Flocks
Flocks lets users easily create realistic, 3D flocks of birds in Adobe After Effects. Animate birds individually, or combine them in unlimited numbers to form a 3D flock that automatically moves with realistic flocking behavior - you just tell them where to fly!
Choose from 12 species with pre-set flight behavior. The flight behavior and appearance of the flock is completely customizable using convenient controls. Whether your footage needs a single vulture in the background, or a murmuration with thousands of starlings - Flocks is the tool to get it done. Even After Effects novices can create high-quality, 3D bird animations for their videos!
- Compatible with Adobe After Effects CS5 and all newer versions. Works on both Mac or PC. No plugins required. Last update: Jan 28, 2021.
- CS5 and CS6 version is for English users only. This template has been “universalized” to work in After Effects running in other languages, but only for CC 2019 and up. If you are using CS5 or CS6 and running AE in a different language, you may get errors.
- The project file for the demo video is included, but it is only compatible with CC 2019 and up.
- The birds in this template are composed of multiple 2D images arranged in three dimensions, which gives them the appearance of having mass, but they are not true 3D models.
- All birds have a wing span of 1600 pixels at 100% scale.
- This effect is not ideal for creating birds that are landing or taking off, since it can not create birds that are standing (with folded wings).
- All comps are HD, 1920x1080. You can change the comp size to 4K or any other resolution and the effect will work the same.
- Detailed instructions are found throughout the template, as well as in the video tutorial.
- Follow the suggestions on the Render Tips Page to optimize the speed of this template.
- Music and background footage in demo video not included.
The Flocks template is not a plugin, so there is nothing to install. Rather, it's an After Effects project file, commonly known as a "template" because most of the work is already done and the user needs only to make their own customizations. This template is compatible with version CS5 as well as all later versions of After Effects. (See compatibility warning above for CS5 and CS6 users).
The animations you create with this product are yours and can be used for commercial purposes, but the sharing or online posting of project files with or for anyone other than a client is prohibited. See the Terms and Conditions for more details. All bird images in this template have been released to the public domain (Creative Commons CC0 license). All images were taken from pxhere.com, pixabay.com, publicdomainpictures.net, or Wikimedia Commons.
Positive and/or negative feedback is appreciated. Use the contact page to send me a message.