Eye Candy 6.0 – Candy for Graphic Artists
Posted by RustyHill - 14/04/10 at 03:04 pm
Sweet Visions
A common slang term for visually appealing persons, or effects used to draw mass attention is “eye candy”. Eye Candy 6 by Alien Skin is a cool Photoshop plugin that lives up to its name. Eye Candy 6 enables graphic artists to create stunning visual effects that draw mass attention.
New For Eye Candy 6
- Rendering engine - Filters are much faster and can run on much larger images than before.
- Adaptive mode - Adaptively scales filter effects to the current image size.
- Settings - Over 1500 carefully designed factory settings that handle a wide range of common design tasks.
- Fire – Fire filter now looks more natural. Sharp edges have been smoothed to look more like realistic gaseous flames.
- Panels – Photoshop CS4 panels are provided for starting Eye Candy filters with a single click and for quickly creating attractive buttons.
- Non-Destructive Editing – All filters have the option to draw their output on a new layer and can work as Smart Filters when applied to Smart Objects.
- Professional Features – Works with the 64-bit version of Photoshop.
Start with Settings
Each filter opens in a clean user interface, similar to the interface used in other Alien skin plug-ins that were discussed in previous posts. The filter has tabs or buttons for at least “Settings” and “Basic”. Under the “Settings” tab, try a variety of factory preset settings to obtain a desired look. The presets provide a great place to start, and often need little, if any fine tuning (saving time and money). Fine tuning is easy using the :Basic:, and other tabs provided for each filter.
Efficient Panels
Enabling the two Photoshop panels provides one click access to the Eye Candy Filters and button tool. Place the panel or panels in the Photoshop desktop to enable quick and efficient access.
Nondestructive Editing
Photographers and graphic artists often use layers for a nondestructive work flow. Eye Candy 6 complements this work flow by creating a new layer for the filter output. In a typical layer, the filter’s settings can not be changed. However, when the layer is a smart object, Eye Candy 6 can output a smart object. The filters settings can be changed as often as desired. A very powerful feature.
Pros
- 1500 factory presets save time
- Panels save time
- Smart filters and output to a new layer enable risk free experimentation
Cons
- None noted
Host Requirements
Eye Candy 6 is a plug-in and requires one of the following host applications:
- Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later on Mac OS X
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later on Windows
- Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2
- Adobe Fireworks CS4
System Requirements: Microsoft Windows users must have at least a Pentium 4 processor or compatible and Windows XP or later. Apple Macintosh users must have a PowerPC G5 or Intel processor and Mac OS X 10.5 or later. A monitor with 1024×768 resolution or greater is required.
Contact: www.alienskin.com
Cost: $249 USD. Owners of any version of Eye Candy may upgrade for $99 USD