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AlienSkin.com has released Eye Candy 5: Textures is a plug-in collection of 10 texture generators. Textures produces a wide variety of photorealistic textures, such as snake and lizard skin, fur, brick, stone and wood. This release does not replace Eye Candy4000 but is an upgrade of sorts for several of the filters that are part of it. Eye Candy 5 will be a three-part series. The remaining upgrades will be released in 2005. Eye Candy 5: Nature will simulate fire, smoke and other natural phenomena. Eye Candy 5: Impact will contain classic graphic design effects.
Small changes have been made to the interface of EyeCandy5 but it remains similar to that of previous versions. The main difference lies in the more sophisticated effects it can generate and improved control over those settings. Presets still allow for quick and easy application of effects and there are more presets than previously available.
Animal Fur simulates furs and fibers. There are many presets and all can be manipulated to alter color and hair patterns. This filter creates better fiber strands than Eye Candy 4000 with a bit of manipulation. The preset examples are mainly of animals. In the example to your right I used Ck Frayed for the font and a little manipulation of the preset Calico bedhead to create the fiber word.
Brick Wall simulated the textures of brick and tiles. There is scope for manipulating colors, sizes and shapes. The tiling effect is particulary effective.
Diamond Plate simulates the texture and look of metal sheeting. It is an effective filter for rendering the metal presets but it is limited in use in that it doesn’t apply metal effects in the way that Eye Candy 4000 Chrome filter does.
The Marble filter is an improvement over the original as it renders far more realisticly. It gives you sophisticated control over coloring and pattern. For scrapbookers who enjoy the distressed look, the Marble filter can be manipulated to effect and used on a page to create overlaid texture.
Reptile Skin creates some very unique textures. The presets emulate the skin of snakes, lizards, crocodiles and other scaly creatures. There are plenty of options for adjusting the filter to suit various elements.
Stone Wall is a filter for creating stone paving effects. From large pavers to cobblestones the filter can be easily manipulated however it is not possible to remove the grout and just use the stone texture which is a disadvantage
The Swirl filter is somewhat limiting except that you can use it to mix your own backgrounds for interesting effects. You can manipulate a variety of settings and pushing them to the extremes creates some unique effects that would be suitable for backgrounds.
Texture Noise is a filter that adds patterning and lighting to your image. Texture Noise varies hue, saturation and brightness and mimics streaming sunlight, snow, and TV static. It is the revamped version of Eye Candys HSB Noise and has uses for adding texture and distortions to both photographs and digitally created elements.
Weave is designed to simulate a variety of textiles such as basket weave, satin, twill and can be manipulated to create canvas, linen, denim or tweed looks. It is useful for creating fabric elements to your page but in some ways this newer version is more limiting than the original Weave filter in Eye Candy 4000.
Wood generates sawn wood surfaces imitating growth rings, colors and details such as knots and grain. It is useful for creating wooden elements and can be manipulated quite extensively. It is an improved version from Eye Candy 4000.
Eye Candy 5 Textures can be a valuable addition to the tool box of a digital scrapbooker but overall cannot replace Eye Candy 4000.
It is compatible with later versions of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, Digital Image Pro and Macromedia Fireworks and will run on both PC and Macintosh.
The cost for the program is US $99 however an upgrade price of US $49 is available for registered owners of Eye Candy 4000.
To purchase and for more information visit http://www.alienskin.com/ec5t/index.html
***First published in Tidbytes 2005***
© Copyright by Scrapbook-Bytes.com
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