...nicely produced and easy to understand.

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D Glad to hear!

[@sydneyearther5370]

Super cool effect!!! Cute!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you, glad you liked it :D

[@Zoebitalk]

Amazing! Appreciation for your teaching that is really helpful! Moreover, this tutorial is not an advanced version of AE, is pretty suitable for my case~~~ Step-by-step teaching method and video outline for your arrangement is very adorable!

[@SavlaKaivanDeepak]

44th view, first time seeing so fast, was just scrolling and got your video update. Love your videos keep making them and as always thanks for making.

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Kaivan Savla Glad you're enjoying my videos!

[@BAMsterR]

Hi Tobias. I added a wiggle rotation to the "stars" and added a Lens Flare, and it turn out to be good. Thanks man! Appreciate youre work here on the chanel, keep it up :D

[@SurfacedStudio]

+BAMsterR Glad to hear you are customising the look to suit what you are after :) Thank you!

[@Creative_Expression]

That was great. Well presented, efficient and easy to follow. Thank you.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Great to hear you found it easy to follow 😊

[@066yoko]

Thanks

[@SurfacedStudio]

Wow, thank you so much :) Second Super Thanks I ever got, I really appreciate it!

[@066yoko]

@@SurfacedStudio i enjoyed your video very much. How you ran across is very funny. You are a great actor as well. :)

[@SurfacedStudio]

De nada! I’m not much of an actor but I’m happy to hear you enjoy my tutorials!

[@Ucci]

This tutorial was amazing! Fairy power for everyone!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Fairy power to all! Glad you liked it!

[@thefruitofpassion927]

Well this is a really nice tutorial. I mean I know about using cc particle world, and have used it a few times, yet I still learned some new stuff in here. On a side note I kinda liked the look better without the glow at the end but that's just personal taste and doesn't really matter. Walter can have whatever he wants. It's his magical video not mine XD

[@SurfacedStudio]

+TheFruitofPassion Haha, thank you and yes of course, with or without glow, feel free to customise :) I much prefer people to take my tutorials as 'guidelines' as opposed to a 'set recipe' because I do often get asked how to do the exact same effect in a different colour... XD

[@jeromeboyq6301]

Exactly what I needed, but I need a little more realistic looking sparkles, but I can get there from here. Thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

No worries! Glad the tutorial helped :)

[@youngamy]

Very useful! The most useful part was limiting the size of the "cone" where the stars spread. I want to replicate smoke coming from a jet engine in the sky (sort of) so a narrower space looks better for my use. Thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the great comment! Happy to hear you found the tutorial useful :)

[@gilbert2185]

Thank you so much! Using this in my daughter's intro!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear you found it useful :)

[@poppysstorytimetv]

Glitter on baby! This was super - thank you.

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Christina Shumanov :D Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[@josafatplascencia3265]

Thank you very much! I really wanted to know how to do it! God Bless You!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the comment, glad it helped :D

[@paulchillemi2537]

THANKYOU SO MUCH! Ive been searching for a good tutorial on this for a while and this helped alot.

[@SurfacedStudio]

You are very welcome Paul :) Thank you for the comment!

[@johngrey5806]

This most-magical uber-nerd is actually an excellent teacher!! I enjoyed the tutorial, many thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

No worries, glad you enjoyed it, thanks :)

[@michalbotor]

thank you so much for providing the practice footage. without it i would have probably learnt next to nothing. but with it i learnt a lot. and i had a lot of fun doing it.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you so much for the awesome feedback :D Really glad to hear you enjoyed following along with the tutorial!

[@BovineDesigns]

Tutorial starts at 1:35

[@tonywalters66]

Great tutorial. Very clear, concise and not too laboured. Cheers

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you :) Great to hear you enjoyed it!

[@tonywalters66]

@@SurfacedStudio Fiddling around with it now, is there a way to have the stars born in a random rotation, so they are not ALL vertical? cheers

[@garyfink5519]

Awesome tutorial. Thanks for making it.

