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5 Smileys - 1 Smiley Poor, 5 Smileys Excellent
Platforms: Mac OS, Windows 98/NT4/2000/ME
Making the Jump to Version 4000 A few months ago I polled a Photoshop mail list as to their favorite plug ins. It was unanimous -- Eye Candy. And that was version 3! Which would make it about 3,997 versions ago. Well, not really. In an ordinary software numbering scheme that would be true, but no one's ever accused Alien Skin of being ordinary. It's not ordinary to put pictures of porn star Asia Carrera on your web site in a company T-shirt. But, heck, that's part of the mystique I suppose. [Editor's Note: I thought it was pretty cool that they had $3Bill Barbot, formerly of Jawbox and Burning Airlines taking the logo for a spin, but to each his own.]
What's New in Eye Candy? This most recent release of Eye Candy (which started life as "Black Box" in 1994) is a 23 filter set, adding the new Drip, Melt, Marble, Corona, and Wood to the improved old guard members. I've always been impressed with Eye Candy , but I assure you that "Drip" and "Melt" will swiftly be seen all over the world wide web. These are simply stunning, which isn't to detract in the least from the rest. The "Wood" filter produces a wood grain that I was sure would attract termites. In the past, I would apply marble textures by making a long series of manipulations to images with Photoshop. Due to popular demand, Alien Skin included a Marble plug-in. To me, nothing exudes more class than marble. I personally am thrilled they created this filter.
Interface Changes... In addition to the new filters and generally enhancing the old standbys, Eye Candy 4000 sports a more "host like appearance," which gives a more consistent look and feel to using your favorite graphics editor. The controls are generally much more intuitive, if somewhat less "unique" in appearance than version 3. In fact, this is a lot more than just a a few cosmetic changes to an old favorite. Keyboard shortcuts, for example, are the same as Photoshop's. While built in help is nonexistent, taking you to the Alien Skin website when you need help, new mouseover help strings have been integrated into all elements of the preview window. This is a great help, especially for beginners. Other interface improvements include adding tabbed windows to make manageable those filters which incorporate a large number of sliders.
The preview windows are now of the "jumbo" variety. Remember the tiny preview windows of version 3? I got so tired of scrolling around to look at an effect in the preview mirror. No more!
Well, Since You're Human Version 4000 recognizes you're only human. Now there are unlimited "undos" and "redos" within each filter window! And if you're not quite sure what you want to do, command menus let you switch filters from within the preview window. These are both very handy, timesaving features for fans of experimentation, like me.
Custom Settings If you're not satisfied with being limited to a predetermined number of effects, a Bevel Profile Editor is now included in Bevel Boss, Chrome and Glass. Users now have complete control over the shape of bevel and carve effects. Bevel Profile settings can be named and saved for later use. You'll find similar features, such as the Gradient Editor, available
to selected filters.
A Bona Fide Time Saver Not only do these new features make your work look better, but they save time too. Just like the addition of the Marble filter, which allows me to skip an entire series of manipulations, Eye Candy 4000 has also combined the old Drop Shadow and Perspective Shadow filters into one, called Shadowlab. The old Inner Bevel, Outer Bevel and Carve filters have been, similarly, combined into one called Bevel Boss. Besides being more efficient, it sounds cooler.
Final Analysis
There are several other enhancements you enjoy playing with. We did! My 8-year-old daughter and I spent half a a day just fiddling with various settings. You will too. As has been our experience with other Alien Skin software, we can identify no technical shortcomings. When it comes to design of the effects themselves, Eye Candy has long made ordinary people look like graphic gods. This version's no exception. The only shortcoming we could nail Alien Skin with is the lack of integrated help other than the mouse overs. The good news is that the very good accompanying manual is small enough to carry around and a joy to read. This software does everything it claims to do and does it well. It's a joy to use and begs you to test drive it. I award Eye Candy Version 4000 5 smileys, though I tried to find a good reason not to since this is the second product in a row to which I've given that top rating. I was afraid I might be getting to soft in my old age. Then I remembered this was the pick of plug-ins by a top notch Photoshop mail list.
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Title
Craig Cox - 
