Ink trail

Ink trail leaves copies of a moving object behind it that turn to ink in water. Each copy swells and swirls like ink let go in still water, then tears into ridged filaments as it thins out, shading from the ink colour to the paler bleed colour. The object itself stays solid. It shows wherever the object moves, from an effect such as Drift up, an animation clip, an ongoing motion or a drag in the studio, and leaves nothing while the object stands still.

How it works

A copy is laid each time the object has travelled a set distance, and each one plays out its bloom in place over a few seconds, so a slow, graceful move leaves a soft line of ink shapes. 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 each ink copy lasts. - Amount: how often a copy is left. - Size: how far the ink swells out. - Strength: how dense the ink looks. - Ink colour and Bleed colour: deep blue thinning to pale blue by default. - Fade: how long the trail takes to switch on and off.

Use it for

Calligraphy, fashion and editorial scenes, calm product moves, underwater moods. To bleed the whole object into ink, use Ink bloom; for a water setting, see the Ocean material.