[@SurfacedStudio]

You're welcome :)

[@desmanage]

Been wanting to understand how this type of effect was animated. Big learn from me was the 'inherit velocity' adjustment. Brilliant stuff - love the humour too! KP

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the comment :D

[@RodolfoEduardoCervantes]

Thank you for this tutorial, it was what I was looking for, my name is Rodolfo Cervantes, I am 72 years old, I would like to understand the language, I follow your movements, but sometimes I get lost, but I will manage to do it, I thank you, you are very good and nice , thanks....I just subscribed to your channel and gave you the corresponding like, thanks...

[@copyrightfreemusic.3338]

Tobias great work ,I am new in using after effect but since the day I started watching your tutorials, I can now do some visual effects. Thanks a lot.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you so much for the kind feedback :)

[@KeithMarrocco]

I'm thinking that the effect might be enhanced further by creating a duplicate CC Particle layer behind Walter and reducing both rates by half, but then I consider how much work the extra masking would be and realize I should shut up. Good job!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Keith Marrocco Feel free to add whatever you want to make it look the way YOU want to. This is just a quick example :)

[@danceswithfairies]

Thank you so much!!!! This knowledge is so priceless. You keep your videos concise, and also very funny, love your channel!

[@SurfacedStudio]

:) Thank you so much for the feedback. It's always nice to hear that people enjoy my silly little tutorials!

[@liantolentino4769]

hi surface. thanks for ur help it really helped me a lot on editing videos for our project ur the best.

[@SurfacedStudio]

+khalel thegamer No worries, glad you are enjoying my videos!

[@MrThefrederic]

Thank you! I just used this in a project and it works great! Very easy to follow.

[@SurfacedStudio]

That's great to hear :D

[@pemberliegh]

this really helped me jazz up a video holiday card. Thanks!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

That's awesome to hear :) Thank you!

[@tararebuck6626]

Thanks for this! Super easy to follow tutorial.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear!

[@JamesLovesGames]

Awesome tutorial! You earned a new sub.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear you liked it!

[@TheNadiiiii]

thank you so much. you are an awesome teacher

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Nadia Bhatti :) Thank you for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@mattfontoura]

Awesome, straight to the point and fun tutorial!

[@thatyXDXD]

That was a great tutorial, you explain really well!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you :)

[@Akylha]

Thank you so much!!! Wonderful tutorial!!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the comment! Glad you liked it!

[@lauradiser8925]

I LOVE this tuto!! It's simple, very funny and you explain it soooooo well. Nice audio and everything. Thank you so much!! I'll go check the flame auto :)

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you very much for the awesome feedback :) Nice to hear you enjoyed the tutorial!

[@hsefilms5994]

This was very helpful. I'm a beginner and this was easy to follow. Thank you!

[@SurfacedStudio]

No worries, glad you found it useful!

[@Sbhnh0]

Great tutorial as usual!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Subhan Hyder Thank you!

[@Sbhnh0]

Can't wait for next Tutorial!

[@zediukiful]

Absolutely perfect for what I needed, you are such a brilliant teacher! Thank you so much :)

[@SurfacedStudio]

That's great to hear :)

[@ShhheilaASMR]

i set this up and it worked, then later on i couldn't see my "textured square" anymore. it was transparant and i just had to use the basic sphere shape in order to see anything. Any reason why it won't show it anymore??

[@juanfrepb]

Great tutorial! I'm curious to know how you pulled off the effect at 0:15-0:19 with the light going over the surface of the painting to transform. I have a project I'm working on and I kind of have to do the same effect where a person is desaturated until the touch of someone gives them color back. Might anyone know of a tutorial like it?

[@marcinczuprynski6007]

Exactly what i was looking for. Thank you.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear!

[@adamblanchot7563]

Super helpful bud! Thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear! :D

[@franzitaz]

Thank you! Helped me a lot!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad it helped!

