Rugby ball particle effects

I've decided I'd like to use some particle effects for the ball in the shot, this is the result of a few tests I have made with particle systems and and force like wind and gravity.

This effect demonstrates a wind modifier, which is blowing the particles in a directed stream.



This effect shows a gravity effect used to pull the particles and slightly less particles, as you can see the effect is much more spread out.



Neither of these are really what I'm looking for, I'll be trying some effects with Afterburner soon

Getting my footage and deciding on plug ins

I've been having a few problems with the people I had originally planned to do my shot with, the main problem being that one of them has borken his leg, in the meantime  I've been looking at particle techniques and plug ins including FumeFX and Afterburn by Sitni Sati. one benefit to these applications is that there is a decent trial period without a watermark, so they are easily accesible.

From looking at both plug-ins I have come to the conclusion that Afterburn is perhaps best for my needs, as it specialises in volumetric effects. This style of effect tends to be better for explosions as a whole rather than  a smoke and water simulator such as FumeFX.

Here are a couple of tutorials I have been using to familiarise myself with the software:





Although these don't give me the exact effect I'm looking for they are good practice