ST. LOUIS (August 27, 2008) - wondertouch, a leading software developer of high performance particle effects creation tools, today announced that new versions for its particleIllusion 3.0 and particleIllusion SE line of product offerings on the Mac® OS® X are now available. The updates to particleIllusion 3.0, wondertouch's industry standard, full-featured standalone particle effects application, and particleIllusion SE, the company's introductory version, gives digital content creators working on Apple's advanced operating system more ways to quickly and easily create complex effects: explosions, smoke, fire, sparkles, motion graphics backgrounds, space effects, creatures, and abstract artistic effects. The new changes and enhancements are available to current wondertouch customers free-of-charge.

According to Alan Lorence, president of wondertouch, today's updated versions provide particleIllusion users on the Mac platform access to the same feature enhancements already updated in particleIllusion products on the Windows platform; made available last December.
"wondertouch continues to provide cross-platform tools that are reliable and flexible and allow our customers to stay ahead of the competition," said Lorence. "The fact that this update provides significant enhancements to such a mature version of particleIllusion -- free-of-charge -- illustrates the level of support and commitment that our customers have come to rely upon."

Vincent MacTiernan, principal and visual effects artist at Extreme Digital Productions, a New York City-based specialist in high end 2D/3D graphics and effects for television and film projects, has been using particleIllusion for the past three years on various high level projects, including HBO/Lovett Productions, Too Hot Not Too Handle: A Global Warming Primer and The History Channel special: Last Stand of the 300. As a particleIllusion 3.0 beta tester on Mac OS X, he's used the software to create show opens, animations and motion graphics backgrounds for the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360 as well as for the RAW Politics segments (including animations) for Tom Foreman's This Week In Politics.

"Working on a fast paced news program requires graphics and animations to be turned around very quickly and the updated features in particleIllusion are convenient and boost workflow tremendously. The new particleView search engine feature makes finding the thousands of emitters in the particleIllusion library much easier—no more wasting time looking for new emitters—and with the AutoUpdate feature I can now look up and even update/download the emitter types I need for a specific project on-the-fly. Since the emitters install in the same place, you never lose track of where they are located. The real-time render is also extremely fast and considering the complexity of some of the emitters it's always amazing to watch."

Highlights of particleIllusion 3.0.7 and particleIllusion SE 2.0.2 for Mac OS X

particleIllusion is widely regarded as one of the most artist-friendly tools for creating complex particle animations. New features and enhancements include:

• Integrated Rendering (particleIllusion 3.0 only; not available in SE) – tighter integration with pIllusionRender, wondertouch's standalone renderer, allows for automatic rendering of HD and other large-format output, saving time and enhancing workflow. (Previously, large-format output had to be saved in particleIllusion then loaded manually in pIllusionRender.)
• Mac OS X Leopard compatibility – full compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard", as well as continued compatibility with OS X 10.3 and 10.4.
• Emitter Library AutoUpdate - provides an easy way to check for, download, and install the particleIllusion emitter libraries that are provided free-of-charge by wondertouch each month.
• particleView Search Engine – particleView, wondertouch's emitter viewer application, features a new search engine to help users find particle emitters within the vast particleIllusion library collection which currently numbers over 2500 emitters for particleIllusion 3.0 and over 2000 emitters for particleIllusion SE. (particleView is installed with both particleIllusion 3.0 and SE, and is also available as a free download from the wondertouch website.)
• Quick Load Library – this new function, added to particleIllusion SE 2.0.2 and enhanced in particleIllusion 3.0.7, makes switching between particleIllusion emitter libraries faster and easier.
• Bug fixes – a long list of issues have been addressed in the latest versions of particleIllusion, providing customers greater stability and enhanced confidence in adding particleIllusion into the production pipeline.

Pricing and Availability

Registered owners of particleIllusion 3.0 and particleIllusion SE can download updates free-of-charge from the wondertouch website, www.wondertouch.com or by contacting info@wondertouch.com.

About particleIllusion

particleIllusion 3.0, available on both the Windows and the Mac operating systems, enables users to benefit from the latest version of wondertouch's award-winning particle engine to create the largest number of effects, with amazing realism and complexity. The application features an ever-growing collection of hundreds of preset effects such as smoke, fire, explosions, water effects, sparkles, colorful artistic effects, and many others. particleIllusion features OpenGL hardware acceleration to provide real-time (or near real-time) previews of most effects and ultra-fast rendering of final output. The software now ships with more than 2500 different preset emitters and each month the company releases additional emitters free-of-charge, to provide artists with an impressive variety of effects choices for unprecedented flexibility and enhanced productivity.

pIllusion SE 2.0, available on both the Windows and the Mac operating systems, is the low-cost introductory version of particleIllusion. The application relies on an older version of the particle engine, but still enables users to create a huge number of effects.

