OT - PARTICLEILLUSION: NEW GenArts Version 3.0.9

Soniclight wrote on 7/2/2013, 10:37 PM


NOTE: This refers to the standalone 3.x version only. I checked via a search here to see if this issue had been already covered here but found nothing. However if this is redundant to some, mes apologies; but if you haven't used PI in a while, you may find it won't work due to this change -- as I did today, and so I had to get this done.

----- The old and rather clumsy Wondertouch PI activation for both Windows and Mac has now been replaced with a GenArts PI 3.0.9. One has to uninstall whatever one has, then install the new one. Pretty painless. Just be careful with your emitters -- if they are in the default (x86) folder, they may be nuked in the uninstall process. I have mine on my D:\ drive with all my PI projects so all I had to do is reintroduce the shortcut to that folder in PI's default Emitters folder.

Here below is part of the tech support email I got, though all the questions are answered at the FAQ page too.
If you use the Mac version, naturally download and reinstall that one.

~ Philip
"We have replaced the old particleIllusion licensing with our standard GenArts licensing which should require much less frequent reactivations, and also makes it easier for you to move or reinstall a license in the future. You can disregard your old particleIllusion license as we will be disabling it. Please make sure you uninstall particleIllusion from your computer, then download and install the latest version of particleIllusion:

Comments

FilmingPhotoGuy wrote on 7/3/2013, 12:09 AM
Yea I found this out when I did a re-install about a year ago. PI 309 is now 64bit and uses 4 processors ISO only 2. Since the update I find it crashes less. The only thing is that most of the emitters are sort of standard definition in that the emitter artwork is low quality.
Lovelight wrote on 7/3/2013, 1:20 AM
Wow, so cool. Thank you for the info. PI inside Vegas... Am I dreaming?
Soniclight wrote on 7/3/2013, 3:00 AM
"PI inside Vegas... Am I dreaming?"

Yes, Lovelight, there is such a thing -- plugin version -- but it has certain limitations from what I've seen when it came out.
I prefer using PI standalone so never got the plugin variation.
Soniclight wrote on 7/3/2013, 3:04 AM
"The only thing is that most of the emitters are sort of standard definition in that the emitter artwork is low quality."

To a certain degree this is true, LightAds, however one can export the .png emitter file and tweak it in Photoshop or whatever. In addition, there is a tutorial on how to turn an SD or older project to HD or larger resolution. I tend to start big anyway -- at least HD.

"PI 309 is now 64bit."

Since I just installed this new version today but have not worked in it yet, nice to know. I have 6 actual cores and 16 GB DDR3 so hopefully PI will crash less for me -- I tend to get a bit complex with my emitters... :)
Soniclight wrote on 7/3/2013, 3:09 AM
[Totally OT: Participants at this thread so far: LightAds, Lovelight, Soniclight.
What is this? Some weird synchronistic photonic woo-woo? lol]
Lovelight wrote on 7/3/2013, 2:15 PM
How interesting. We could be a super hero team with names like that.

" Some weird synchronistic photonic woo-woo," you have a nice way with words. : )
FilmingPhotoGuy wrote on 7/4/2013, 7:17 AM
I still maintain that they should've use Particle Illusion to make the moon walk look more real.
Soniclight wrote on 7/4/2013, 11:11 AM
"How interesting. We could be a super hero team with names like that."
Well, I'm no superhero. But perhaps we're latent Jedis in disguise :)

"I still maintain that they should've use Particle Illusion to make the moon walk look more real."
Indeed, that full-of-artifacts black-and-white footage was so amateur.
Soniclight wrote on 7/4/2013, 2:50 PM
Jim,

You wrote:

"but if you haven't used PI in a while, you may find it won't work due to this change -- as I did today, and so I had to get this done." I just tried my stand-alone version (3.0.4) and it works just fine. Did you say that you had a problem running your copy until you upgraded?

Indeed, it was dead in the water - activation wasn't working.

And BTW, as far as I can tell, the new PI is 64-bit now or at least creates a folder in Program Files/GenArts/ named "particleillusion -OFX64" -- so worth the update. I haven't really worked on any project yet so can't tell if it's a bit faster, but the GUI seems a bit less sluggish or quirky.

"Your link to the download page for the update is missing the final "e" in "standalone"...
Thanks, I fixed it above.
Soniclight wrote on 7/18/2013, 5:49 AM
A WHILE LATER...
CORRECTION:

I wrote previously:

"And BTW, as far as I can tell, the new PI is 64-bit now or at least creates a folder in Program Files/GenArts/ named "particleillusion -OFX64" -- so worth the update."

WRONG. Alan Lorence (creator and developer of Wondertouch and PI) told me at the PI forum that it is NOT 64-bit. The only thing that changed was the activation. I don't know what the folder in the Program Files is but it's not a full program folder - probably some common files folder or such.