Trails

In motion graphics, an object moving rapidly across the screen without motion blur looks unnatural and choppy. While Oraphim offers standard optical motion blur, stylized motion graphics often require exaggerated, graphical Trails.

Creating a Simple Graphic Trail

To create a streak or trail that follows behind a moving object (like a shooting star, a glowing bullet, or a fast-moving text logo), you use the Trails node.

1. Add your object (e.g., an sEllipse rasterized through an sRender).
2. Keyframe the object so it flies across the screen from left to right.
3. Select the object node and add a Trails node immediately after it.
4. Connect the output of the Trails node to a Merge node to view it over your background.

Configuring the Trail

Select the Trails node and open the Inspector.

• Length: Determines how many frames of history the node remembers. If you set this to 10, the trail will stretch back exactly 10 frames behind the moving object.
• Fade: Controls how quickly the tail of the trail fades to 0% opacity. For a shooting star effect, you want the head of the object to be solid, and the tail to slowly fade into nothingness.
• Merge Mode: Determines how the overlapping echoes of the object blend together. Setting this to "Screen" or "Add" works exceptionally well for bright, glowing objects.

Particle Trails (pSpawn)

If you are using the true 3D Particle system and want your particles to leave smoke trails behind them as they fly (like a firework rocket), you cannot use the standard 2D Trails node. You must use pSpawn.

1. Create a standard particle system (pEmitter -> pRender).
2. Insert a pSpawn node directly after the pEmitter.
3. In the Inspector for pSpawn, you define what the secondary particles look like. You are telling the system: "For every primary rocket particle that exists, spawn 50 secondary smoke particles behind it."

This allows you to create highly complex, cascading particle systems (e.g., a firework shoots up, spawns smoke trails, then dies, spawning 100 explosion particles).

Use Trails in a production project

1. Open Composition workspace and select the intended text, shape, layer, animation property, or procedural system.
2. Establish the correct input state first—timing, media link, layer/node enable state, project settings, or source selection as relevant.
3. Apply or adjust Trails with one clear goal. Change the smallest set of controls needed to reach that goal so the result remains understandable and reversible.
4. Review the complete affected range in context. Scrub difficult frames and also play at normal speed when motion or audio is involved.
5. Save a named milestone before moving into another major operation, especially after graph changes, tracking, AI processing, relinking, simulation, or delivery setup.

Practical guidance

Use trails only where it solves a defined creative or technical problem, and compare the result against the untreated state.

A useful test is a short 5–10 second section containing both an easy case and a difficult case for this feature. Tune against the difficult moment without breaking the easy one. If two approaches are plausible, duplicate/version the project state and compare them rather than stacking both together blindly.

Verify the result

• Preview the full animation and compare the rendered output with the interactive viewer.
• Toggle/bypass the operation where possible and make sure the change you intended is actually responsible for the result.
• Check selection, visibility/mute/solo state, node connections, track locks, range, and source identity when the result appears missing.
• Save and reopen before treating a complex setup as reusable.
• If this feature changes final pixels or audio, render a short review and inspect the file outside Oraphim.

Related guides

• Animation and Keyframes
• Dissolve
• Fire
• Motion Graphics Overview