About wondertouch

wondertouch, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is an award-winning software developer specializing in particle effects for the visual effects industry. The company's flagship product particleIllusion, a sprite-based particle effects application, is designed to provide the most comprehensive effects creation tool and efficient workflow. Widely regarded as one of the most popular standalone solutions for effects creation, particleIllusion is now used worldwide by creative professionals working in film post-production and pre-visualization, standard and HD video, commercial broadcast, motion graphics and game content creation and by prosumers and hobbyists.

Labels: particleIllusion, wondertouch

Save 30% on Wondertouch particleillusion and all of the Emitter Libraries at Toolfarm through the end of January!

Labels: particleIllusion, Sale, wondertouch

Wondertouch particleIllusion is a standalone particle emitter and it's really cool. Jeremy Hanke of Microfilmmaker Magazine reviews particleIllusion for Mac and Windows. He thought it was freakin' awesome. Check out the review. Jeremy is a great writer and he has written a ton of reviews.

If you haven't tried Wondertouch particleIlluion, download a free demo today.

On a side note, particleIllusion for After Effects will be out in the near future. Stay tuned.

Labels: particleIllusion, reviews, wondertouch

This is a Toolfarm public service announcement: The Wondertouch particleillusion deal of 50% off all Wondertouch products (excluding the upgrades) expires at 3pm PST on Halloween - October 31, 2007. That's midnight if you're in Germany. Don't miss out on this great deal.

Just a quick note, we have two products that will have half off deals next week... After Effects plug-ins too! Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest news. We will also have a special freebie for our newsletter subscribers this holiday season, so sign up now and get in on the fun!

Labels: After Effects, Newsletter, particleIllusion, Sale, wondertouch

wondertouch President, Alan Lorence, to Present at Motion Graphics Los Angeles (MGLA) Monthly Meeting, November 20, 2007

WHO:

Alan Lorence, president of wondertouch, the developers of the award-winning particleIllusion particle effects application, will be a featured speaker at the MGLA monthly meeting on November 20, 2007.

WHAT:

Lorence will give a "sneak peek" of the long-awaited particleIllusion plug-in for Adobe After Effects: pIllusion AE. The plug-in will afford motion graphics and visual effects professionals to easily access the powerful and highly-acclaimed particleIllusion 3.0 engine from directly within the After Effects environment to efficiently add and modify spectacular particle effects from the huge particleIllusion library.

Lorence will also include a brief overview of particleIllusion 3.0 (the standalone application), compare it to pIllusion AE, and show how the two products complement each other. Calling on his many years of experience as an industry-leading particle effects designer he will also demonstrate several particle emitter creation tips that can be applied to almost any particle system - not just particleIllusion - resulting in more realism, more complexity, and better performance.

WHERE:

Gallery Theater
Barnsdall Art Park
4800 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90027-5390
View Map: http://www.laparks.com/locator/maps/barnsdallartPk.htm

WHEN:

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. (Lorence presentation 8:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.)

HOW:

The event is open to members of the press, MGLA members and the public. Admission to the event is free-of-charge. For media inquiries regarding wondertouch please contact Vicky Gray-Clark, 408-243-8880, vicky@ambientpr.com.


About Motion Graphics Los Angeles

Motion Graphics Los Angeles is an association for professionals creating imagery for video, film, and other media using desktop tools. Formed in August 1997 through the merger of several previously-existing groups, MGLA's area of discussions are not restricted to a specific hardware or software solution, understanding that an artist often has to employ 2D, 3D, and editing tools to realize their vision - and that artistic inspiration can be universal.

Additional information on MGLA is available on the web at: www.mgla.org

About wondertouch

wondertouch, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is an award-winning software developer specializing in particle effects for the visual effects industry. The company's flagship product particleIllusion, a sprite-based particle effects application, is designed to provide the most comprehensive effects creation tool and efficient workflow. Considered one of the most popular solutions for effects creation, particleIllusion is now used worldwide by creative professionals working in film post-production and pre-visualization, standard and HD video, commercial broadcast, motion graphics and game content creation. Additional information on wondertouch is available on the web at www.wondertouch.com.

Labels: After Effects, Event, MGLA, particleIllusion, wondertouch

We have an incredible Toolfarm Exclusive deal for Wondertouch/particleIllusion Products. Save 50% off any Wondertouch product until October 31st (excluding upgrades).

particleIllusion is a standalone application- use in conjunction with the video program of your choice! Quickly and easily create amazing effects: explosions, smoke, fire, sparkles, motion graphics backgrounds, space effects, creatures, and abstract artistic effects -- literally hundreds of different types of effects.

