Art of Illusion Portable

Modern animations and 3D characters are created with specialized modeling applications, with the market being flooded with such products. More or less intuitive, these let you create objects and wrap them up in textures and end up in different scenes for animations, with a suitable example being offered by Art of Illusion Portable.

As the name suggests, this is the edition of Art of Illusion that doesn't take you through the hustle and bustle of an installer. Since it comes in a light package, portability is a considerable advantage, letting you take your workspace and resources on a removable storage device to work on the go, given the target machine is equipped with Java Runtime Environment.

A blank canvas split into four panels representing different angles, stuck between side panels that hold drawing tools and objects manager, all of them standing on the animation timeline are the elements that greet you right from the start. Enthusiasts need to leave accommodation worries aside, but it doesn't mean beginners are discouraged.

If you already have some level of experience, then you sure have a few OBJ files lying around to import and make your initial setup a little easier. If not, the various drawing utilities are sure to help you define the virtual world or object you want to create.

Although tools feel a little rough around the edges, it's only because of the simple creation method and comprehensive adjustment options, which might be contrary to what you're used to. A few mouse clicks here and there and you can create cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, as well as scene elements like light or cameras.

These are all displayed in a side panel, with selection enabling you to manage corresponding properties. If you find adjustment difficult on a 3D plane, there's an easier way to determine shape, size and positioning by modifying values in the properties panel.

You notice there are a lot of entries under the animation menu. These enable you to add different trackers for position, orientation and even texture changes. Making objects move requires you to place marks on the timeline in different key frames of your choice.

Besides the four perspective panels that can be changed to display custom angles, the application also comes with an animation player, as well as a powerful built-in renderer. With it, you are also able to change and set quality of the output file that can be under formats like JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, HDR or QuickTime movie clip.

Bottom line is that Art of Illusion Portable, comes with a rather ironic name, putting a simple workspace at your disposal that might be confusingly simple, leaving the impression of a poor set of features. However, this is only an illusion, giving it some time and putting different objects in a smooth animation, with high-quality settings makes you realize it's worth more than a try.