Eye Candy 7 is a very interesting software package. It renders realistic effects that are not easy to create in Photoshop. Have you ever wanted to add lightning or fire to your images?
This software is meant for graphic designers, but as a photographer, I’ve been known to dable in the design of my own promotional materials.
Using Eye Candy 7 to add effect to graphics is easy. Just select the layer in Photoshop you want to add an effect to, launch Eye Candy, select the effect and tweak. Most of the effects need a shape layer to be applied.
This was a fun software package to play with. I spent a lot of time just seeing what I could do to text and found that the limits are only bound by your imagination.
The interface is clean and simple to use. It is icon driven, so you have an idea of what the effect does before you click on then icon. This selection screen was so easy to use, I would love to see a similar selection screen in some of Alien Skin’s other products.
Once you choose your effect, you can choose from a good assortment of factory presets or create your own. With all of the effects you have an assortment of sliders and selections to modify the effect.
Here are some examples that I created.
While it was fun to play with text, I’m a photographer. So I wanted to see what I could do with a photograph.
This is my friend Mark. I wanted to see what I could do with the cloud effect. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t feel real. I might have to play around with it some more to see if I can get it to look natural.
The rain texture was more natural feeling. There are a lot of tweaks you can do to the angle, amount, and size of the rain drops.
These effects are pretty cool, but I honestly find myself wondering where I would use Eye Candy 7.
Conclusion: If you are a graphic designer who wants to save time in creating process, Eye Candy 7 is awesome. If you are a photographer who likes to dabble in designing your own materials, this software would be a great benefit. If you are just a photographer, who leaves graphic design to the professionals, Eye Candy will not benefit you.
All in all, Alien Skin Eye Candy 7 is a fun and easy product to use. I’m not sure how much I will use it in my product creation process, but it will save me a lot of time when I want to add some very cool effects.
Alien Skin Eye Candy 7 runs $199 and is available here on Alien Skin’s website.
