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PD Particle 9 - How to add
Spherize filter, and make Planets
When you start exploring
Particle 9, you'll notice that there are a few
filters showing in the Filters area:
Since Particle 9 is mostly focused on painting,
these filters will be focused on enhancing such
paintings: adjusting the contrast, saturation and
brightness, adding some focus and various blurs,
and a few artistic options. There is also a
category called Misc., which some filters for
Rendering, and some for Combining (with the Swap
image).
One of the filters we find is missing there is the
Spherize tool. Particle 9 is codename'd "From
outer Space", and yet, how are we to create space
art, without a spherize tool? We felt that this
should be fixed. So we'll show you here how you
can enhance the program by adding one of the older
Spherize tools.
Essentially, Particle 9 has a tool
that shows all installed plugins found in the
folder where Particle 9 is installed. To see
that tool, simply hit the keyboard
shortcut: k (which we describe
jokingly as killer plugins). Once you launch the
plugins manager in this way, you'll see what
plugins you currently have installed:
In the above screenshot, you will see that
we have already added the Spherize tool. The file
is named Spherize_pf.exe
There are other filters in this list that may not
be part of the PD Particle 9 distribution. Most
are included with PD Artist.
To add the Spherize filter to your installation,
download and save this file:
Save the file in the folder where you have
Particle 9 installed. By default this is:
C:\Program
Files (x86)\Particle9
Once you've placed a copy of
the above file in the Particle9 folder, quit and
re-launch Particle 9. Launch the plugin browser
(k).
Before launching the spherize tool, it's a good
idea to have some type of image loaded, such as an
interesting marble pattern, or some photographic
pattern perhaps. Anything will go just to play and
explore it. For example, try the Plasma noise
filter:
Then double-click the Spherize tool from the
plugins panel.
So there
you are, now you can use the Spherize tool as
a start in making space art, truly from outer
space.
This version of the Spherize plugin is great,
but it's not the latest and greatest. It dates
back to PD Artist 7. If you want more of the
great new features, consider upgrading to
Artist 9 or Howler 9 or better.
New Tutorials & Videos
Now that we have the Spherize tool in Particle 9,
we'll want to get started wth creating space art.
Before we can put planets on it though, we'll need
some techniques for creating star fields as
backgrounds. Click the images here to
enlarge. Below you'll see a tutorial for that.
Another tutorial was posted to our YouTube
channel. This one is also of interest to many game
developers, especially arcade games, when working
with sprites:
Animation 101, part12
- working with sprite sheets
We've just dropped the price on
Howler 9.6, it is now at $64. You'll also find
special offers at daz3d, renderosity, steampowered
and of course the author's site, www.squirreldome.com
You can save even more, an extra 30% that is, for
a few more days, when ordering on or before July
4. No discount coupon needed, this sale is
automatic. Once you access the shopping cart from
http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/sales
and click on the link for PD Howler 9.6, you'll
see the reduced price. This offer is good through
the July 4 weekend. Happy Independence Day!
Of course, if you already had a prior version,
such as v9.2, or v8 and earlier, or wish to switch
and upgrade from PD Particles and PD Artist to PD
Howler, you should qualify for even better
discounts, 44%, 51%, even up to 72% off! Contact
us if you need a new discount coupon to upgrade or
sidegrade from PD Artist and PD Particles.
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