Fire and smoke on text in After Effects, without particles or stock fire

DISKO Inferno, one of the DISKO Motion disks: $7.99, or the box set for $59.99.

DISKO Inferno puts fire and smoke on text in After Effects and Premiere Pro, without particles. Point it at a layer and it emits procedural flames, smoke, sparks and heat distortion from that layer's alpha or brightness: from its top surfaces, from all its edges, or from the whole shape. No particle system to manage, and no pre-rendered stock fire to line up.

DISKO Inferno with two emitters: a title set alight, then the footage itself (Emitter Channel set to Brightness), so only the bright window burns.

The problem with setting a title on fire

Every action tape on the video-store shelf had flaming letters on the cover. Getting your own title there usually goes one of two ways. A particle system, which means emitters, settings and a simulation you wait on, then tweak, then wait on again. Or stock fire footage, laid over the letters with a blend mode and nudged until it almost sits on them, then nudged again when the title changes.

Both work. Both take a while. And in neither does the fire come from the letters themselves.

How Inferno puts fire and smoke on text

Inferno treats a layer as the fuel. Choose this layer or another one as the emitter, and whether it burns from its alpha or from its brightness. Then choose where the fire comes from: the top surfaces, all the edges, or the whole surface. The fire comes from the layer's own shape, so there's nothing to line up.

The flames have intensity, height, detail, turbulence, temperature and glow. Smoke and sparks have their own controls. Heat distortion bends whatever sits behind the fire, which is the detail that sells it. Flame edges are antialiased, and at 32 bits per channel the fire is HDR.

When you need it in pieces, Output gives you the composite, the fire only, the heat only, or the emitter matte, so you can comp it your own way.

The controls that matter

• Emitter Layer and Emitter Channel: which layer burns, and whether from its alpha or its brightness.
• Emission: top surfaces, all edges or the whole surface.
• Flames: intensity, height, detail, turbulence, temperature and glow.
• Smoke and Sparks: their own controls, apart from the flames.
• Output: the composite, fire only, heat only or the emitter matte.
• Amount, Animation Speed, Edge Smoothing, and the Heat and Animation group round out the panel.

Good for

• Burning titles and logo reveals
• Promo and trailer type that wants to be on fire
• Sparks and smoke coming off the edges of a shape
• Heat haze over a layer, using the heat on its own
• Fire elements to comp elsewhere, with fire only and the emitter matte

Requirements and price

DISKO Inferno runs in After Effects 2024 or later and Premiere Pro 2024 or later, on macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon and Intel) or Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.

Inferno is $7.99, once. It's also one of the disks in the DISKO Motion V1 box set, $59.99 for the whole set. There's no subscription, every 1.x update is free, and when V2 arrives it will be a paid upgrade you can skip, because V1 keeps working.

The trial is the whole effect, every control included. Renders carry a DISKO MOTION TRIAL watermark until you enter a license code in Effect Controls > Options (in After Effects, Window > DISKO Motion License.jsx works too). Codes work offline, on up to three computers you use.

Inferno is one disk on the DISKO Motion shelf. The overview has the rest, the box set, and why any of this comes on floppy disks.

No permits, no pyro crew, no singed eyebrows.