Microfilmmaker Magazine - Reviews - Software Review: Atmosphere, Pg. 2 of 2


	Review: Atmosphere , Pg. 2

'Display Corner Depths' is a useful feature for setting up your Atmosphere-enhanced comp. Unfortunately...see fig5.

Performance
I found rendering with Atmosphere to be painfully slow for what it was delivering in terms of eye candy. Additionally I found it quite irritating that the "Display Corner Depths" feature (a useful feature that helps for setting up Atmosphere-enhanced comps before rendering) actually renders with the video if you leave it switched on. Since this is a feature that I can't imagine anyone ever wanting to render with the effect, I found it irritating to have to remember to turn the feature off each time I wanted to render something.

The corner depths render with the comp? Why? Also this took 10 minutes to render. For a point of reference, I could have rendered these titles as Zaxwerks 3D titles in that amount of time. Obviously this is a problem for more complex comps.

Value
Atmosphere is $49. That's not alot to ask for a plugin, but for designers and filmmakers on a budget, the question always remains: is it worth it?
Unfortunately, with this version, Atmosphere just isn't—in terms of both money and time. There are too many workarounds in After Effects to achieve a very similar effect quickly.

Final Comments
The idea of Atmosphere is actually pretty cool. It just needs more options like background layer mapping and fog texture to make it worth the time it takes to work with and render the effect. With the addition of these features, I'd be eager to check out Atmosphere 2.0, but until then it looks like Atmosphere will not be in my arsenal of go-to effects.


Ease of Use	4.0
Depth of Options	2.0
Performance	2.0
Value vs. Cost	4.0
Overall Score	3.0

Nikc Miller is co-producer of Livelihood, and director and editor of several award winning short films. He currently works as an After Effects Artist at Render Perfect Productions in Baltimore. Nikc specializes in consulting small businesses and entrepreneurs on how to increase their visibility by using video and multimedia.