Particle Illusion Pro

Fast and Easy 3D Particle
Application

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Particle Illusion Pro

New Background Layer Import

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Particle Illusion Pro

Plugin vs Standalone

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Particle Illusion Pro

Essentials Training

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Free Trial Buy Now
Free Trial Buy Now

Instant Particle Magic

Particle Illusion Pro is a powerful particle generator that gives users instant access to 3D particles. Quickly create photorealistic particle effects to use for motion graphics, visual effects, titles, and lower thirds. Available as a fully functional standalone application and as a plugin part of the Continuum suite of effects.
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Bring your animations to life with Particle Illusion

Fluid Dynamics

Fluid Dynamics allows you to transform any existing emitter into a complex animation that flows and swirls, just like in the real world, or to create your own custom animation. It includes more than 20 new presets designed by professionals.

Work in 3D

Work with emitters, forces, and deflectors in 3D, using the integrated camera to navigate through generated particle fields. Utilize position, pan, and orbit camera modes for navigation. Includes depth of field and motion blur features.

Forces and Deflectors

Force objects enable the addition of force fields to create complex, realistic particle movements, ranging from chaotic swirls to controlled flows, and even fluid dynamics. Deflector objects simplify the simulation of particles interacting with logos or other graphics, enabling them to bounce or interact seamlessly.

Lines and Turbulence

Connect your particles together with lines! Join particles to parent emitters, their birth positions, or even to other particles to create fresh, new geometric mograph looks. Turbulence varies the position and size of particles through auto-evolving, organic noise fields. Think of subtle wave-like motion, wild particle scatters, or anything in between.

Easy Preset-Driven Workflow

Particle Illusion comes with thousands of preset emitters (via a separate, free installer). An integrated search makes it easy to zero in on the effect you’re looking for, and the live preview lets you click and drag to see how it will move. Use as-is or adjust the position, shape, life, number, size, etc., by scrubbing values in the control panel. You can also create new presets by saving any adjusted emitter back into your custom emitter library.

Node-based Navigation

Particle Illusion lets you create extremely complex effects, but the Node View makes it easier than ever to work with and customize them. Simply select an emitter or particle node to see the corresponding parameters displayed in the Controls View.

Particle Illusion Showcase

System requirements

Mac OS
OS Requirements
  • Catalina 10.15 or higher
Processor (CPU)
  • Intel, AMD, or Apple M1/M2/M3
System Memory (RAM)
  • 8 GB minimum, 16+ GB preferred
Graphics Processor (GPU)
  • Most modern graphics cards from AMD, NVIDIA and Intel are supported.
Windows
OS Requirements
  • Windows 10 & 11
Processor (CPU)
  • Intel or AMD CPU with four or more cores
System Memory (RAM)
  • 8 GB minimum, 16+ GB preferred
Graphics Processor (GPU)
  • Most modern graphics cards from AMD, NVIDIA and Intel are supported.

What's New

  • Position Path Presets

    Add motion to your emitters with ease with a selection of editable position path presets.

  • Enhanced Position Data Workflow

    Transform an emitter’s entire position path in space and time with several new tools.

  • Parameter Search

    Cut the parameter list down to size with a new search function.

  • Particle Blending Modes

    Particles can now use a variety of blending modes including Screen, Multiply, Overlay, Soft Light, Difference, and more.

  • Improved Quality

    Smoother results with Inherited Velocity, boosted Opacity values for brighter particles, and prettier 3D lines.

  • Other Usability Enhancements

    Resultant gradients, a “Replace Emitter” function, position and angle data in the graph view – all make using Particle Illusion easier than ever.
New

Position Path Presets

Add motion to your emitters with ease, choosing from a variety of useful, editable position paths. These can also be applied to any other position parameter, including the camera.
New

Enhanced Position Data Workflow

Several new features allow you to retime the emitter’s motion, easily rotate, scale, and translate the path, even equalize the timing for more consistent speed as it moves.
New

Parameter Search

No need to visually hunt for that one parameter in a long list – parameter search will show only the ones you’re looking for, or can highlight them in place instead.
New

Particle Blending Modes

Previous versions of Particle Illusion let you only choose between regular and “intense” particles (additive). Now you can choose from a variety of blending modes including Screen, Multiply, Overlay, Soft Light, Difference, and more.
New

Improved Quality

Inherited velocity gives smoother results, Sprites that use “keep aligned to motion” work in all cases including fluids, and 3D lines which we added in 2024 are higher quality. You can also boost opacity values, cranking up the brightness of sparks and other hot particles.
New

Other Usability Enhancements

Resultant gradients show exactly how the color and alpha gradients will combine for your particles, “Replace Emitter” function makes swapping emitters into your project a breeze, position and angle data is now shown in the graph view, and many more – all make using Particle Illusion easier than ever.

Which should I choose?

Particle Illusion Pro offers total flexibility to fit seamlessly into your workflow, whether you prefer working within a standalone application or integrating it as a plugin with Continuum. Particle Illusion Pro ensures that your projects benefit from its full range of features in the environment that suits you best.
Standalone Key Benefits Plugin Key Benefits

No Host Application Required

Eliminate the extra costs and complexity of working inside an external application.

Background Video Layer Import

Experience swift and smooth import and export processes, optimized for time-saving and efficiency.

