EMedia April 2003 Issue

See what Stephen F. Nathans, editor of EMedia magazine, has to say about a sneak peek at particleIllusion 3.0 at Creative Cow West 2003:

On the graphical effects side, one of the more interesting new offerings in evidence was wondertouch's particleIllusion 3.0. Originally developed by Impulse as part of their Illusion particle effects software line, and designed by current wondertouch CEO Alan Lorence, particleIllusion 3.0 is a sprite-based particle effects generation tool designed for film post-production and pre-visualization environments and for use with both standard and HD video for commercial broadcast applications. Lorence notes that like video itself, particleIllusion is exclusively a 2D tool, which gives it significant advantages over 3D tools in rendering speed at little cost in terms of visual impact. "Ninety percent of the 3D shots you see don't need to be 3D. Faking 3D effectively" - with an additional payoff in speed and ease of use - "is what particleIllusion is all about." Lorence adds that as a "sprite-based tool," particleIllusion enables users to work with 2D objects (either preset, imported, or self-generated), and alter images or behaviors as needed to change the visual effect. Most important of all to the video workflow process, Lorence says, "particleIllusion is one tool you won't have to wait for."

(If you subscribe to EMedia magazine, check page 14 of the April 2003 issue. You can also click here to see the article on the EMedia Live site.