Help with AE particle or pen tool.

[zack_brame]

I recently saw this video Cleveland Cavaliers 2017 Playoff Intro - #TheLand - YouTube  and wanted to know how they created the effect around LeBron and the basketball. Been trying in AE and so far have had no luck.

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

And what exactly? I see nothing there that would be particularly difficult. Some basic tracking to attach the particle trails, a few lightning effects. It's more about the timing and how it's put together, not the actual effects, which are pretty bog standard or dare I even say preset-y looking.

Mylenium

[Kyle Hamrick]

Advanced Lightning certainly seems to be at play here.
If you have Particular, it has a few presets that might be helpful.
Check out VideoCopilot's Saber plugin. It's free, and does a great job with this glowy-lighting-y trail kind of stuff.