ShockRing + shockwaves in After Effects

This roundup was updated and whittled down, ending up as Shockwaves in After Effects at PVC.

Note:
Video Copilot Shockwave is digital stock footage collection of advanced particle animations, simulated with real world physics.

BANG! The Anatomy of Explosions

The CGSociety was digging through its vault and goes back to 2005 for the basics with a study of the anatomy of the explosion in BANG! The Anatomy of Explosions by Kieron Helsdon.

For some snippets of info on explosions in After Effects, see Toward realistic explosions in After Effects.

The Breaking Bad website has a Q&A: Special F/X Coordinator Dennis Petersen on the importance of staging realistic explosions. There's also some decent info on explosions at Wikipedia, at How Stuff Works (underwater explosions), and maybe even on cable TV shows like Mythbusters that spend a lot time destroying things.

Here's a video of the physics of a blast wave; an article titled The Anatomy of an Explosion adds some comments:

We can end solar year 2010 on another bang:

Toward realistic explosions in After Effects + bang!

BlueCast Studios posted a tutorial on YouTube, Realistic Explosions (but really, pedestrians in San Francisco aren't that jaded).

This one is good for those just learning After Effects (you know who you are), who might follow Todd's sage advice: "the best place to start is at the beginning." If you're at the beginning, try these then some of these and maybe these; then see Andrew Kramer's explosion compositing demo and his explosion tutorials).

Advice is not too different for those wanting to learn faking fire, gun fire, muzzle flashes, and so forth; see Fire in After Effects, Realistic Muzzle Flare Tutorial and Muzzle flash tutorials in After Effects.

Note: There are a number of stock footage resources that have footage. Video Copilot has a stock/training DVD Action Essentials 2 (see the compositing demo), and Forging Fire posted about free stock footage from Detonation Films in Free Explosions - Fire - Missile - Decapitation Footage.

Steve Holmes has several tutorials on integrating fire and smoke into environments in his Artbeats videos. Todd Kopriva summarizes these in a kind of course outline in Steve Holmes Artbeats podcast.

Also, Mark Christiansen's book After Effects Studio Techniques explores best practices of common creative VFX tasks, including those involving light, environment matching, heat, and explosions. One of the chapters is free on the Peachpit Press website: Pyrotechnics: Creating Fire, Explosions, and Energy Phenomena in After Effects. See especially his advice on modes and luma mattes.

Update: The CGSociety was digging through its vault and goes back to 2005 for the basics with a study of the anatomy of the explosion by Kieron Helsdon; see BANG! The Anatomy of Explosions.

Update: see also Mind-Blowing Movie Explosions Explained from Reactions and
a Tuts+ course on the topic, Smoke, Fire and Explosions in Adobe After Effects with Christopher Kenworthy.

Underwater explosion scene with AE & 3D

In Depth Charge!, a new After Effects tutorial video which creates an underwater explosion scene with AE & 3D, Video Copilot aims to help you learn to solve problems and combine techniques to:

• Composite multiple explosions to create a underwater charge
• Build volumetric lighting AND shadows in AE
• Basic concept of a 3D animation pipeline for After Effects
• Combine multiple render passes in AE
• Add glows and camera shake
• Tips for adding realistic bubbles with the Foam plug-in

For some background info see Anatomy of an Underwater Explosion at How Stuff Works.