for more information on this award, see HERE

Of all the collections of PhotoShop plugins I’ve used over the years (and there have been many), Alien Skin’s Eye Candy 4000 is the only collection which I still use on a regular basis. Its 23 filters not only include the essentials such as bevels and shadows but also some quite fancy effects such as gradient glows, shiny chrome and the ever popular glass.

Now Alien Skin has released a new collection called Eye Candy 5: Impact. At first sight, you might think this is a cut-down version of the older product: it has just ten filters, seven of which (Bevel, Chrome, Glass, Gradient Glow, Motion Trail, Perspective Shadow and Super Star) are enhanced versions of filters from Eye Candy 4000. Only three filters in this collection (Backlight, Brushed Metal and Extrude) are completely new.

Shiny Shiny

So what’s the difference between the old Eye Candy 4000 filters and the new Eye Candy 5 equivalents? For one example, take a look at this graphic in which I have used both the old and the new Chrome filters.

As much as possible, I’ve tried to use similar settings for the two versions of the star and text shown above. However, the differences in the two versions of the filter make it impossible to set up exactly the same parameter values. You will no doubt agree that the Eye Candy 5 version simply looks shinier. This is probably due, mainly, to the improved reflection maps built into the filter. Eye Candy 5 Chrome also has smoother-looking surfaces. However, it is also possible to create sharper edges (comparable to those in the Eye Candy 4000 version) by adjusting some parameters.

The Macintosh user interface has been largely responsible for popularising glass buttons in recent years. However, creating really good looking glass in a 2D graphics program has always been a difficult trick to pull off. The Eye Candy 4000 Glass filter does a pretty good job but Alien Skin claims that the new glass filter is smoother and shiner than ever before. The stars and text shown above use a similar set of parameters to show the effect of the Eye Candy 4000 and Eye Candy 5 Glass filters. As with Chrome, the new Glass filter defaults to smoother surfaces. The refraction of the background textures is also a little less intense (though, once again, this can be altered by setting parameters) than in the old version of the filter.

Some Eye Candy 5 Glass-filtered objects

By making adjustments to the colour, reflectivity, refraction depth and other parameters you can create a broad range of transparent and translucent effects using the Glass filter. With some practice, you will be able to create objects that look like water, plastic, ice and precious gems.

Ease of Use

One of the things I like about the Eye Candy filters is that they not only (usually) look good but they are also easy to use. You just click a shape or some text or a selection then set some parameters in a popup dialog and click OK. There is no fancy user interface (of the type favoured by Kai’s Power Tools) to battle against. Each dialog is arranged into tabbed pages of settings with numeric sliders to adjust properties such as bevel depth, lighting angle and shadow opacity.

While there are quite a few applications that support PhotoShop filters, there may be some features which are better supported by some applications than by others. The Glass filter is a case in point. Some of Alien Skin’s demo graphics show glass objects refracting text behind them just as though they were lenses or water drops. I tried and tried (and failed) to reproduce this effect in Macromedia Fireworks. The best I could do was to create the effect of refraction over a background texture by applying this same texture to the foreground glass object. This effect is seen in the glass stars in the images shown earlier. This is a cheat, however. The refracted texture in the glass objects has been added separately from the refracted texture in the background to fake the effect. I have not found a way of refracting actual background textures and objects in Fireworks. In PhotoShop itself, on the other hand, I can create selections that overlap other objects and when the Glass filter is applied, this ‘refracts’ the underlying objects.

This graphic, showing overlapping glass objects refracting the objects beneath them, was created using PhotoShop. This kind of refraction may be difficult or impossible to achieve in some other graphics applications such as Fireworks.

Here are some more examples of the filters in the set...

The first star on the left has had the Bevel filter applied. This comes with a number of predefined bevels plus an option to create user-designed bevels by setting points on the ‘profile’ line which defines the bevel. The middle star illustrates the new Brushed Metal filter. The brushed metal effects include simple linear brushing, circular brushing and a number of presets to create steel, gold and copper effects quickly. The final star uses the Extrude filter. This creates 3D extrusion effects which may cause an object to recede in any direction or taper away into the distance. The circle at the centre has had both the Glass and the Gradient Glow filters applied. The Gradient Glow can be used to create single or multi-coloured glows with varying degrees of distortion and opacity. Finally, the text uses the enhanced Shadow filter which can create both ‘drop’ shadows and perspective shadows which appear to be cast onto a surface behind or below the object.

The text shown in the picture above uses the new Backlight filter. In my view this is one of the least effective filters in the set. It creates perspective blurs and streaks which, with a bit of care and a lot of luck, can sometimes look like light rays shining through a misty atmosphere. Often, however, even Alien Skin’s presets for the this filter, look more like blurry lines than convincing backlighting. The multi-coloured star at the bottom left uses the Super Star filter. This is another filter which hasn’t greatly impressed me. If you have an overwhelming desire for psychedelic stars and flowers you may love it. I have no such desire and therefore can’t imagine any occasion on which I shall feel compelled to use this particular filter. The ‘shooting star’ at the top left has had three filters applied in succession: Brushed Metal, Bevel and Motion Trail. The Motion Trail filter applies faded blurs to give the effect of camera blur resulting from straight or elliptical movements. Finally, the circle has had the Glass and Motion Trail filters applied.

So is it worth it...?

Overall, I have to say that Eye Candy 5 : Impact is mighty impressive. If you need a good Glass filter, look no further. The Chrome and Perspective Shadow filters are pretty impressive too.

But if you already have Eye Candy 4000, is it worth upgrading? That’s not easy to answer. On the one hand, Eye Candy 4000 has an excellent range of high-quality filters, seven of which are duplicated - albeit with enhancements - in this new collection. The three completely new filters are among the least interesting in Eye Candy 5: Impact; so, unless you are desperate for an Extrude, Backlight or Brushed Metal filter, those three alone are probably not worth the upgrade price. But the improvements to some of the ‘classic’ filters, such as Chrome, Glass and Bevel are pretty substantial. If you need to use these frequently - if, for example, you are creating a web site with a whole load of glass buttons, bevelled borders or metallic logos - they will not only help you to achieve a better look than was hitherto possible but they will also let you get your work done faster. That being so, don’t hesitate. For $49 this is an upgrade you can’t afford to miss.

Huw Collingbourne

August 2005