Hello all. A question for the animators.
I am looking to animate fireworks. At the moment, I am drawing the path of the fireworks and then dublicating that same line down the timeline and erasing portions of said line, so it looks as if it is growing as it goes through the timeline. I’m assuming there is a better way to do this.
Any suggestions on how you would do this would be appreciated.
Best,
Shannon
There’s this tutorial, it’s aimed more at pixel art.
I probably found it on Tumblr. Unfortunately I didn’t keep the link. I believe the author is this one.
Thank you. Unfortunately, I can’t find the original post.
i believe i may have found a youtube video the same artist made for this : Explosion animation tutorial - YouTube
and they also made a different firework one! Firework Animation Tutorial - Pixelart / Art / Digitalart - YouTube
It’s this tutorial. 
Maybe the author posted it on Tumblr or some user there posted it.
On Youtube there is an indication of this other video (the principle of animation seems similar) - 2D Smoke & Explosions in After Effects Tutorial:
Thank you everyone. So, I’m looking specifically for how to animated the tracer line or trail of smoke from where it was lit to where it explodes. At the moment I’m drawing the complete path and then copying and pasting that frame then deleting parts of the trail. Perhaps this is the way to do it…?
I do not know if I understand. you want to animate something like: A trail of gunpowder. Someone lights the gunpowder, it burns until it reaches the point where it will explode.
If so, the best way is for you to watch a video to see how this happens. I suppose the fire is leaving burnt marks on the ground as it follows the trail. In that case, just erasing parts of the track might not be ideal. Just watching a video to be sure.
Maybe you’ll find it in excerpts from old war movies…
No, it’s about the smoke and fire trail of a firework rocket or firework bomb being shot into the sky. If I understood it correctly.
Michelist
If so, it will be more difficult. Of fireworks, what else has are videos showing the explosions in the sky. I looked in gif animations that I have saved… and I only found this:
There are lots of videos of space rockets being launched. Perhaps this could be adapted to a smaller scale.
Thanks for researching. I cannot find anything on what’s the easiest way to animate such a thing. I create a key frame of the entire trail/line and then copy that frame, deleting consecutive portions of the original trail/line. It works, but it’s time consuming and when you have the line overlapping itself like a loop, it becomes pretty tedious to erase portions. Oh well.
Shannon
Try to make an animation (something quick, just sketches, no colors) and post it here. Then we will have a more precise idea of how to act.
In traditional animation, they did so-called “pencil tests”, exactly to study the movements and perfect them. In the Living Lines Library you have examples, although I don’t know if there is one specific to your case…
Here you go. Please excuse my rudimentary illustration skills. Please reference the yellow firecracker trail.
Since it’s not a straight line, you’ll probably have to animate it piece by piece. Only the repeating arcs (if they repeat?) could be reused with precise shifting and repositioning, I think.
My feeling says, most of it, if not all, you would have to do manually, most probably.
Michelist
The rocket (let’s call it that to understand better) would follow a curved trajectory, a single curve and not very sharp. Take a look at this page.
See also that in the gif I posted above, the rocket does not follow an absolutely straight path: at the end it makes a slight curve.
Keep in mind, this is an animation for fun, not a lifelike simulation, so this irregular trajectory fits very well, it’s just more complex to animate.
Michelist
Hi @Shannon_Strange I changed your title to something more descriptive than just the word “animation.”
Animators used to watch movements in real life and then style from there. At least that’s how I understood it.
Motion doesn’t have to be 100% realistic, but it should be convincing. I don’t think it’s convincing and it seems to be more complicated to do it that way.
But the work belongs to each one and it is the author who decides how he will execute it…
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