Digital Element Aurora
Adobe PhotoShop Natural FX Plugin
What is Aurora?
Aurora is an Adobe PhotoShop plugin, which allows you to create natural environments such as volumetric skies, clouds, oceans, lakes, rivers, stars, and more.
Aurora is developed by Digital Element, publisher of the critically acclaimed 3D natural environment modeler, and animation program - WorldBuilder. (See WorldBuilder Review here)
Learning Aurora
Aurora is really quite easy learn. Judging from the images in the gallery on Digital Elements web site, and being familiar with its WorldBuilder heritage, I knew Aurora could create beatiful natural environments. What I wasn't prepared for, was how simple it was going to be to use. Many CG programs - particualrly 3D applications have the potential to create beautiful works of art. In reality only the artists with true vision, talent, and months or even years of study ever achieve that potential. With Aurora everyone will be able to create beautiful renderings, and master the simple, yet powerful controls within an hour. The learning process is made really easy by watching the Viewlet tutorials. These are included with the program, and also online here.
Working with Aurora
Auroras genius is its ability to analyze 2D layers, and perform 3D calculations based on these layers, and the values of the parameters set by the user in Auroras Interface. The first step to adding Auroras natural Fx to your image is to prepare your photoshop image into layers. By adjusting each layers distance to the camera insode Aurora, the water and cloud planes are superimposed over your original image in the correct places.
Cloud Layer
To try out the cloud generation system, I started with the Dune.tif file which is included in the samples directory of PhotoShop 6. I then duplicated the layer, and using PhotoShop's Magnetic Lasso Tool, deleted the original cloud area of the image.
With the Layers prepared, clicking on Aurora in the plug-in menu reveals the Aurora interface. Below is what the interface looks like.
You have a choice of working with eithe the basic interface, or the Advanced Interface (right)
It is not the purpose of this review to describe what every one of the controls will do for you. Playing around with various settings will display a preview rendering in the top corner of the Aurora interface, thus all you need to do is play around with the variables until you get the look you are after. One excellent feature is the ability to save, and load your settings. Aurora also comes with a wealth of presets organized in the folders Alien, Day, Night, and Sunrise. If playing with the settings, or loading the presets isn't enough for you, using the Variation Wizard can produce some excellent results.
Water Layer
Aurora is capable of producing some very realistic water. To prepare your image for a water layer, you'll need a third layer. In this third layer, you can use your eraser brush to paint where on your image you want the water to show through. This makes it possible to add rivers, lakes, or oceans to your scenes. Changing the reflection, refraction, ambient color, depth color, wave amplitude and others will have you producing the exact qualities for the water that will suit your scene.
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Sun and Stars
Aurora provides the ability to add multiple instances of each type of element in your scene. The above image, I added 3 instances of the Sun, set the gradient black, and turned on Stars to produce an alien night sky. In the image below, I produced a bright night sky, with a low cloud layer partially blocking the top of the tower, and one Sun to make the moon. From the original black and white photo, Aurora produced a beautiful color rendering.
Light Beams
Light beams is a pretty cool feature, which can be used to add some very realistic looking lighting effects. I started with a blank canvas, and used Aurora to generate a nice looking sky over ocean scene. I then duplicated the layer, and used the eraser brush to punch a few holes in sky. I opened Aurora again, and created a few light beams. Voila, the image below.
Using Light beams, and a suitable Haze level, producing this lighthouse scene was a snap.
Conclusion
Aurora is definitely the best Photoshop plugin I've ever had the privilege of using. Adding sky, water, and atmosphere to existing images, or creating stunning new ones is fun, fast, and amazingly realistic. There is a demo version available at Digi-Element.com, so don't take my word for it - try it out, and I guarantee you'll be hooked!
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