We use signlab 9.1 and looking for some different kind of plugins. There is a freepack for filter forge. Was wondering if it is worth buying the professional edition and if it would install into the plugins of signlab how the freepack ones show up.
Another one I have been looking at is eye candy 7.
Do any of you use either of them and recommend them or any others?
-Travis
I've used both Eye Candy and Filter Forge extensively, tested out and rejected a number of others, and do most of this kind of work with a third product I prefer. That application is named
Genetica.
The following comments will attempt to explain the differences between Eye Candy, Filter Forge and Genetica. But first, let me address a couple of your questions:
None of these applications will work, to the best of my knowledge, as a plugin for SignLab. All of these applications, however, will generate images and/or seamless textures that can be used in SignLab. I know that a free pack was offered by Filter Forge at one point but I do not see it on their website at this time. As I recall, it was simply a package of seamless texture tiles that any one could use. The free pack files are resources and not the program itself. Your ability to modify them would be very limited.
Filter Forge and Genetica are both very adept at creating seamless texture tiles. If you're not familiar with a seamless tile, understand that it matches up to its own opposite sides. This makes it repeatable for creating larger images without resizing the image. To use a seamless texture tile in SignLab is probably very similar to how you would use it in Flexi, Illustrator or Photoshop. That is you open the tile in your application and then perform a "define pattern" command which adds the tile into a palette and each program then provides a way to then use the tile to fill a background or a vector or even just a selection. So for example, in Flexi one defines a texture and it adds it to a palette just like the various vinyl or fill palettes. You might then type out a line of text and click on the tile in the palette to fill the text with fire or woodgrain or engine turn gold. You can then double click the fill in the palette to open a control that allows you to scale the pattern larger or smaller within the text to suit the job. I'm sure SignLab has something that will do the same thing and perhaps a SignLab user can chime in with how best to go about it.
I'm not a user of SignLab, so I can't give you step by step ways to use the images created by these three applications. Using an image created in Eye Candy is no different than how you would use any image in SignLab. Open or import it and add whatever else is in the design and you're ready to print. Eye Candy itself is strictly a plugin for Photoshop ... so if you don't have Photoshop, don't invest in Eye Candy. Filter Forge is both a plugin for Photoshop and a standalone program. Genetica is strictly a standalone program. All three programs can generate pretty much an infinite number of variations creatively based on each program's available resources. Eye Candy has about 1,000 presets like chrome or fire or lightning that can be modified to change the look. Filter Forge has more than 11,500 filters (call them presets) that do a lot of the same as Eye Candy and can also be modified an infinite number of ways. You can also edit the filters themselves to create new ones or you can create your own filters from scratch. About half of Filter Forge filters are textures and the rest are effects. Think of the effects as saving an action (a macro) in Photoshop. For example, if you wanted to adjust the brightness and contrast for an image, you might do it in a Filter Forge filter following a series of predetermined but still adjustable steps.
Pros and Cons of Each
Eye Candy is the least expensive of the three ($129) and is probably the easiest to use. It does require that you use it with Photoshop and it doesn't create seamless textures. It also doesn't allow you to create new effects but you can infinitely tweak the presets that come with it. None of what it does is photographic and much of what it does is to manipulate either effects built into Photoshop or to manipulate Perlin noise to imitate reality.
Filter Forge Pro is the most expensive at $399. It has its own internal effect modules that can imitate Photoshop's capability, the ability to open an existing image to manipulate it or the ability to use Perlin noise to imitate reality. It has an available library of more than 11,500 filters that is free to use for all licensees. So if you need an image of brushed metal as a starting point, you simply download it from the online library and then tweak it to what you want it to look like. Filter Forge will generate seamless tiles or non seamless images either as a standalone program or as a plugin for Photoshop. The quality of generated images can be very good as well as very large. It is both easy and difficult to use. Easy when you use an existing filter and difficult to modify a filter or create a new one unless you are very into math. A lot of the seamless tiles we offer at our
digital art website were generated with Filter Forge. There are, however, a few cons to Filter Forge:
- The filter library is created by the licensees and quality often suffers or the usefulness of the filter may be dubious. I have found between 5% and 10% of the library to be commercially useful.
- Additions to the library after a version upgrade will not work unless you pay to upgrade your license.
- Image generation and re-display after tweaks can be painfully slow. For a 3,600 x 3,600 px image, an average time is 30 to 45 minutes. We've seen some take all day.
- Handling of external images and photos is very limited.
Example created using Perlin noise in Filter Forge
Genetica is priced at $239. It also comes with a large library of filters that were all created by the publisher of the software. It also includes access to a sizeable library of royalty free photos. You can create your own filters from scratch or modify existing ones and the tutorials ease the learning curve. It has a canvas module for creating art within the app and also allows bringing in vector art as well as images and photos. It has a powerful set of tools, modules and controls and allows for generation of up to 6,000 x 6,000 px images in a variety of formats. In addition to manipulating Perlin noise to create seamless tiles, Genetica is extremely useful in working with photographic images using three different methods to do so: Blend Synthesis which moves the image elements to end up with a seamless tile; Repeating Patterns where you would draw in the edge limits of something such as a brick wall; and Patches where you would import different images and add each to your workspace. Patches, for example, could take a number of photos with transparent backgrounds and distribute them over your workspace while you control the number, size, rotation and many other factors. The program is much faster than Filter Forge typically generating a 3,600 x 3,600 px image in less than 5 minutes.
Example created using Blend Synthesis
Example created using Repeating Patterns
Example created using Patches
