One of the great things of having Trapcode Particular lying around is that you are able to quickly and easily create an animated trail with particles by simply adjusting the space between the particles. This is an easy way to create an animated line, ribbon, or glowing trail in After Effects without too much effort. However, what if you want that animated trail to have a distinctive shape as the leading edge such as an arrow head?

Dylan Winter takes a look at creating trails in After Effects using Trapcode Particular that have custom Ends or leaders, so an animated ribbon effect could have a distinctive shape as the leading edge, or an animated line can have a custom arrow head leading the animated edge. Dylan does this by having two instances of Trapcode Particular in his After Effects Timeline, one that takes care of the ribbon or line animation, and the other that will display the custom shape to the front of that trail – so simple!