Well, I've never used AE but I can give you some pointers as to what sort of tutorials to look for and settings to look for (when you have messed with VFX as long as me, most apps start to get pretty predictable )

You say:

Well, any decent particle simulator should have at least a start emit setting and stop emit setting. Being after effects, you could probably key the animation curve for the particle systems emission speed or state also. Even a setting for visibility or something could be used.

Well, I do know AE has a 2d tracker. I know that it is also possible to link stuff to tracks. So, my guess would be, that one way to do this would be to track the point you want to link the fire to and then link the particle emitter to that track point.

Well, I know the sort of a vague answer like this isn't what you probably wanted. But hey, no else had commented.

You really should consider looking up some tutorials on AE. You shouldn't go off trying to do this kind of stuff without knowing the basics of the program. Instead of just quickly jumping into it, search around on YouTube for some videos explaining the essentials. After Effects is a very complex program. It's going to take time to learn it; you can't expect to know everything about it after watching one or two videos. That being said, there are plenty of websites offering detailed video tutorials explaining the fundamentals of AE. One such website is Video Copilot. They also have a forum where I would recommend you post your questions. Their forum is dedicated to discussing the things you seem to have trouble with. I honestly think the people there would be able to answer your questions more quickly and with much more accuracy and confidence than most of us here. I know that you like to post here because you are more familiar with the people here and are more comfortable asking questions here, but this is a website dedicated to brick filming. If you want the proper answers to your questions quickly, I strongly suggest you ask them on a website dedicated to answering those questions.

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