Special Effects software

[sillyanimate]

Hi I use Anime Studio Pro 11 on my computer....
I want to make like a magical girl Anime or cartoon...

Any good software for special effects?
I am kinda on a budget
And I like something easy to use and HD export

[synthsin75]

Particle layers in AS.

[slowtiger]

Particle layers, glow effects, masks with lots of blur, animated colour changes, animated masks, layer blend modes. It's all there.

[hayasidist]

I'll add frame-by-frame to that list for "pop" / "wham" / "fizz" / "transform" / ... splashes.

If you can say or sketch out the concept of what you want in more detail I'm sure there'll be loads of help

[slowtiger]

Your main problem with research is to know the right term for a certain effect. Was it glow? fog? beam? or what?

Usually first I search for a good example image from a show/ film I can name. The I google "what's the name of that effect in (film title) at (time code)" Some otaku out there surely has asked this before. With the correct name, I google "how to do (effect name)". In most cases I will get Photoshop tutorials, or AfterEffect. Study these. You will find tools which are just the same in AS, only have different names. The basic concepts of masking, blur, blend mode, layer order are the same in all programs.

[dueyftw]

Flame Painter.

Dale

[neeters_guy]

Flame Painter 3 doesn't export animation, but a companion product just released called Amberlight 2 does.

Another particle effects software is Timeline FX.

[ruscular3d]

Special effect on the cheap I would recommend Dogwaffle's software called "howler 9.6"

[sillyanimate]

Sadly, I don't want to pay monthly or yearly payments for after effects.

[herbert123]

I guess will use after effects....
to YouTube I go

So you've taken out a subscription, right?

[Psmith]

OpenToonz also has an extensive set of FX built into the software. Probably more effects than most people will ever need. Also, OpenToonz has particles which can be used in conjunction with these effects.

Here is a tutorial showing how to use shading and glow effects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcZ2pnC ... Ob&index=3


Greg Smith

[Greenlaw]

HitFilm Express is free. It's a subset of the full program but maybe it can help you with what you want to do. I'm not exactly sure what's missing from the free version but it might be worth a look. I mainly use the plugin version of HitFilm's tools for AE and they have some really unique and useful fx tools.

By 'Magical Girl, I'm guessing you mean like Sailor Moon or Puella Magi Madoka Magica? If so, I think this might do the trick.