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Blow Stuff Up!
Exploding Graphics Are Fun and Easy with the Shatter Filter in After Effects
by Ben Bardens

One of the most popular but oftentimes poorly used filters in After Effects is the Shatter filter. First introduced as standard in After Effects in version 5, the Shatter filter was originally a part of the third-party Atomic Power Evolution filters. In its simplest form, the filter is useful for blowing up graphics and creating animations like a brick wall exploding or a glass windowpane shattering apart. The Shatter filter is actually capable of much deeper animation than these simple examples; it is essentially a particle system with 3-D capabilities. But because of these deep capabilities, it’s a filter that isn’t necessarily the most intuitive to use without some kind of sample or reference. Shatter has many properties, each with its own values for which keyframes can be set, so it can be difficult to know where to begin.

Without setting any keyframes at all, the Shatter filter produces an exciting effect. Therefore, people often will apply the filter, be impressed by the initial result, but not knowing which properties to adjust in order to customize the effect––and end up just leaving it as is. The result is an effect that, while cool, is quite flat in terms of dynamics and timing. In this tutorial, we’ll cover some of the basics you need to know to start getting great results out of this incredible filter.

Tutorial
Start by downloading the tutorial (http://www.barkanimation.com/guild /16.zip) or using your own images. In this tutorial I am using an Adobe Illustrator file of the Editors Guild logo as the source, and am going to create a graphic element where the letters in the logo will explode forward. By using a layer swapping technique, I’ll create two versions of my animation––one where the logo leaves a knock out in the background in the shape of the logo, and one where it doesn’t.

Launch After Effects and create a New Project.

Import the logo.ai file either by dragging and dropping from the desktop into the Project window, or by choosing File -> Import -> File. If you import through the menus make sure you choose footage instead of Comp where it says Import As.

Create a New Composition by choosing Composition -> New Composition or by clicking the New Composition button at the bottom of the Project window.

In the Composition Settings, type in “Alpha Logo Comp” as the name, choose the NTSC, 640 x 480 pre-set and set the duration to 10 seconds if it isn’t already. Click OK.

Figure 1. The Effect Control window will appear displaying the Shatter filter.

Drag the logo.ai file from the Project window into the timeline underneath where it says Source Name and release. The logo will appear centered in the composition window. Note: Do not drag the footage item directly underneath the time measure and release, as this may cause the layer’s IN point not to line up at Time = 0.

Close the composition by clicking the close button in either the Timeline or Comp windows.

Create another New Composition using either of the previous methods. In the Composition Settings, type in the name “Solid Logo Comp” and choose the same preset and duration as in step 4 above. Click OK.

Drag the logo.ai file from the Project window into the timeline and release as you did before, so that the layer appears centered in the comp window and lined up at Time = 0.

Choose Layer -> New -> Solid.

In the Solid Settings, click the Make Comp Size button and use either the eyedropper or color swatch to change the solid color to white. Leave the name with the default “White Solid 1” and click OK.

In the Timeline, under Source Name, click on the White Solid 1 layer and drag it below the logo.ai layer.

Close the composition by clicking the close button in either the Timeline or the Comp windows, and go back to the Project window.

Create another new composition as before, except this time call it “Shatter Comp.” Click OK.

Drag the Alpha Logo Comp from the Project window into the Timeline, making sure it appears centered and aligned at Time = 0.

Choose Composition -> Background Color and use either the eyedropper or color swatch to change the background color to white so that you can see the logo.

In the Timeline, single-click on the Alpha Logo Layer to select it, and choose Edit -> Duplicate.

Select the bottom layer only, and turn off its Video Switch (the little eyeball in the A/V Switches panel, next to the layer’s name).

Select the top layer, and choose Effect -> Simulation -> Shatter. The Effect Control window will appear displaying the Shatter filter (see figure 1).

You’ll notice that rather than just a few properties with little keyframe icons as you get with most of the standard filters, you have several groups of properties, such as Shape, Force and Physics, to name a few. Each contains its own group of properties with little keyframe icons.

Leave the Effect Control window alone for a moment and take a look at your Comp window. You’ll notice that your image of the logo has been replaced with a wireframe grid, in the pattern of a brick wall, along with a blue pie chart shape. Click on the Time Marker and scrub along the timeline. You’ll see that almost immediately the brick pattern explodes out in the area around the blue pie chart, leaving a hole where the explosion occurred. The blue pie chart is referred to as the Force Sphere and the brick pattern is the Shatter Map.

Go back to your Effect Control window and click the little arrow next to Shape to expand its properties. Generally speaking, when using the Shatter filter, the first thing you’ll want to do is specify the Shatter Map for your layer to use. This will also determine the size of the pieces that are created by the explosion. Click on the pop-up next to Pattern and change it from the default Brick pattern to Custom. (You may wish to experiment for a moment and look at some of the other patterns. You can specify one and then scrub along the timeline to see the resulting explosion. Glass, for example, is a very useful preset.)

