Paula Sanders Report : Alien Skin - Eye Candy 5 Impact

Impact is the latest of the three new Eye Candy 5 Photoshop filters by Alien Skin Software. I reviewed the other two sets at the end of 2004 - Nature and Textures. These sets are upgrades of Eye Candy 4000 with the addition of new filters. The new filters contained in Impact are: Backlight, Brushed Metal, and Extrude. The other 7 upgraded filters are: Bevel, Chrome, Glass, Gradient Glow, Motion Trail, Perspective Shadow, and Super Star. Some of the improvements are brand new looks, greater realism, and improved ease of use. For example, some of the filters allow the effects to be output on a separate layer, which can go under or over the image. There are over 200 presets for frequently used effects; creating and saving new presets is very easy. Impact works with CMYK as well as 16-bit. In addition, filters that use reflection maps, such as Chrome, can use customized ones created by the user. Below are two screen captures from Eye Candy 4000 as well as from Impact. While Impact has added more features, it has also streamlined the interface.

No longer will one have to access features such as saving presets through the Settings tab on the top tool bar. In Impact it is part of the Settings tab that is always open and has replaced the Color tab.

I have tested out each filter and created a number of examples. One can also go to the Alien Skin web site and see more examples. First, I will show examples of the new filters. This filter was one where I could create the output on a new layer. In example 1, the layer is above the figure and in example 2, it is below the figure. These first examples are of the Backlight filter.

The second examples are of the Brushed Metal filter.

The third examples are of the Extrude filter.

Chrome

Glass

Gradient Glow

Motion Trail

Perspective Shadow

Super Star I found these filters very easy to use. The only choice I had to make was what examples should I use in the review. It is a really fun and useful plugin. The host requirements are: Macintosh Hosts:

Adobe Photoshop 7 or later
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 or later
Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 or later Windows Hosts:
Adobe Photoshop 7 or later
Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 or later
Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004 or later
Corel Paint Shop Pro 8 or later
CADLink SignLab 7.5 The system requirements are: Macintosh Systems:
500 MHz PowerPC G3 processor
256 MB RAM
Mac OS X 10.2.6 or later Windows Systems:
1 GHz Pentium III processor
256 MB RAM
Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Alien Skin Eye Candy 5 Impact Full Version: $99 [USD] Upgrade Version: [$45]
Alien Skin products page
As always, I invite you to visit my personal website: Perpetual Visions
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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.