Alien Skin's Eye Candy 5 Impact is a Photoshop filter set that allows you to create a large number of interesting effects and art.

Eye Candy Impact is not a filter set that will enhance a photograph or even change it slightly so its atmosphere changes. It’s a filter set that will create new components in a Photoshop document.

For example, the Impact filter called Gradient Glow will create a glow around the object that is on your Photoshop layer. It will add that glow to the object as soon as you click the OK button. It will create a new layer, or will add the glow right to the object, depending on the setting of the “Create output in new layer above current” check box.



Using Eye Candy Impact is straightforward. You select one of its filters and a dialogue window opens. The window is a complete program within Photoshop. It has different tabs with different capabilities. If you’re in a lazy mood, you can just select one of the many presets.

However, it pays off not being too lazy and going the extra mile. You can start with a preset, but then adjust the result to your own liking by using the next-tab controls. Some filters have many controls with subtle effects, others have dramatic effects, and some others have only a few sliders and buttons you can set.

Some of the filters, such as the Perspective Shadow filter, have in-window controls that you drag with the mouse to “mold” the end result. The Perspective Shadow filter, by the way, solves a problem for which you usually need a dozen or so steps to accomplish the same result.

It will create a shadow as if the sun was shining on top of your object (or at least at an angle), not as if a light was positioned right in front of it (which drop shadows will seem to do). With the Perspective Shadow filter, it takes a few minutes if that many, to create a decent, good-looking “real” shadow.



If you often find yourself creating symbolic logos (like a crest symbol) or text logos, and making a bevel is part of those jobs, Impact’s Bevel and Extrude filters will be of benefit to you. You can indeed accomplish the same effects using Photoshop’s built-in tools, but I found the controls that Eye Candy provides for to be far superior than Photoshop’s. Results can be achieved by virtually endless trial and error until you find exactly what you need.

In most cases, however, the interface will help you achieve the result much faster than with Photoshop alone. You won’t need much trial and error with Eye Candy Impact.

Is the Impact package an ideal son-in-law? Well, all of the included filters are of an excellent quality, but I was a bit disappointed about the lack of filters that I saw the results from on the web site. When I checked back, those results were due to other filter sets that are all marketed as Eye Candy 5 filters.

Luckily, Alien Skin, does sell a bundle which includes all of this eye candy.

Conclusion

I found Eye Candy 5 Impact to offer much value for the money. A few filters require much creative insight, while others offer more down-to-earth (and therefore more often of use) effects.

The quality of the end result has always been excellent. And the fact that most filters will not affect your original object earns extra mark.