Create a Rainy Scene Animation Using Default After Effects Plugins

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

Preview

Step 1

Create a new composition by clicking Menu > Composition > New Composition. Name it Rainy Day, change the resolution to 1920 x 1080, and set the duration to 10 seconds.

Step 2

Use Texture1 and Texture2, so you have to download them. Use the clouds_02.mov file from the Free Stock-Pack Appreciation Day pack and Free Rain Sounds by VideoCopilot.

Step 3

Import all of the downloaded assets into After Effects. Use texture2 first, and put it in the Rainy Day Composition and name it Ground.

Put Texture1 in the Rainy Day composition — Import Texture

Step 4

Drag and drop the second texture1 as well.

Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and change it to a 3D layer. To do that, click on the Toggle Switches/Modes button.

Select the layer and press R on the keyboard to reveal the Rotation Properties. Change the X Orientation to 302. Name this layer Water Texture.

Turn layer to 3D and change the blending mode — Import Texture

Step 5

Drag and drop the clouds_02.mov file into the Rainy Day Composition.

Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and change the Opacity to 50%.

With the clouds_02.mov layer selected, use the Pen Tool to create a rough mask around the water patch.

Change the blending mode lower the opacity and create a mask — Create a mask

Step 6

With the Cloud_02. mov selected, go to Effect > Color Correction > Tint and apply it.

Change the Amount to Tint value to 50%.

Press the M key twice on the keyboard to reveal the mask options, and change the Mask Feather to 25%. Go to Effect > Stylize > Roughen Edges and apply it. Use a simple expression on the Evolution. To do that, Alt-Secondary-Click on the Stopwatch and type in: Time*150.

Add Tint and Roughen Edges — Effect > Stylize > Roughen Edges

Step 7

Create a new solid by clicking Layer > New > Solid, and name it Rain.

Step 8

Go to Effect > Simulation > CC Particle World and apply it.

Under the Producer tab, change the Position X, Y, and Z.

Apply CC Particle World — Effect > Simulation > CC Particle World

Step 9

Change the Physics settings.

Step 10

Modify the Particle Settings. Change the Particle Type to line and the Birth and Death Color to #FFFFFF.

Step 11

Go to Effect > Time > CC Force Motion Blur and apply it.

Change the Motion Blur Samples to 20 and the Shutter Angle to 300.

Add CC Force Motion Blur — Effect > Time > CC Force Motion Blur

Step 12

Go to Effect > Blur & Sharpen > Gaussian Blur and apply it.

Change the Blurriness to 5 and turn on Repeat Edge Pixels.

Add Gaussian blur — Effect > Blur & Sharpen > Gaussian Blur

Step 13

The rain is barely visible. Apply the curves effect and bump up the Alpha. Go to Effect > Color Correction > Curves and apply it.

Change the Channel to Alpha and move the dark grey line to the upper left corner.

Add the curves effect — Effect > Color Correction > Curves

Step 14

Duplicate the Rain layer a few times and offset them so the animation won't look exactly the same.

Step 15

Select the Ground and Water layers and go to Effect > Color Correction > Curves and apply it. They are too bright, so make them a bit darker.

Step 16

Select the Water Texture layer and go to Effect > Simulation > CC Drizzle and apply it.

Drizzle will create the water drop effect. Switch the Light Type to Point Light.

Add cc drizzle effect — Effect > Simulation > CC Drizzle

Step 17

Create a new composition by clicking Menu > Composition > New Composition.

Name it Text, change the resolution to 1920 x 1080, and set the duration to 10 seconds.

Step 18

Create a new solid by clicking Layer > New > Solid and name it Line.

Change the Height to 20 px and change the color to #FFFFFF.

Create a new layer — Layer > New > Solid

Step 19

Select the Line layer and go to Effect > Transition > Linear Wipe and apply it.

On the Time Line, go to the first frame of the animation. Change the Wipe Angle to -90 and the Feather to 5.

After that, click on the Stopwatch next to the Transition Completion and move forward 5 seconds on the Time Line and change the Transition Completion value to 0%.

Add the linear wipe effect — Effect > Transition > Linear Wipe

Step 20

Select the Horizontal Type Tool and type in: Rainy Day. I used the Font called Typograph Pro. You can use any font—it's up to you.

Step 21

Select the text layer and go to Layer > Auto Trace and apply it. It's going to create masks around the text, and then After Effects can use these masks with the Stroke Plugin to create a nice reveal effect.

Auto trace creates a new layer. Select the layer and press the M key twice on the keyboard to reveal the masks.

Select every mask and then press Control-C on the keyboard to copy them.

Step 22

Create a new solid by clicking Layer > New > Solid and name it Stroke.

Step 23

Select the Stroke layer and then Go to Effect > Generate > Stroke and apply it.

Press Control-V or go to Edit > Paste to paste the masks.

Click on the All Masks checkbox and go to the first frame of the animation, and then click on the stopwatch next to the End property and change the value to 0%.

Move forward 5 seconds and change it to 100%, and switch the Paint Style to On Transparent.

Add the stroke effect — Effect > Generate > Stroke

Step 24

Select the Rainy Day Text layer, go to Effect > Transition > Linear Wipe, and apply it.

Go to the first frame of the animation. Change the Wipe Angle to -90 and the Feather to 5 pixels.

After that, click on the stopwatch next to the Transition Completion, move forward 5 seconds on the timeline, and change the Transition Completion to 0%.

Step 25

Go back to the Rainy Day Composition and drag and drop the Text Composition.

Put it on the top and change the Blending mode to Overlay.

Put the text comp in the rainy day composition — Layer order

Step 26

Go to Layer > New > Adjustment layer and apply it. Name it Lightning.

Create a new adjustment layer — Layer > New > Adjustment layer

Step 27

Go to Effect > Color Correction > Exposure and apply it. Animate the Exposure.

Go to the first frame and click on the stopwatch. Move forward a few frames and then change the Exposure to 3,00.

Move forward a few frames and change the Exposure to 0. Repeat this process a couple of times to get a nice lightning animation.

add the exposure plugin — Effect > Color Correction > Exposure

Step 28

Go to Layer > New > Adjustment layer and apply it. Name it CC.

Step 29

Move the Lightning adjustment layer to the top and put the CC Adjustment Layer under it. It needs a little color correction.

Use the Mega Cinematic Color Presets Pack with the CCP_Green Goblin preset on the CC Adjustment Layer.

It needs some adjustments, so increase the Blue Gamma to 2,00 under the Color Properties and the Tint amount to 87%

Add color grading preset CCP_Green Goblin — Add color grading preset

Conclusion

There are many powerful default plugins in After Effects. In this tutorial, I showed you how to create a rain effect with CC Particle World.

I also described how to create organic edges with Roughen Edges and how to create water drops with CC Drizzle. I showed you how to use Auto Trace and the Linear Wipe plugin to create a stylish text animation.