Oliver Randorff shows how to make all the details for a firework rocket animation, including smoke, fire, and an explosion.

Vector and shape animation in Adobe After Effects allows you to create a wide range of animation with keyframes and shape layer tools easily. Some of it can seem like a lot of work; it is pretty straightforward when you break it down.

A new tutorial from Oliver Randorff shows how you can animate a firework rocket complete with stylized smoke, fire, and a snappy explosion using only Ae native tools. While most of the tutorial uses shape layers and vectors, things like smoke use Mr. Mercury to build out the effect.