Particleillusion 3.0
Page 2 of 2
Particleillusion allows you to load a variety of image formats as background plates for reference (AVI, BMP, IFF, JPG, PCT, PNG, PSD, SGI, TIF, and TGA) and allows you to export them in the same manner. Even though Particleillusion is currently only available for the PC (Mac version in the works), one of these formats will allow you to use the results in your Mac based applications.
You can even import and export motion data from programs like LightWave 3D, After Effects, 3dsmax, Maya and more which makes Particleillusion a great post production tool for any animation and special effects package.[an error occurred while processing this directive]In addition to the amazing emitters, Particleillusion 3.0 also includes deflectors, blockers and forces to make the flow of the particles more realistic and fit in your composition more believably. This can be seen with the water effects. Start with a shot of a rocky cliff, add a waterfall emitter, place a few blockers where the rocky outcroppings on your original plate, and you have a very realistic looking waterfall with very little effort. Lucas and Co. might want to look into Particleillusion so they aren’t wasting salt for these types of effects.
Wow features
While playing with the emitters in the preview window I was very concerned about how one would animate the keyframes needed to get the exact same results. In Particleillusion 3.0 all you have to do is park the Timeline Indicator at the starting point, click to place the emitter, right click and select Record Position, then when you are ready, left click and drag in real time. When you have reached the end of the Timeline, or when you left click again, the record stops and you have the ability smooth the motion path to perfection.
The emitters themselves are truly customizable. Every single emitter can be manipulated, enhanced, and tweaked to get the effect you desire. If you like an emitter, but would rather have a different shape, spread pattern, color, or whatever, you can make those changes in Emitter Property window. I find this especially useful when needing to adjust those nebulous pulsing background effects. Making a change to a shape, color, life, or even speed, creates a whole new background for you in less than 30 seconds. Even better is you see a real time update instantly. This is such a time saver when dealing with clients who can’t make up their mind about what they want.
Disappointments
Although I am very pleased with Particleillusion 3.0, there are some things I thought were somewhat disappointing. The first being the integration with other applications. While Particleillusion does a good job of allowing you to copy and paste information from a variety of applications, I am surprised there isn’t a way to actually save and load data directly from applications like Adobe After Effects.
Sometimes working with elements in the Timeline can be rather counter intuitive. For example, if you want to have a particle effect begin at a different time than what you already have set, you can’t simply drag the start part to a new frame. Improvements to the Timeline will make this application easy to transition into from any animation program.
The other major disappointment I have is that even though it is fast, and renders highly detailed particle streams, it still is a 2D particle system. If you are using this application in a 3D environment, or even trying for greater realism in a traditional composite, the ability to animate the particles in 3D space would be a bonus. For example, if you were exploding a building you could create masks in 3D space that would allow some flaming particles to fall behind an object (like a car), and some particles to fall in front of that car.
Bottom Line
Bubbles, smoke, fire, explosions, animated backgrounds, psychedelic do-dads, the only limit to what can be generated with Particleillusion 3.0 is your imagination. If you are doing (or need to do) any kind of particle work, then you need Particle Illusion.
In the short amount of time I have been working with Particleillusion, I feel as though I have only scratched the surface and there are so many more goodies just waiting beneath the surface to be discovered.
When not working deep in the labs of the DMN Central Division testing the latest and greatest software/hardware products Stephen Schleicher can be found at the local university teaching a few courses on video and web production. He can be reached at schleicher@mindspring.com. You can also visit him on the web at www.mindspring.com/~schleicherPrev 1 2
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