From the pop-up next to Custom Shatter Map, choose layer number 2, Alpha Logo Comp. This will use the pixels in this layer to define the pieces created by the explosion. Because the logo is surrounded by transparency in this pre-comp, only the logo will explode.

Back in the Timeline window, scrub the time marker and you’ll see the brick pattern has been replaced by the outline of the Editors Guild logo. As the explosion occurs, you’ll see the letters and blocks that make up the logo fly forward as 3-D shapes, tumble and fall down to the ground.

In the Effect Control window, click on the pop-up next to View and choose Rendered. Preview the result by scrubbing along the timeline. Note that when you use the Shatter filter, by default it comes up in Wireframe + Forces view. This is to enable you to work with the filter and aid in previewing, but should be set to Rendered view before adding your composition to the Render Queue when you are done. Change the View back to Wireframe + Forces for the next few steps.

In the Effects Control window, collapse the properties for Shape, and expand the properties for Force 1 and Camera Position. In order to control when the explosion occurs, you’ll need to set some keyframes for one or more of the properties in the Force 1 group. To aid in doing this you can temporarily change your camera view so you can see the scene from an alternate angle. Under Camera Position, change the Y Rotation value to 90 degrees, without clicking the stopwatch.

In the comp window, your view of the scene will now be from the side. What previously looked like a pie chart now looks more like a sphere, or orb. This represents the Force Sphere, and any part of the Shatter Map that is in contact, or within the Force Sphere, will explode outward from the center of the sphere. This is the most important thing to understand with this filter: You control when the explosion occurs by controlling when the Shatter Map comes into contact with the Sphere. In the Effects Control window under Force 1, adjust the value for Depth to .50 so that the sphere appears behind the Shatter Map of the logo and they are not in contact.

In the Timeline window, change the current time to Time = 1 second either by scrubbing the time marker, or clicking on the time display and typing in the new time. Back in the Effect Controls window, click the stopwatch next to Depth to initialize keyframing with the current value. You can use Radius to control how big the Force Sphere is and you can use the Strength value to control how much of a punch the sphere is packing, or how much force is transferred to the Shatter Map when it comes into contact with the sphere. In this case, I’ve adjusted the Strength to 4.3 and left the Radius at the default.

In the Timeline window, step forward ten frames to Time = 1:10 by pushing the Shift and Page Down keys on your keyboard. In the Effect Controls window, change the Depth value to .25 so that the sphere engulfs the entire logo.

Back in the Effect Controls window, under Camera Position, change the Y Rotation value back to 0, and from the View pop-up, change back to Rendered.
Set the end of your work area in the Timeline by placing the time marker at approximately 5 seconds and pushing the N key on your keyboard. Then build a RAM preview by pushing the zero key on the numeric side of your keyboard. You’ll see the logo stays static until 1 second when the sphere starts to come into contact with the logo.

To further refine the animation, expand the Physics group in the Effect Controls. This group of settings will adjust how the pieces behave once they have exploded away from the Force Sphere. I adjusted Rotation Speed to .3, Randomness to .25, Viscosity to .13 and Gravity to 1.4.

Experiment further by going back to the Shape group and increasing the Extrusion value to give the pieces added depth. As you increase the extrusion depth you increase the mass of the particles, which will also affect how the pieces behave when they are in motion. You’ll need to experiment with the Physics settings, Extrusion and Force Strength, previewing the results until you get an explosion you are happy with. Also try adjusting the distance between your Force Depth keyframes or adding keyframes to animate the Radius as well.

As a last step, to see how the Shatter Map is interpreted when there is no alpha channel, you can swap out the source for your layers. In the Timeline window, select both of your Alpha Logo layers by shift-clicking or choosing Edit -> Select All.

From the Project window, click on the Solid Logo comp and begin to drag it into the Timeline window. As you do so, push and hold the Option key (Mac) or Alt key (PC) on your keyboard.

Release the mouse and let go of the Option/Alt key. Your two layers will now be referencing the Solid Logo Comp as their source instead of the Alpha Logo Comp. Build a preview and you’ll see the difference. To lock the white background in place, check the box next to White Tiles Fixed, under Shape in the Effects Control window. Without the alpha channel, a knockout is left in the layer where the letters were.

Obviously this tutorial only begins to get into the amazing stuff you can create using this filter. To learn more pick up the Total Training for After Effects series (http://www.totaltraining.com). One of the videos in this series goes in-depth with the Shatter filter and is hosted by Atomic Power’s Brian Maffitt, who created the filter! For review of how to render and other After Effects basics, refer back to the previous articles in this series available at: http://www.editorsguild.com/aftereffects/.

Guild member Ben Bardens runs a graphics studio and works as an editor/technical director in the Burbank, California area. He teaches After Effects and Photoshop at Glendale Community College and can be reached at bbardens@glendale.edu. Find out more about his classes at www.glendale.edu/~bbardens.

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