Rapid Rendering

Instantly bring your ideas to the screen with quick rendering times, even for the most complex particle effects.
Plugin Key Benefits

Mocha Motion Tracking

The integration of Mocha’s Academy Award-winning planar tracking and masking tools inside the Particle Illusion plugin means no keyframing! Both the particle emitter position and the position of the world (camera) can be driven independently or together using Mocha’s tracking data. Let Mocha do the work to lock your particle effects into your shot.

After Effects Integration

Use After Effects paths and text as animation paths for emitters or emission sources, link emitters to 3D layers and lights, or use the AE camera inside Particle Illusion.

Beat Reactor

Drive particle properties from audio using the integrated Beat Reactor. Set up frequency ranges and configure them to modify any of the host-level particle parameters: velocity, number of particles, size, etc., resulting in particle effects perfectly in-sync with the music!

Advanced Compositing Tools

Utilize features like integrated color correction, glow, and blending modes to enhance the integration of your particles.

Compare Standalone vs Plugin

Standalone Application
Plugin inside Continuum
Work in 3D
Fluid Dynamics
Forces and Deflectors
Lines and Turbulence
Easy Preset-Driven Workflow
Node-based Navigation
Export w/Alpha
Import data from Mocha / SynthEyes*
Render on Source Video*
Track with Integrated Mocha
Animate with Beat Reactor
AE Camera Integration
Host Particle Parameters
Intergrated Glow
Advanced Compositing Options
*Disabled in Trial Mode

Mograph experts John Dickinson and Ben Brownlee team up to deliver a comprehensive training series. Go from beginner to pro in no time with 27 bite-sized tutorials.

  • How to install the product & get started quickly
  • Get to know the interface and parameter controls
  • How to use presets and emitters
  • Intro to 3D particle features
  • Intro to Turbulence and Lines options
  • Intro to Fluid Dynamics
  • And tons more!
Get Started

Tutorials

Need Help? We've Got You!

Particle Illusion Forum

A place for Particle Illusion users to discuss tips, tricks, product feature requests, and best practices.

Forum

Particle Illusion Help Center

Search technical questions or open a ticket with our knowledgable support team.

Support

Frequently asked questions

What is Particle Illusion?
Particle Illusion is a powerful particle generator that gives users instant access to 3D particles with a huge preset library, hardware acceleration through OpenGL, and advanced features like Fluid Dynamics, Forces, Deflectors, 3D Model Support, node-based navigation, integrated 3D camera with motion blur and depth of field, and more.
Can I use the free version of Particle Illusion Pro for commercial work?
If you plan to use Particle Illusion Pro, please purchase either a monthly or annual subscription. The unlicensed version (free) of Particle Illusion Pro is intended for non-commercial / personal use only.
Can I buy a perpetual license for Particle Illusion Pro?
No, Particle Illusion Pro is available as a subscription only. You can purchase a perpetual license for Continuum which includes Particle Illusion Pro, as well as the plugin version of Continuum. See Continuum pricing here.
Why do I only see 3 emitter libraries instead of dozens?
Only 3 emitter libraries are installed with Particle Illusion’s main installer: the “Sampler” library, the “Custom” library (which can be added to and edited), and the latest library from the current release – for instance “Emitters_2024.0”. All of the other libraries are in a separate installer which can be downloaded using the Help menu – Download Emitters… option. Note that after installing the Additional Emitter Libraries, Particle Illusion must be restarted.
How can I create a “blank” emitter, to start from scratch?
Particle Illusion does not have a concept of a “blank” or “empty” emitter – it must start with a preset. There are a few basic emitter presets that are as close to a “blank” emitter as possible. To find them, do an emitter library search for “Basic” and look at the “Emitters_2021.0” or “Custom” libraries for “Basic Emitter” and its variations.
How do you delete position keyframes?
Cmd+click (Mac) or Ctrl+click (Windows) on a position path key in the Stage window to delete it. Note that this may not work if the emitter is on top of the key you are trying to delete.
Why do I get an “internal data stream error” when trying to render?
This may be because the output size (resolution) is either too large, or is a “weird” value. Try setting the output resolution to 1920x1080 as a first step. If that works, try gradually larger sizes until it fails.  You could also make sure that the width and height are both evenly divisible by 16.
How can I reset the preferences to default settings?
The easiest way, even if Particle Illusion will not open, is to launch PI while holding down the SHIFT key. (Either hold SHIFT while launching, or press and hold SHIFT immediately after launching.)
If done correctly, a message will appear saying that Preferences have been reset. (If you don’t see that message, then the Preferences have NOT been reset and you should try again.)
Can’t see your question listed above? Visit our Help Center

Get started with
a Particle Illusion Pro trial now

Need some hands on time with Particle Illusion before purchasing? No problem.
Simply download the Boris FX Hub and install Particle Illusion Pro without entering a license.
You’re immediately ready to begin creating with the Particle Illusion Pro trial which is a standalone application that never expires.

Core Features Enabled

In trial mode, you will have full access to many of the most powerful features of Particle Illusion Pro, from creating stunning visual effects to exploring our extensive library of presets. The trial mode doesn’t hold back on giving you the full experience of what Particle Illusion Pro has to offer.

Background Import Disabled

A limitation during the trial is the inability to import background layers. Don’t worry, you can still create amazing effects and get a solid understanding of the Particle Illusion Pro’s capabilities, even without this feature.

Personal Use Only

Please note that the trial mode is intended for non-commercial or personal use only. It’s a great way to learn and explore Particle Illusion Pro’s potential before committing to a purchase.
Free Trial Buy Now