Art of Illusion
Art of Illusion
is a
program for creating high quality, photorealistic (or
non-photorealistic) still images and animations (either in .mov format
or as a sequence of still frames which can be joined together using
other software to make movie files). It is powerful enough to be used
for serious, high end animation work.
Images are produced by rendering scene files. These
scene files must contain some 3-D objects, at least one light (or
some form of global illumination) so that the objects can be seen,and
at least one camera, the view from which provides the image. Complex
scenes may contain many hundreds of objects and several lights. Files
built for animation may have several cameras between which the view is
cut to make for an interesting animation sequence.
Art of Illusion is written entirely in Java.
Features include:
- Interface
- Object list, scene layout windows, and animation score
- Tooltips and explanatory icons
- Bundled documentation and help interface
- Built-in "live help" chat client for connecting to the
freenode Art of Illusion support channel
- Extensions available as scripts or plugins with
automated
installation and update from online repository (requires internet
connection)
- Grid view and realtime display modes including
Wireframe, Smooth, Textured.
- Modeling
- Primitives: cube, sphere, cone, tube, curve, triangle
mesh, spline mesh
- Boolean modeling operations
- Lathe, sweep, extrude (straight or along a curve)
- Subdivision surfaces (smoothing) with edge creasing
available for triangle meshes.
- Mesh editor featuring adjustable mesh tension, bevel,
taper, various selection methods (including select edge loop/strip),
etc.
- Object array tool (multidimensional arrays or arrays
along a curve)
- Isosurface modeling (via procedural nodes or direct
numeric input)
- Animation
- Distortion tracks for effects like bend, twist, and
shatter
- Skeletal animation with weighting, constraints and IK
- Poses and Gestures
- Keyframe editor with interpolating curves
- Path animation
- Animation through scripted objects, e.g. particles
using Particle Jet script
- Textures
- Types: Uniform, image mapped, procedural 2D and 3D
- Mapping options: Projection, spherical, cylindrical, UV
- Per-vertex, per-face and per-face-per-vertex texture
assignment (depending on textured object)
- Layered textures
- Graphical language for procedural texture/material
design
- Procedural textures can be based on parameters like
view angle (for fresnel-like effects), etc.
- Animateable textures via texture parameters and use of
Time module
- Environment background can be mapped with any photo
(HDR or RGB), as well as procedural textures
- Materials (Represent the internal properties of an object)
- Procedural and uniform materials
- Adjustable index
of refraction, scattering, eccentricity
- Animatable materials via Time module
- Rendering
- Multithreading
- Global illumination rendering, along with caustics and
subsurface scattering
- Global illumination methods: Monte carlo, photon
mapping with final gathering, direct photon mapping, and ambient
occlusion
- Light types: Point lights, spotlights (both with
editable radii), and directional lights
- Soft shadows
- Light scattering for materials: Both Single Scattering
and Photon Scattering (BSSRDF). User can specify either or both at
rendertime.
- Raytraced depth of field
- Gloss/translucency (blurred reflections and blurry
transparency)
- Motion blur
- HDRI scene illumination
- Save renders as HDRI images
- Post Processing
- Camera filters (Exposure Correction, Glow, Outline,
Tint, Blur, etc.)
- Noise reduction for Global Illumination
- Scripting
- Scripting language (Beanshell) allowing development of
new tools/commands
- Dynamic Scripts ("smart objects" - see flyswatter
tutorial)
- File Handling
- 3D Import: .obj natively; .dem, .dxf, .geo, .lwo, .pov,
.inc, .3ds via
plugins
- 2D Import via scripts: .ai, .svg
- 3D Export: .pov, .obj, VRML, all native; .stl via plugin
- 2D Export/Save: .jpg, .bmp,
.png, .tif, .hdr, all native; .svg via plugin
- Extended Functionality Through Scripts and Plugins
- Direct-to-disk rendering using presets like "Letter,"
"A4," with DPI and Bleed settings (Advanced Rendering plugin)
- Wireframe/polygon renders with antialiasing and SVG
export (Vector Renderer plugin)
- Preview renders in sidebar (Preview Plugin)
- Subdivision (Ngon) modeler with tools for both open-
and closed-mesh modeling and support for Catmull-Clark subdivision
surfaces (Polymesh Editor plugin)
- ABF+ UV unwrapping available through Polymesh Editor
plugin
- Procedural tree and plant creator (Tree and Plant
Designer plugin)
- Other major features provided through script or plugin
extensions
such as: 3D text, mesh thickening, platonic solids, sculpt,
fractal/image-based heightfields, hair, grunge, and more
42
of the Best Free Graphics Software | Return
to Renderers Home Page | Return
to Modelers Home Page
Art of Illusion also features in our 'Linux
Equivalents to Windows Software' section. The category
selector below allows you to filter the different types of software
included in that separate article.
Last Updated Friday, June 29 2012 @ 05:03 PM EDT
|