Buy it now! The sale lasts only 2 days!

Labels: particleIllusion, Sale, wondertouch

Wondertouch released particleIllusion 3.0.2 for Windows, which is a free update.

It's highly recommended that users download and install the update. It provides several new features (including enhanced movie file support, easier rendering of large output sizes, an "autoupdate" feature, emitter searching with articleView, and more) and many bug fixes.

3.0.2 works in XP x64 and Vista too.

Note that 3.0.2 uses an improved activation method, so you will need to activate again after installing the update.

(If you need a full installer instead of the 3.0.1a to 3.0.2 update, please email
support@wondertouch.com).

Labels: particleIllusion, wondertouch

particleIllusion's Powerful Real-time Rendering Capabilities Praised by Studio Creatives in Helping to Quickly Turnaround More than 30
Branded Identify Elements

St. Louis, MO (October 10, 2007) -- When San Diego-based creative firm Karcher Design was tapped by corporate giant CSC to create presentation materials for its annual senior leaders conference in support of a new global initiative, it had just over four weeks lead time. To meet the challenge, Karcher Design leveraged the power and versatility of wondertouch particleIllusion to create a state-of-the art package of presentation elements, culminating in a spectacular, seven-minute motion-graphics intensive film.

Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is a leading global information technology services company that currently operates in more than 55 countries, employs more than 87,000 people, and serves some of the world's largest customers in industry and government. Although CSC may not conjure up a creative connection, wondertouch customer, Karcher Design, needed to deploy all the tools in its arsenal to quickly meet the deadline and create elements that would motivate CSC's top brass attending the conference from around the world.

"We faced considerable motion graphics effects and deadline challenges on the CSC project," said Christopher Karcher, president/creative director, Karcher Design. "Our initial design concepts incorporated curving spiral lines and circles that we wanted to animate from two-to-four minutes in length that would morph into new shapes and patterns in an organic way.

"We looked at other 2D/3D applications but found them too complicated to learn or simply took too long to generate our ideas. Once we started experimenting in particleIllusion we immediately realized the power of its real-time rendering capabilities to quickly create and customize the animated elements we envisioned. This creative freedom was a wonderful change for us as it allowed a fluid interaction with our designs that many of us only experienced in traditional art forms such as painting, filmmaking and ceramics" he added.

For the conference program content, the Karcher creative team (comprised of two animators, an art director and creative director) successfully conceived and delivered more than 30 branded identity elements. These elements included animations, multi-layered high-definition motion graphics and high-definition still images, which were also used for print, electronic signage and presentation materials. The motion elements were integrated with high-definition video footage, produced by San Diego based Loma Media, and included interviews with key CSC executives and top tier customers from over six countries. The end product brought to life a one-of-a-kind wide screen motion picture experience entitled, "Positioning for Growth". The seven-minute film was displayed to the senior level executives in attendance on a 50-foot wide, Vista Systems "Spyder" projection system at 1080i with a 3.3:1 aspect ratio.

"The CSC project was unique in that the animations we created were for large projection display and needed to loop," said Karcher. "Although the videos were rendered in 1080i, most of the components were mastered in 4K resolution to cost effectively support their usage in print and other extremely high resolution applications.

"In addition, since many of the animation elements involved time remapping, using particleIllusion we were able to render design elements at very high frame rates, and create effects that were fast and energetic but would transition to slower moving and poetic wherever needed; 300 frames per second or more. The software also flexibly integrated with other design elements created in Maxon's Cinema 4D, and allowed us to adjust the timing and energy of the design later in the process in Adobe After Effects," adds Karcher.

About Karcher Design
Karcher Design is a creative firm specializing in consumer and business-to-business design and image branding, interactive design and motion media. The company partners with leading business clients, agencies and PR firms including Sony, Qualcomm, DirecTV and PBS. For additional information, please visit, www. http://www.karcherdesign.com.

About wondertouch
wondertouch, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is an award-winning software developer specializing in particle effects for the visual effects industry. The company's flagship product particleIllusion, a sprite-based particle effects application, is designed to provide the most comprehensive effects creation tool and efficient workflow. Considered one of the most popular solutions for effects creation, particleIllusion is now used worldwide by creative professionals working in film post-production and pre-visualization, standard and HD video, commercial broadcast, motion graphics and game content creation. Additional information on wondertouch can be obtained on the Web at www.wondertouch.com.

