Attached files:

 1. http://tutorialscentral.com/images/stories/3ds/Shockwave%20tutorial/ring_shockwave_test.avi

 2. http://tutorialscentral.com/images/stories/3ds/Shockwave%20tutorial/sphere_shockwave_test.avi

We’ll start by creating a cylinder with a small height and a fair good amount of sides.

Add a Poly Select modifier to the cylinder you just created. Select all of vertical polygons.

Right click on the cylinder and select Properties. There, uncheck the “Renderable” option. Click OK to save the change.

Go to the Create panel, select Particle Systems from the drop down menu and create a Particle Array system.

Next, we need to change some Particle Array settings. Click on the Pick Object button and select the Cylinder and check the “Use Selected SubObjects” option. This will ensure that we get a flat shockwave.

Set the other settings just like on the next 2 pictures. To get a nice shockwave we need a lot of particles, a short emitting time (1 frame) and, most importantly, a small particle size. Size, in this case, determines the rendering time; the smaller the size, faster the render (with these settings, my rendering times for 1 frame were around 2-4 seconds). Just be careful not to set a too small particle size.

Right click on the Particle Array and select Properties. There, change the settings to resemble the next picture.

Go to the Video Post and add a Glow filter. For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll leave the settings to their default values, but don’t be afraid to experiment with them to get a different look.

Preview of the rendered animation can be seen on the next pictures or in the files attached to this tutorial.

If you are not satisfied with a ring looking shockwave, and want a sphere one, create a Super Spray particle system.

Settings are same as for the Particle Array system, except for a part where we need to select an object and for settings shown on the next picture.

Preview of the sphere shockwave animation: