Fireball made in less than 30 seconds

Animating in general is a labor of love and that labor increases in the 3D realm. (depending on whom you talk to that is.) This was made in Autodesk Maya using the 3D FX brush and several fire "brushes" found in what's called the "Visor". The visor is a keeper of 3D brushes that Maya comes with and has brushes for lightning, fire, clouds, trees and flowers to name a few. There's A LOT more than those contained in the visor. I used 3 different flame brushes and then looped their animation of 50 frames per cycle. It's actually a lot simpler than it sounds and yields interesting results!