Are there any plugins built in to AE CS3 to do something like this? Think of Photoshop when you apply certain filters it applies it only to whats on a layer, so if a ball is on the layer you can make the ball melt, or drip blood or whatever without affecting the rest of the image. Mainly I know how to do the idea, just not sure how to make misty smoke in AE

any shot you have the Trapcode Particular plug in?

i don`t have any but what came with it. :\

Follow a few of the videocopilot.net tutorials and check also the ones on lynda.com. A lot can be done with fractal noise and masks. fractal noise can generate all kind of pseudo-smoke patterns that can be animated. If you used it in conjunction with a mask to isolate the elements in the frame that you need to affect, it can be very effective.

Toolfarm.com has a special that's like 50% off their red giant software(creators of Trapcode). I just got an e-mail from them, actually. If you're thinking you may get Particular (which I HIGHLY recommend), I'd get it while it's on sale. Half off is nice, and I wish I'd had that offer.

Particular can make this effect real simple.

Otherwise, stay with the fractal noise, motion track it, and keyframe it out

Lets say I have a photoshop layer of a solid star. Can Particular use just that star and "explode" it into smoke? Not using an emitter or anything, just use what is in the layer to make it vanish into smoke? Keeping the shape is important. Thanks

Best way to describe what I mean is if you know shatter. You can use a custom image to shatter, rather than a whole layer. I want it to 'shatter ' from its shape...just into smoke

I think I understand what you're asking, and YES it is an emitter. It leaves the layer intact.

Yea like this video I made with shatter back in 2006

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MDkPWZoVFso

The both die using the same technique I want, only to turn to smoke instead

Why not just use a feathered mask that quickly disappears from the emitted smoke? Use the smoke as an overlay?

Well I need to find a good tutorial for the fractal noise smoke first and try some things, lynda.com is a pay site and I`m broke. So I need to find a free tutorial on it. Also the Particular sale was one day only :(