You know that feeling when your smoke asset just sits there like a sad layer on top of your shot? No shadows, no light interaction.

Yeah. I was sick of that too.

Here's how to relight 2D smoke assets in After Effects so it actually reacts to fire. You get real lighting falloff, dynamic shadows, and it doesn’t look like you slapped it on in 30 seconds.

Here’s how you can do it using just two free plugins and a couple free ActionVFX assets.

You'll want to watch the video for a full walkthrough and to get the why behind the techniques I use. But I went ahead and put a summary of each step below so you have that for reference.

Step 1: Plugins You’ll Need

This whole trick depends on two things:

• Normal Mapper for AE (free on aescripts—but I encourage you to donate to the creator)
• Normality by Stefan Minning (also free)

Step 2: The Setup

Everything I used is included with your ActionVFX subscription, but you can also follow along with free assets too:

• Smoke Plume: from the Free Smoke Plumes Collection
• Practice Plate: from the Practice Footage Library

You can also get the fire asset I used with the code in the video until May 29th, 2025. Just input the code here.

I set everything up in After Effects using an ACES workflow. If you're not familiar with ACES in AE, we’ve got a separate video walking you through that.

Step 3: Precomposing the Smoke

Precomp the smoke layer and call it Relit Smoke. From here, there are two ways you can go:

• Option 1: Leave all attributes in Master Comp – better for static shots or stationary lights (like a fire).
• Option 2: Move all attributes into new comp – better if you have moving lights (like headlights sweeping across).

For this walkthrough, I started with Option 1.

Step 4: Building the Normal and Depth Maps

Inside the Relit Smoke comp, duplicate the smoke layer 4 times:

• Normality (top)
• Depth Map
• Normal Map
• Texture

Each of these layers gets its own treatment:

• Depth Map: Invert → Curves → Adjust until clipping shows in the highlights.
• Normal Map: Precomp it, then apply Normal Mapper and crank the strength to 100. Add a Fast Box Blur (~1.2–1.5) to clean up artifacts.
• Texture: Invert → Unmult → Invert again. Then adjust alpha with Curves and add a Tint to ensure grayscale.

Step 5: Bringing It All Together

On the Normality layer apply:

• Invert → Unmult → Normality plugin

Set it to 3D (even though Normality doesn’t recommend it) because it gives you better falloff and placement.

Then assign:

• Normal Map from the precomp
• Depth Map from the comp

Make sure Effects & Masks is checked. Invert the Depth Map so thinner smoke appears brighter (as it should when light passes through it).

Step 6: Lighting the Smoke

Now for the fun part: lighting.

Create a Point Light, set it to white, and position it where the fire would realistically be.

Then duplicate it and move the second one to the opposite side for more natural coverage.

To make the lights feel alive (like fire), add wiggle expressions:

• Y Position: wiggle(3,60)
• Z Position: wiggle(2,100)

Copy those expressions to both lights. The result? Lights that move organically like a fire would—casting shadows and highlights across the smoke dynamically.

Step 7: Making It Fit the Scene

Back in the main comp, duplicate and offset the smoke to make it wider, covering more of the fire area. Relink the depth and normal maps for each instance.

You might notice the smoke is now moving too slow compared to the fire—so use Time Stretch on the precomp and set it to 30.

Step 8: Coloring the Smoke with Firelight

Here’s where it really sells.

Duplicate the relit smoke precomp and add a Fill effect to the bottom one (set to black for black smoke).

Then duplicate the fire layer, apply a glow (I used Deep Glow V2, but standard Glow works too), set the Source Opacity to 0, and then track matted the glow layer to the relit smoke using Luma Matte.

Boom. Orange-tinted smoke that shifts color with the flickering fire.

You could technically just apply a Tint to the smoke and call it a day—but doing it this way means the light interacts dynamically with the smoke, based on the actual fire movement.

Step 9: Bonus Lighting

Need moonlight on the smoke too? Easy.

Just duplicate your relighting comp in the project panel, move the lights to match the moonlight position, and drag the duplicate into the main comp. Hold Alt while you drop it on top of the relit smoke layer to swap them.

Set the blending mode to Screen, add a Tint, and now you’ve got moonlight hitting your smoke too.

Final Touches

From there it’s all about dialing it in:

• Adjust curves, hue/sat, exposure.
• Move lights around.
• Edit the normal or depth map if something feels off.
• Add glow, camera shake, you name it.

You’re not locked into anything. The beauty of this method is it’s totally tweakable.

Why This Method Works

You’re taking 2D stock footage and tricking After Effects into treating it like 3D volumetrics—without ever leaving AE, and without needing full-on simulations.

And if you’re working on tight timelines or client work that doesn’t justify the Houdini pipeline? This will save you.

Give it a shot and drop a comment in the video if it helps!

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