Bubble trail

Bubble trail makes a moving object leave soap bubbles behind it. Bubbles form all over copies of the object's surface where it has just been, let go one by one, rise with a little lift, wobble, and pop: each swells a touch and is gone in a blink. The object itself is untouched. It works wherever the object moves, from an effect such as Pop, an animation clip, an ongoing motion or a drag in the studio, and leaves nothing while it stands still.

How it works

Each bubble is a crisp sphere with a clean edge, a bright rim and a small window highlight. A thin soap-film sheen slides between the two colours as the viewing angle changes and drifts slowly, like a real bubble. The bubbles are sized in the scene, so the ones further away look smaller. Kept on an object, the trail switches on before the entrance and keeps going through the exit, and it combines with every other trail.

Settings

- Length: how long the bubbles last before they pop. - Amount: how often a new set of bubbles forms. - Size: how big the bubbles are. - Strength: how strong they look. - Bubble colour and Sheen colour: pale blue with a pink film by default. - Fade: how long the trail takes to switch on and off.

Use it for

Kids and playful brands, soap, bath and skincare products, underwater scenes. The Bubbles cursor and the Bubbles effect carry the same idea across the page.