Genetica 2 Pro is a seamless texture and tile creation
editor that is node based giving the user tremendous flexibility.
It's geared toward professional 3D artists. It has more than 500
finished texture presets with tremendous variations possible, which
this review will demonstrate. This review will discuss Genetica 2
Pro, but Spiral Graphics also has a Standard edition.
Since this is the first review I have done of this product, I will
discuss features in general and highlight the new ones. Genetica 2
Pro comes with a sequential group of easy to follow tutorials. As
stated in the first paragraph, Genetica 2 is based on editing
nodes. The first node that appeared as I started with tutorial #1
was the group node.
When the Edit button was clicked, many more nodes appeared.
One then can make changes to the various nodes, for example, the
BCL node.
Lab nodes have been added to Genetica 2. These can perform powerful
tasks and have many more options than do regular nodes. Below is a
simple example of an original texture with the Substance node
expanded.
And next is an example of rendered modifications. The number of
modifications I could have made, using this one preset, were
astronomical and incredibly easy to do. In addition, I have just
touched the surface of the program.
There is also a whole library of Lab Nodes that can be inserted
into structures of Lab Nodes. For example, in one of their
tutorials, I inserted the Weather Lab between the Substance Lab and
the Sharpen Lab. Each of these Labs has options. I think the trend
is clear. These Lab Nodes provide both direction and choice in
creating these textures and tiles. Below is a list of the different
categories of presets.
There are a number of very interesting options available such as
using a batch process to turn textures into thumbnails for web
sites, extracting bump channels for use in 3D applications, and ...
creating volumetric data - atmospheric textures with transparency
data included.
One can work with preset tiles, such as wood floors or whimsical
tiles such as the ones below.
The examples are endless, but these are two more textures that I
really liked.
This is a really interesting program for building textures. It is
different from others that I have used, and seems to have more
options, possibilities, and more control to create unique textures.
Since many people use textures for 3D projects, I thought I would
show some of the presets, which are just starting points, of a
popular category - ground textures.
To illustrate once again, the number of customizable options
available, the following image is an example of a small texture
tree.
I highly recommend this program. While I normally do not use
texture programs very much, I know I will use this one not only for
creating background and 3D textures, but for use in designs as
well.
Spiral Graphics' Genetica 2
- Genetica 2 Standard is $129 USD [for a single
license]
- Genetica 2 Pro is $399 USD [for a single license]
- Both programs are downloadable
- Demos available System requirements: Windows
2000/XP Pentium III 450 MHz 256 MB Memory 15 MB Hard Disk Space I
would also recommend visiting:
- Spiral Graphics
- Spiral
Graphics Forum
- As always, I invite you to visit my personal website: Perpetual
Visions
All images are copyright, and cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written
permission from the artist.
- The Paula Sander's Report is a regular
Renderosity Front Page featured column, where Paula investigates
and comments on graphic software, techniques, and other relevant
material through her reviews, tutorials, and general articles.
|
Comments