Magic Patronus Orb Effect in After Effects

If you’ve ever wondered how to make a sort of magical glowing ball of energy reminiscent of the Patronus orbs in the later Harry Potter films…so have I.

So I sat down and tried to figure it out in After Effects with a few free plugins.

And I uploaded the project file to my store so you can download it FOR FREE to get a head start on your own magical orb effect.

I’m not going to go through all the instructions and settings here (that’s what the video and project file are for) but the main effects I relied on to build this look is the turbulent noise effect (with a little CC Glass and CC Sphere to bring the effect into 3 dimensions) and Video Copilot’s Saber plugin.

A lot of the rest of the effects like glow and lens flares are personal creative touches that worked for me, but I recommend you use whatever works for your shot.

For me, the final look comes together with Plugin Everything’s Deep Glow plugin. This 3rd-party After Effects plugin is INVALUABLE for my After Effects compositing and design workflow. If you only get one paid third party plugin, I would recommend this one.