Procedural Fire in After Effects - NO PLUGINS!

Detailed raging fire effects in After Effects with no plugins!

2024 Update! I moved Texturelabs off of Patreon - you can now pick up the turbocharged template version of this project here:
https://texturelabs.org/tools/inferno...

Fonts used in this tutorial:
https://www.dafont.com/eagle.font
https://www.dafont.com/arb-66-neon-ju...
https://www.dafont.com/untouchables.font
https://www.dafont.com/badaboom-bb.font

Check out the Texturelabs Channel for more content:
   / texturelabs  

Connect:
Insta @texturelabs
https://texturelabs.org/


PROJECT SETUP
1920x1080, 24fps, 6 Seconds

PROJECT MAP
Layers and effects are arranged as they appear in the project. I recommend building the project starting at the bottom and building to the top.

"FIRE" (Main Comp):

IF "SOURCE" LAYER IS A TEXT LAYER
1) "SOURCE DISPLACE" (Black Solid)
Calculations Effect -
Second Layer: "SOURCE" / Effects & Masks,
Second Layer Opacity: 100,
Blending Mode: Copy
Gaussian Blur Effect -
Blurriness: 20
Fractal Noise Effect -
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 0
Levels Effect -
Output White: 127

IF "SOURCE" LAYER IS NOT A TEXT LAYER
1) "SOURCE DISPLACE": Duplicate of LAYER 6 (your SOURCE) with Displacement Map and Compound Blur Effects
Gaussian Blur Effect -
Blurriness: 20
Fractal Noise Effect -
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 0
Levels Effect -
Output White: 127

2) "COLORIZE" (Adjustment Layer)
Levels Effect -
Gamma: .8
Colorama Effect -
Output Cycle: Fire Preset,
Blend With Original: 30%
Glow Effect -
Glow Radius: 300,
Glow Intensity: 2,
Glow colors: A&B Colors,
Color A: FF6500, Color B: A91200
Unsharp Mask Effect -
Amount: 100

3) "OVERLAY" (Black Solid) Overlay Blending Mode
Gradient Ramp Effect -
Start and End Points adjusted to match subject
Fractal Noise Effect -
Fractal Type: Dynamic,
Invert: On,
Contrast: 150,
Scale: 200,
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 -1250,
Blending Mode: Multiply
Fractal Noise Effect -
Contrast: 50,
Brightness: -48,
Scale: 9,
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 -540,
Evolution: KEYFRAME 0 to 5.00,
Blending Mode: Add
Turbulent Displace Effect -
Size: 30,
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 -50

4) "FRACTAL FLAMES" (Instance of Precomp) Overlay Blending Mode
Displacement Map Effect -
Displacement Map Layer: "SOURCE DISPLACE" / Effects and Masks,
Max Horiz: 100,
Max Vert: 100

5) "INVERSION" (Adjustment Layer) Exclusion Blending Mode
Gaussian Blur Effect -
Blurriness: 50
CC Vector Blur Effect -
Type: Direction Fading,
Amount: 140,
Angle Offset: 180,
Vector Map: "BACKGROUND"
Displacement Map Effect -
Displacement Map Layer: "FRACTAL FLAMES",
Max Horiz: 15,
Max Vert: 75
Solid Composite Effect -
Color: Black
Fractal Noise Effect -
Contrast: 75,
Brightness: 40,
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 100,
Blending Mode: Color Burn
Turbulent Displace Effect -
Displacement: Twist Smoother,
Amount: 20,
Offset Turbulence: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 -250,
Complexity: 7
Turbulent Displace Effect -
Amount: 20,
Evolution: KEYFRAME from 0 to 2.00
Offset Effect -
Shift Center To: 960 560

6) "SOURCE" (Text layer or any white shape with transparent background)
Displacement Map Effect -
Displacement Map Layer: "FRACTAL FLAMES",
Max Horiz: 6,
Max Vert: 6
Compound Blur Effect -
Blur Layer: "FRACTAL FLAMES",
Max Blur: 4

7) "BACKGROUND" (Black Solid)





"FRACTAL FLAMES" (Precomp)

1) "Fractal Flames" (Black Solid)
Fractal Noise Effect -
Fractal Type: Dynamic,
Invert: On,
Sub Scaling: 60,
Sub Offset: KEYFRAME from 960 540 to 960 -570,
Evolution: KEYFRAME from 0 to 3.00