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| Review: Particleillusion
Pro Emitters Collections
10-12 |
September, 2007
Particleillusion
Pro Emitters
Collections
10-12
Wondertouch
$39.00 each collection or $90.00 for the 3 sets.
Review by Steve
Douglas
There's
little questioning thrown my way as to whether I have been a
fan of wondertouch's particleIllusion or their Pro Emitter Libraries.
(Yes, I know that, for the English experts, that the names 'wondertouch'
and 'particleIllusion' should be capitalized, however, the company
prefers it to be spelt with lower case letters.) For those who
find themselves spending endless hours creating special effects
in Motion utilizing the particle generators to create flowing
water, lower thirds, dynamic texts, animated backgrounds and
FX of all kinds, look towards particle illusion to enable you
to cut your editing bay time by half or more. Actually, particleIllusion
is more powerful than Motion's particle emitters (though not
3D) as well as allowing for far more complex and realistic effects.
It's capabilities are truly beyond anything Motion's particle
system can create. Though wondertouch does have a particle emitter
collection for Motion, the Pro Emitters reviewed here do not
themselves work in Motion.
While free libraries of particle
emitters come out each month for downloading from the wondertouch
website, wondertouch has now released their 3rd collection of
particle emitters created by their own professional artists.
Keep in mind that in order to take advantage of these Pro Emitters
one must have particleillusion already installed.
Similar to previous Pro designed
collections, each of these 3 new offerings follows a given theme
and includes 30 very unique emitters for each set. With this
offering, two of the collections center on fiery effects of all
kinds. Collections Pyro 1 and Pyro 2 each focuses on a myriad
number of explosions, blasts, muzzle flashes, and sunburst effects
that might take hours to create yourself. And yet, the Pyro 1
and 2 collections are significantly different from each other.
Pyro 1 is the explosive collection divided into 4 folders of
emitter presets. It seems like most movies today are full of
car crashes, planes exploding, propane tanks blowing up and Die
Hard sequels. Some of the blasts you might find are single explosions
while others are multiple bursts and compound explosions of fire,
smoke and carnage. Each is highly customizable to suit any project
where effects of this type would enhance one's project. Customization
in regard to placement, angles, emission range, velocity, size
variations, emitter life and too many more parameters to mention
is very easy to attain. It's not that you will have to adjust
any of these but you easily can if needed. Categorized by their
high energy, these emitters produce some genuinely organic and
realistic effects. All you need when using any of these emitters
are the foley effects to add to the realism.
From the Pyro 1 collection, no two emitters are alike. Their realism, from beginning to end, can be viewed on the wondertouch website.
The Pyro 2 collection is similar but is based more upon explosive
aftermath. Divided into 3 pre-set folder, rising fire bursts
decaying over time, rising explosion clouds similar to nuclear
explosions, and plumes of blast matter and muzzle blasts from
machine guns and single flashes are its priority and are also
presented with a great deal of realism.
The Pyro 2 collection like all the particleIllusion collections can easily be placed and positioned upon background stills or videos.
Background photos supplied by Randy Siegel.
The third collection is significantly different from any collection
I have seen wondertouch produce. Their 'Hearts' collection is
a tasteful grouping of growing, glowing and smoothly flowing
hearts of different types and colors, which will be absolutely
perfect for the wedding videographer or romantic film production.
This entire collection really seems to be a work of art as well
as heart. Many could be beautifully used in DVD menus, their
grace and ever-changing appearance especially unique and gorgeous
to look at.
Each of these clips contains a combination of different emitters from the Hearts collection. Mix and match to your heart's content.
Keep in mind that none of the still images in this review can really do the actual emitters justice. I urge you to go to the wondertouch website to see them for yourselves.
Bottom line is that there is no question that Alan Lorence and
the very responsive folk at wondertouch have an excellent application
on their hands. Not only is wondertouch's particleIllusion easy
to work with, but also it is absolutely a blast (no pun here)
to use. I find myself having fun seeing what I can create on
down times even when I have no project for which I will be using
these creations. Thus, their newest collections 10-12 are a welcome
and unique addition to the already over 1800 particle emitters
inclusive in the particleIllusion collection. At only $39 for
each collection separately, $90 for all three collections or
for those playing catch-up, $329 for all twelve Pro Emitter collections,
you get your money's worth and more.
 Steve Douglas
is a certified Apple Pro for Final Cut Pro 6 and underwater videographer.
A winner of the 1999 Pacific Coast Underwater Film Competition,
2003 IVIE competition, 2004 Los Angeles Underwater Photographic
competition, and the prestigious 2005 International Beneath the
Sea Film Competition, where he also won the Stan Waterman Award
for Excellence in Underwater Videography and 'Diver of the Year',
Steve was a safety diver on the feature film "The Deep Blue
Sea", contributed footage to the Seaworld Park's Atlantis
production, and a recent History channel MegaDisaster show. Steve
is one of the founding organizers of the San Diego UnderSea Film
Exhibition and leads both underwater filming expeditions and
African safaris with upcoming excursions to Kenya & Lembeh
Straits in Indonesia in 2007, the Coco Islands, Costa Rica &
Truk Lagoon in 2008 and safari in Africa for 2009. Feel free
to contact him if you are interested in joining Steve on any
of these exciting trips. www.worldfilmsandtravel.com
copyright ©Steve
Douglas 2007
This article first appeared
on www.kenstone.net and
is reprinted here with permission.
All screen captures and textual references are the property and
trademark of their creators/owners/publishers.
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