ParticleIllusion

screenshot of ParticleiIlusion interface

includes (A) composition window (B) particle sample viewer

(C) emitter properties window (D) animation timeline

(E) emitter library

Most NLE editing systems worth their salt will include some sort of particle emission system to add splash, sparkle and shine effects to video productions. The degree of versatility depends on the software but quite often you are left facing a somewhat steep learning curve. If what you want is something that will add these effects with a more user-friendly, drag and drop approach then I suggest you look at ParticleIlusion by Wondertouch.

You may face limitations with playback if you plan to use an animated background for reference in the composition window, but so far, most small clips I have attempted (10-15 sec. range for titling) works great for creating sparkle trails with an alpha channel to drop in as targa sequences. It comes with a great selection of flares, sparkles, star trails, jet streams, fire, smoke.....more than you will probably ever need. What I really appreciate is the quickness of this application as you set an emitter point, move the timeline, set a new location, intensity, etc. and it automatically sets an editable keypoint for you. Their website shows tutorial videos for emitter basics, editing and use with HD.
 Go there and download a trial copy to play around with and I feel you'll be lost just testing out the different particle systems in the viewer.

Indigo Renderer

sample dashboard for Indigo Renderer

In my continuing pursuit of alternative render engines for 3d programs (especially in support of Sketchup) I ran across Indigo Renderer. Indigo gives support to 3 major 3d modeling/animation packages (3D Studio Max, Maya, Cinema 4D) and two smaller, freeware programs (Blender and Sketchup). I downloaded the trial version and used it with Google Sketchup-the results were fantastic.

Not only did I find the default settings (just click the button and away it goes) to work with ease and give a great output but the camera match angle and material editor worked great as well. The interface for the material took me a moment to get used to as I had to assign a material from Google's material panel, then replace it through the Indigo material dialogue, but if that's the hardest thing you have to do with this plug-in then you really can't complain. The rendering does take a while to go through all the passes it needs to give you photo-realistic results, but it doesn't lock up your system so as long as you have a sturdy enough working RAM package on your machine (and who doesn't now days?) you can let it render in the background while you go onto other projects. Indigo offers excellent support as well through their website with additional materials to load, group forum to help you with questions, tricks and resources and support for Indigo with usage of whichever of the 3d packages you choose to use. My hats off to the people who produced Indigo. This is just the kind of ease-of-use plug-in I had hoped for.