Labels: particleIllusion, wondertouch

90 New Emitters Feature a Mix of Realistic and Abstract Particle Effects Covering Pyrotechnic and Heart Themes; Complete Collection of 12 Libraries Provides 360 Complex, Customizable Emitters for Incredible Artistic Versatility

St. Louis (PRWEB) July 25, 2007 -- wondertouch, a leading software developer of high performance particle effects creation tools, today released an additional three new libraries in its Professional Emitters (Pro Emitters) software line for particleIllusion 3.0. Each library contains 30 complex, ready-to-use, particle-based emitters that allow digital content creators to easily customize particle effects projects quickly and cost efficiently. The Pro Emitters supplement the already impressive selection of more than 2,000 different preset emitters that ship with particleIllusion 3.0, as well as the additional emitters that the company releases free-of-charge each month, to provide artists with an impressive variety of effects choices. With today's announcement, the expanded wondertouch Pro Emitters collection now offers a total of 360 particleIllusion 3.0 emitters arranged into twelve themed libraries ranging from real-world effects such as explosions, fire, auroras, and breaking glass to motion graphics and artistic backgrounds, text and abstract effects.



The wondertouch Professional Emitters Libraries, initially introduced in March 2006, were created by some of the world’s most talented particleIllusion artists. The latest libraries were developed by Phalkunabba Rath, a freelance photographer, digital media artist and animator who also created two of the original libraries – "Abstract," and "Text & Logo". Each Professional Emitter Library contains 30 fully-customizable emitters that reflect Rath’s stylistic influences as follows:

• "Pyro 1" and "Pyro 2": contain a wide variety of high-energy emitters that depict realistic and organic fire, flames, blasts and explosions.
• "Hearts": contain beautifully surreal, flowing, and colorful heart shaped designs that are perfect for wedding videos or any place where an artistic, romantic theme is needed.

[Downloadable movies, SD and HD image samples for every Pro Emitter]

"The enthusiastic response we continue to receive from professionals and prosumers around the world for the previously-released Pro Emitters inspired us to make another series of libraries available. That same level of high quality and creativity is present in the three new libraries designed by Rath and cater expressly to our customers requesting more realistic emitters," said Alan Lorence, president, wondertouch. "The fire and explosions in the "Pyro 1" and "Pyro 2" libraries are simply astounding and nearly photorealistic. When Rath first proposed the "Hearts" library I was a bit skeptical thinking it might be of limited use – wedding videos, and the like. Now, after seeing the beautiful images in this collection, I’m confident that many artists will want to find a way to incorporate these into their effects workflows"

At Eden FX, Emmy-Award winning visual effects artists Chris Zapara and Sean Scott provide high marks for the new Pro Emitters library collections: "Television effects need to be done fast and cheap, but they still need to look great. wondertouch has really raised the bar with the Pro Emitters. The Pyro libraries are stunning, reaching new levels of realism without sacrificing the control I've come to expect in particleIllusion," says Zapara. "particleIllusion is an invaluable tool for us because it provides beautiful results in a fraction of the time it would take to engineer these effects, and at a fraction of the cost of shooting the elements for real."

Within a day of receiving the new Pro Emitters libraries, Scott remarked: "For a recent car explosion shot on "NCIS", I was grateful for particleIllusion's insane speed! The Pro Emitters I used from the Pyro libraries were spot-on photo real. The client is very particular on these kinds of shots, and was so pleased to see such fantastic results so fast."

David Basulto, principal at Clarity Pictures says: "wondertouch continues to impress with its Pro Emitter Libraries. The wide range of uses in their newest collections is a must for any content creator. Need a realistic fiery inferno coming out of your dragon's mouth? How about an extremely real muzzle shot for your latest action movie? Want to set the unknowing town ablaze? The new "Pyro 1" and "Pyro 2" Pro Emitter Libraries are your answer. They are incredibly realistic, and a must for any action arsenal. The "Hearts" library adds a romantic touch that can transform a simple wedding video into something really special. From high concept backgrounds to flowing individual hearts all you need is there - just add the love"

Pricing and Availability
The new wondertouch Professional Emitter Libraries – "Pyro 1", "Pyro 2" and "Hearts" - are available for individual purchase for $39.00; the three libraries are available together for $90.00. wondertouch also offers the 'Professional Emitters Complete - a collection of all twelve libraries at a cost of $329. The Pro Emitter Libraries are compatible only with wondertouch particleIllusion 3.0, on both the Windows and Mac OS X platforms. wondertouch software products are available at Toolfarm.com

About wondertouch
wondertouch, headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., is an award-winning software developer specializing in particle effects for the visual effects industry. The company's flagship product particleIllusion, a sprite-based particle effects application, is designed to provide the most comprehensive effects creation tool and efficient workflow. Considered one of the most popular solutions for effects creation, particleIllusion is now used worldwide by creative professionals working in film post-production and pre-visualization, standard and HD video, commercial broadcast, motion graphics and game content creation. Additional information on wondertouch can be obtained on the Web at www.wondertouch.com.

Labels: particleIllusion, wondertouch