[@kiransaini4885]

Very helpful video👍👍

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@lunarsfan3371]

Yay thank you so much . I am a pro with photoshop composites and was having a hard time finding someone to explain after effects to me. Glad I found you , your beginning videos made it easy for me to understand. It is a extension to photoshop to me but more layers. Thank you for your teaching style and organization. This video was something I was wanting to create for my daughter,glad you made it. Would you consider making a video of a Cinderella effect. I assume I would use the morphing tutorial but not sure about adding glitter to the transformation. Thanks you for any info.

[@SurfacedStudio]

+April Screven Thank you very much for the feedback, nice to hear that my tutorials will be put to good use. If you look at the original Cindarella, it's actually just a simple cross fade which is pretty easy to create :) All you need is two shots and then animate the opacity from one to the other - and add some glitter and magical music

[@lunarsfan3371]

See that makes sense thank you 😀

[@cmhgraphics1291]

That was so helpful and it worked perfectly. I've only been using after effects since October 2020.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you, glad to hear you liked the tutorial :) Tons more on my channel (and elsewhere)

[@starc4693]

I absolutely love this one!! very helpful!! Thank you so much!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Summer Cheng :) Thank you very much. I figured I'd make something that everyone might enjoy

[@starc4693]

Hahaha I'm working on this right now! Love all your tutorials very clear and easy to follow!

[@SurfacedStudio]

:) That's nice to hear. Good luck with your project!

[@ArmandoCardoso1982]

Love your tutorials. Nice job!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Armando Cardoso Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

[@jhphotomum]

Amazing Thank you sooooo much

[@SurfacedStudio]

You're welcome!

[@janegreig4213]

Brilliant tutorial and easy to follow. Many thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

That's great to hear :D

[@yoyoemmyjo]

Love this. Thanks so much! Very helpful.

[@SurfacedStudio]

That's great to hear, thank you!

[@liantolentino4769]

ur really the best thanks surface

[@SurfacedStudio]

+khalel thegamer No worries!

[@dumbcat]

that was well done and easy to follow

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you very much :) Glad to hear you liked it!

[@RegularpeoplegamingRPG]

Dude you are fantastic! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your knowledge.

[@SurfacedStudio]

No worries, glad you enjoyed it :)

[@yanayuiko4281]

Thank you very much!! very helpful and strict without any water

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D Thank you! I like water, but not in my videos XD

[@InstaAE]

Ya scared me with the gun at first.. xD Great tutorial

[@SurfacedStudio]

+InstaAfterEffects Haha! Traded the gun for some girly glitter!

[@InstaAE]

+Surfaced Studio lol

[@jodo1117]

just used this to make a full screen transition and looks amazing. . .Thank you. Could you do a video on cool transitions?

[@SurfacedStudio]

That's great to hear, glad you got something cool out of it :) Not sure I can do a general one on 'cool' transitions as what people consider 'cool' isn't really universal. But I will think about what I could do

[@ValoraDance]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot for making this tutorial!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the tutorial :)

[@Scripture-Man]

Tobias, you're wonderful! Your tutorials are excellent and greatly appreciated, especially for AE beginners like me, thank you! I'm sure you know, but there's more you could do here after making the glitter: You could make it light up the scene, rotoscoping Walter so he's more lit than the background, plus reflections on the surfaces, especially the picture on the wall. :)

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the comment :) There is always SO much more you can do to make these effects look better. Given it takes me a lot of time to create my tutorials already and I don't want to end up with a 1h+ tutorial either I make concessions where I think they're justify-able :D

[@Scripture-Man]

Yes I understand that. Also… was the gun fake? It doesn't look fake but I just have a feeling that it is :)

[@jakeotib3279]

He's wearing a t-shirt with Bristol on it. I'm in love! 😍

[@SurfacedStudio]

+FMTBG Wow, can't believe you could make that out :)

[@jakeotib3279]

Well my friennds don't call me eagle eyed for nothing!

[@Jaimedevos]

Thanks so much for this!

[@SurfacedStudio]

You're so welcome!

[@nicolukks]

justo el video que estaba buscando para un trabajo, gracias.

