After Effects Tutorial - Shooting Stars, Comets, & Meteor Showers (Exploding Rocket Debris)

This After Effects tutorial shows you how to create a meteor shower or rocket debris effect, inspired by the SpaceX Starship explosion in January 2025. We’ll start by making a simple shooting star, then modify it into a comet or asteroid, and finally create a shower of meteors burning up in the atmosphere—no plugins needed! This tutorial moves fast — be ready to learn a lot about Adobe After Effects and the CC Particle World effect, and when you're done, you'll have an awesome animation! To download AfterGlow and Creation Lens Flares, go to https://www.creationeffects.com and head to the "Freebies" page. These two 100% free tools are optional but will enhance the tutorial animation and elevate your future projects. AfterGlow (free download) – An installable preset for a larger, more intense glow in After Effects Creation Lens Flares (free download) – An AE template with 50 customizable lens flares Sky image link (free download) – https://pixabay.com/photos/sunset-sky-sun-light-clouds-7446150/ Tree image link (free download) – https://pixabay.com/zh/photos/tree-poland-summer-evening-sunset-5330308/ Make space animations with Space Effects: https://www.creationeffects.com/space-effects Make 3D landscapes with Landscaper: https://www.creationeffects.com/landscaper Make custom bird animations with Flocks: https://www.creationeffects.com/flocks EXPRESSIONS: Put the following three expressions in the Producer section of the CC Particle World effect. Make sure a Layer Control is on the layer named "Follow Layer", and set it to the Null layer you want to follow. Position X: x = effect("Follow Layer")("Layer").transform.position[0]/thisLayer.width; value - (thisLayer.width/2)/thisLayer.width + x; Position Y: x = effect("Follow Layer")("Layer").transform.position[1]/thisLayer.width; value - (thisLayer.height/2)/thisLayer.width + x; Position Z: x = effect("Follow Layer")("Layer").transform.position[2]/thisLayer.width; value - (thisLayer.width/2)/thisLayer.width + x + 0.5; To make your lens flare follow your comet or meteor, put the following expression on the "Lens Flare Position" property, inside the "Global Controls", on your lens flare layer: L=thisComp.layer("Comet Position"); L.toComp([0,0,0]); Additional Links: Mixed Media Effect - https://www.creationeffects.com/mixed-media-effect Swarms - https://www.creationeffects.com/swarms Schools - https://www.creationeffects.com/schools Wisp - https://www.creationeffects.com/wisp Creation Trippy Effects - https://creationeffects.com/creation-trippy-effects Infinite Horizon - https://www.creationeffects.com/infinite-horizon 0:00 Intro 1:19 Create a shooting star 3:01 Make it follow a Null layer 4:56 CC Particle World properties 7:26 Create a comet 13:47 Add a glow 16:02 Add a lens flare 19:15 Other FX made in AE 21:05 Create a meteor shower 29:47 Additional VFX templates