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Last month I had the distinct privilege and
pleasure to spend a bit of time with the people from Alien Skin
Software. Until that time my contact with them consisted of
emails and brief contact at MacWorld in January. Why is this a
big deal? Quite simply because I'm a huge fan of their software
packages, and an added bonus is they are as real in person as
their 'unique' website, software, and advertising implies. NOTE:
They really don't wear suits!
As a result of my dialogue with them, their
'Secret Weapon' contacted me a couple months ago about running a
special deal on Action Fx to promote the release of Eye Candy
4000, and what they had in mind blew me away. Their strategy was
nothing less than the give away of the FULL VERSION of Eye Candy
3.01, free for download online. (I have it available on Action
Fx, so go grab a copy- http://actionfx.com)
The point to this article this week really isn't
to shamelessly plug both Alien Skin and Action Fx. I have the
erroneous mindset that if a piece of software isn't the newest
on the market, then it is somehow substandard to current
software packages. In the case of Eye Candy 3 this is certainly
not the case… it is as great today for manipulating type and
interfaces (among other things) as it was when it was the new
guy on the block.
Since it is now available for free I'm going to
go though a few filter effects to either introduce you to the
software or refresh your memory as to the power of this plug in.
I'll be using Photoshop 6.0, but the download works fine with
Photoshop 5 as well.
To begin, let's set up some text.
Create New Image
Create New Layer
Using the Type Tool, enter your text.
For this example I'm using a font called
Vectroid set to 160 pt.
Now I'll Rasterize my type.
(Layer>Rasterize>Type)
From this point we can start applying filters. I'm going to use
the Eye Candy 3 Glass filter with the following settings:
…for this effect:
Now that was quick, painless and it looks sharp
to boot.
Now let's get a little crazy…
Duplicate the type layer. On the duplicate, let's apply the EC 3
Chrome filter, using the preset 'Puffy Blue'. The handy-dandy
viewer in the EC 3 interface should look something like this:
I'm now applying the Carved Filter with the
Scooped preset, and increasing the values of the
Brightness/Contrast sliders in Photoshop.
Now go to the original type layer. To this layer
I'll apply the Eye Candy 3 Motion Trail Filter, using the
default settings. I'm again duplicating this layer, and
selecting the original type layer for my next filter.
Let's set this thing on fire! To the original
type layer let's apply the fire filter with the Typical preset,
but adjust the flame height to 95. With fire comes smoke, so
apply the smoke filter, This Wisps preset, and change the height
to 110 and the outer color to something light.
On the next highest layer, in this case 'Cool
Copy 2', I'm applying the fur filter with the default preset.
Here is the image this far:
Looking pretty weird… and in this case that's a
good thing.
I hope this has not only given you some ideas,
but also introduces you to using the Eye Candy filters together
on the same basic selection. Here are a couple variations, again
using only Eye Candy 3.01:
I hope you've enjoyed this week's jaunt. Again,
you may download the free Special Edition of Eye Candy 3.01 for
both Mac and PC on Action Fx (http://actionfx.com). Alien Skin
has also offered a deal on Eye Candy 4000 for people who
download the Special Edition… and it is well worth the money. |