by Eake4 » Mon May 14, 2012 7:00 am
The black smoke I take it.
Since you have After Effects CS4
Steps
Crlt + Y -> ok (any colour is fine)
Add effect (Fractal Noise)
Change Fractal Noise contrast settings up a fair bit and brightness down just a touch
Add Effect (Curves)
Pull Down the middle of the first line to form a curve Should look like a Tilted "U"
Grab Pen tool (Draw a rough sketch of how you want your smoke to look like INCLUDE A LOT OF ANCHOR POINTS
Now keyframe the position of the mask and transform your Smoke however you want
click the layer and hit "T"
Turn opactity down to aroun 70%
Change transfer mode of the layer to screen (if that takes away the white bits then you win)
If that doesnt do the trick then use Keylight effect and take away the white (should be grayish white now)
There might be something I miscalculated since this was done solely in my head. If there is an error tell me and ill try to help you fix it