Particles not showing when I export

[jealous_crumble]

Hi,

I've made a simple animation of a splash in a pool using particle layers. The splash works in the editing view and works when I preview the animation. But it doesn't show when I export it.

I've tried researching this myself and consulted the manual. I've checked layer order, made sure there aren't any vectors set to 0 opacity, made sure "Don't render this layer" is unselected etc.

Then I tried layer comps. I made a layer comp of just the particle layers and exported them and the splash was there. So I found a solution but am wondering why layer comps worked and not when I export entire animation? When I export the animation with only the splash particle layers visible then this works too- making me think the problem is something related to the other layers in my animation but i'm not sure what.

I regrettably made the ripples and light reflections of the pool in a long winded way, not sure if this could be related to my problem.
Thankyou for your time , my file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dukl34 ... sp=sharing

[Greenlaw]

I can see the particles, but they are very faint. I believe the issue is that the Soft Edge setting is too strong, so they're not visible against the similarly colored pool surface.

After I removed the soft edge from each shape, the particles became more visible.

Try making the splash art white. Water appears white and frothy when it's agitated. Also, Soft Edge doesn't really make sense for water drops. Any 'softness' in the edges might come from motion blur, but I don't think that's needed here. If you really need the extra detail in the shading, try a Gradient or Shaded effect for the shapes.

Another idea to try: Shading at the Layer level might work better than shading at the shape level.

Hope this helps.

[jealous_crumble]

Ah yes after really looking at it they are there just very faint.

Thank you for pointing that out Greenlaw and thanks for your tips. Can't believe I missed them as I spent a lot of time squinting at that rendered animation! I underestimated how strong the soft edge effect can be and yes you're right it doesn't even really need it.