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@occultpriestess]

Fairy Wand ~ The Original Fire Arm!

[@SurfacedStudio]

:D

[@jayandersons]

My screen goes black we’re I put particle on but I’m very Impressed I was actually able to do this anymore thank you subscribed big thumbs up

[@CrazyZ66]

Great tutoria! :-) But I have one issue. I am on AE CS5 and I can only chose Textured TriPolygon or TexturedQuadPolygon and neither of them gives me a dropdown menu for a texture. What am I missing here?

[@olgakust4536]

Thank you! This video very helpful)) It's amazing

[@SurfacedStudio]

You are very welcome :) Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Hhunted]

You are the best man!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Jaco (Hunteds RCs) Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@MEMES-ee8ew]

Another great video! Can you do a video about eye transition (and other similar effects)

[@SurfacedStudio]

+ygor sena Do you mean 'eye replacement"? There's lots of tutorials for that on KZbin already :) I even covered it in my Samara Death Stare tutorial

[@MEMES-ee8ew]

Surfaced Studio no, like zooming to the eye and making a trasition through the iris to another scene. I saw a lot of tutorials (made whit sony vegas) so i wanted to do it more professionaly whit after effects and get tips in how to improve that skill

[@ladybluu]

Loved this tutorial everything was smooth from a - z!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you for the awesome comment :)

[@sandralee555]

Hi! This is great! If I want to use different shapes in the glitter I would just do the same thing multiple times I'm assuming? Can I bring a photoshop file of a shape into AE and do the same thing?

[@SurfacedStudio]

+sandra lee Yes you can add multiple glitter effects - you can also select a random frame for your particle so you can use a single comp for that (I think if I remember correctly) :)

[@dBAllmEDia]

Thank You! Superb tutorial. To the point, funny, and helped a lot!

[@SurfacedStudio]

You're welcome :) Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

[@juliaarmstrong439]

Nice video! I wish I will try it sometime)

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you and good luck!

[@ralu_art]

Thank you for the tutorial! Great guidance!

[@SurfacedStudio]

You're very welcome!

[@NishaDavdraOfficial]

You're amazing! Thank you. I can't wait to follow along and try this for myself.

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Nisha Davdra Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sambossa3292]

very helpfull :D thx i'll use this for some christmas videos xD

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you. Good luck with your Christmas videos :D

[@sambossa3292]

thx buddy!

[@YerbaMateo]

Do you think I could apply this technique to make a Disney Channel intro with the wand making the ears? This is an awesome video by the way!!

[@SurfacedStudio]

You should be able to :) Move the emitter in the shape of the ears and make sure the particles live long enough to draw out the full shape

[@MrChanw11]

Nice tutorial!

[@SurfacedStudio]

+MrChanw 11 Thank you!

[@bald_engineer]

Haha, "why am I holding on to this girly wand?" Nice job over all as usual. This one really had me laughing.

[@SurfacedStudio]

Haha, thank you! Figured I'd make a few tutorials that aren't purely aimed at a male audience :)

[@sarahborowik-frank4990]

sooo gonna try this out... great content and kick-ass tutorial. thank you ♡

[@SurfacedStudio]

+Sarah Borowik Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@AJShiningThreads]

Any way to make the stars rotate as they fall? Also could you do a blowing/falling leaf tutorial?

[@SurfacedStudio]

Try playing with the rotation parameters in the CC Particle World effect :)

[@NickTunderVideos]

Awesome tutorial (as usual). Thanks!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you :D

[@isabellbreywisch1248]

Thank you so much! This helped a lot and was easy to follow. :) Well made tutorial!

[@SurfacedStudio]

Thank you very much for the comment :) Glad to hear you enjoyed the tutorial!

[@AdventureSonick]

eindeutig deutscher Akzent thank you helps me alot

[@SurfacedStudio]

Dafür gibt es einen eindeutigen Grund :D Glad you liked it!

[@lornasalvatore182]

Thank you! This was really helpful for an effect I really wanted to create

[@SurfacedStudio]

That’s great to hear :)