Calling all Photoshop filter freaks—the Alien Skin gang has released Eye Candy 5: Textures. This set of fully customizable texture generators consists of ten dazzling plug-in effects that work with Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, and Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004. The package is targeted at designers and artists whose work includes 3-D texture mapping, architectural drawing, and Web design. A second release, Eye Candy 5: Nature, is also on sale now, and a third, Eye Candy: Impact, is expected soon.
Eye Candy 5: Textures has four new textures—Brick Wall, Diamond Plate, Reptile Skin, and Stone Wall—and updates of some older textures. You can choose from hundreds of presets or use one as a starting point.
Eye Candy’s unique interface, which has been updated for this version, is easy to use. Precision tools in each filter preset give you total control over a texture’s length, pattern, color, surface smoothness, noise, and more. And the program works with 16-bit images, a feature that will please design pros.
Textures’ performance was poky on my 867MHz Power Mac G4 but swifter on a dual-1.25GHz Power Mac G4.
Macworld’s Buying Advice
If you work with art or graphic designs that call for textural special effects, you won’t find more variety or higher quality than you’ll get in Eye Candy 5: Textures.