Digital Art Empire will be reviewing a freeware open source design software regularly.

Open source software (OSS) is defined as computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain , these materials are therefore “public property”, and available for anyone to use for any purpose.

today we’ll review

Art of Illusion

Art of Illusion is a software package used for 3D modeling, texturing, ray tracing, and otherwise rendering computer generated imagery stills or animations (movies).

The goal of Art of Illusion is to provide powerful 3D modeling tools with a user interface that improves on those found in other 3D software packages. Though its interface is simple, Art of Illusion contains many features found in high-end commercial graphics software. Some of its features, like the use of online repositories and a built-in downloading tool for installing extensions, are not found in similar proprietary software.

The primary creator and maintainer of the software is Peter Eastman.

The current version is 2.7.2, released April 19, 2009. This version is both stable and powerful enough to be used for serious, high end animation work. Many of its capabilities rival those found in commercial programs. Some of the highlights include subdivision surface based modelling tools, skeleton based animation, and a graphical language for designing procedural textures and materials.

‘Open source software (OSS) is defined as computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain’

Digital Art Empire will be reviewing a freeware open source design software regularly that means its 100 % free

Features

• Interface

Object list, scene layout windows, and animation score

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 plug-ins 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.

• 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 created using the Art of Illusion procedural texture editor

• 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

• Scripting

• File Handling

• Extended Functionality Through Scripts and Plugins

download hereAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Ben Rama

Ben Rama is a Graphic Designer, CG artist & Cinematographer from London. He is the founder & creative director at Digital Art Empire Find Ben on Twitter