Anime rain using vector art and a position.wiggle expression in Aftereffects

First, create a road using a vector app. of choice, I use CorelDraw.

Next, vector out some numbers... Export the file as an .EPS or raster it at the size that will work for your project. Bring into AE, add the numbers on top of your road, keyframe motion and check the motion blur box.

I used a more realistic road photo on top of those two layers, keyframed motion along with checking motion blur and used a blend mode. I think I used either multiply or overlay... Experiment to see what looks good.

Now for the rain! Vector out some circles, export as .EPS or raster with transparent background and lay on top of the road layers. Apply a position.wiggle expression to the position value of this layer with semi-eradic values like (33,24,40). Do not check the motion blur for this layer. The expression should read position.wiggle(33,24,40)

You should have something that looks like this...

In Aftereffects, rotate the road in Z space 90 degrees, lay whatever you like on it, light it up and it could look something like this.





There is no need to motion blur the vector circles (but it would probably look nice if they did have blur). The trick is to create an illusion (as easily as possible) that the drops are hitting the road and not moving as one solid graphic. Later!

Keywords: making anime style rain in aftereffects using vector shapes and position.wiggle expression