| Review
- particleIllusion |
November, 2005
particleIllusion
3 for Mac OSX
particleIllusion 3.0
$389.00 (US)
http://www.wondertouch.com/
System Requirements:
PowerPC G4 or G5 (possibly G3)
800 MHz processor or faster (will work with slower, but results
vary)
256 MB RAM
Display with 1024 x 768 resolution
Mac OS X 10.2.8
Graphics card with basic OpenGL support
Review by David
A. Saraceno
Three years ago, OS X was still in its infancy,
and no standalone Mac version of particleIllusion (then Illusion)
existed. New owner and chief programmer, Alan Lorence first remedied
this deficiency with the release of particleIllusion SE for Mac
OS X. This light version of pI shipped with 750 preset effects,
and could edit particleIllusion 2.0 emitter libraries, but it
didn't have the power or diversity of the full PC version. Last
year Mac users were further buoyed by the release of wondertouch's
Particle Emitters for Motion,
which contained 337 emitters in its "large" version.
It was a welcome and dazzling addition to Motion,
Apple's new motion graphics application.
The emitter package increased Motion
capabilities, but neither it nor SE still matched the company's
PC version. Wondertouch finally remedied this deficiency with
the release particleIllusion 3.0 for OS X. Mac users received
a diverse emitter app and compositing environment every bit as
powerful as the PC version. It should be on every Mac users holiday
list.
I spent the last six weeks working with
particleIllusion 3 for Mac OSX. The OS X app is equal to the
capabilities of its PC counterpart, and is surprisingly versatile.
It ships with over 1300 particle emitters of virtually every
effect or look you can imagine. Some are surprisingly "un-emitter
like," if that is a word. Dozens more are available as free
monthly downloads at the developer's web site. The package utilizes
the OpenGL capabilities of your video card for rendering, and
is surprisingly fast.
What really distinguishes particleIllusion,
however, is its control over creating and modifying particles,
all within a compositing environment. Its interface is deep,
capable and a little daunting. In other words, it takes some
getting used to. However, Wondertouch provides good support in
its help system, on line tutorials, Internet forums, and other
assistance. In addition, an excellent, entertaining DVD instructional
aid from Aaron Rabinowitz, entitled "particleIllusion
Fusion" augments other on line resources at the web
site.
particleIllusion's workflow is adaptable
to just about any user's experience. Hundreds of stock preset
effects are available for use in libraries. Select the emitter,
position the time indicator on the timeline and click the mouse
to place on the stage to set the emitter. Move the timeline to
a different frame, move the emitter, and it is automatically
key framed for that position. Playback (depending on your GPU)
is real time (I used both on a 9600/128 and a X800/256).
Emitters are provided in the usual categories
of smoke, fire, explosions, sparkles, fireworks and others. But
there are some unique ones or you can construct your own.
Launch the program, and you are presented
with an interface reminiscent of most compositing applications.
A series of layers of emitters and imported
files is displayed in the upper left of the interface. Click
on the large gray square icon there, and you can import video,
image sequences, or still images to composite and time. The stock
preset emitters are very well done, and each can be retained,
modified or animated. All emitter properties have twirl down
hierarchal triangles that display their properties. Click on
a property, such as size or life, and that property's correlative
data appears in a graph window which can be modified and animated.
Or right-click on the actual emitter, and all its parameters
are displayed for editing.
Basic emitter properties such as size
and color can be changed with the modifications dynamically updating
in the stage window. Emitters are based on images, and particleIllusion
provides the controls to change the emitter's appearance by changing
the image. Change the image and the emitter is modified from,
for example, a bubble to a smoke emitter. These controls provide
endless possibilities within your creative effort.
As I stated earlier, version 3.0 contains
a default set of emitters that is augmented by dozens of other
preset effects available monthly at the web site. Users also
can "right click" in the emitter library pane to preview
and load emitter libraries.
Most workflow is straightforward in the
program, although I have some picky issues with the interface,
none of which are significant. While a "mouse over"
over an icon displays its purpose, the icons themselves are a
little small and non-descriptive and don't take advantage of
OS X's excellent on screen graphic capabilities. In addition,
final output defaults to the size of the stage. It must be resized
initially to determine output, although pI provides keyboard
shortcuts to achieve this. I would prefer a resolution independent
election at output, rather than during the creative process.
No doubt this factor is dependent on bit maps for the actual
emitters.
Finally, while tutorials and other on-line
resources are available, a full electronic manual would be helpful,
complete with index. I, for example, could not easily find the
procedure for replacing text for logo animation. (It's referenced
in the FAQ, and the third on line tutorial). Another issue occurred
when importing a DV stream it crashed the program every
time. DV/DVCPro NTSC worked fine, as did motionjpeg and animation
codecs.
This review just touched the surface
of this robust application. Literally, particleIllusion has dozens
of features and capabilities that can be utilized by any motion
graphic artist. For example it can import motion data from other
applications, such as Adobe After Effects, and although not a
3D environment, it does interface well with 3D applications.
Additional tools can modify the path or visibility of any emitter
by independently adding a "force," "blocker,"
or "deflector." The results are both fun and dramatic.
One great resource for learning these
capabilities and others in Aaron Rabinowitz's "particleIllusion
Fusion," a data DVD learning aide full of instructional
videos and pdfs, and basic and advanced projects for both particleIllusion
and After Effects. This excellent, entertaining and whimsical
look at PI is worth its price of admission, $29.95.
Copyright ©2005 David A. Saraceno
David
A. Saraceno is a motion graphics
artist located in Spokane, Washington. He has written for DV
Magazine, AV Video, MacHome Journal, and several state and national
legal technology magazines. David also moderates several forums
on 2-pop.com.