Piranesi 2010 Pro review

In a world of me-too software Piranesi 2010 Pro is a real standout: it does something that no other application does, and does it brilliantly well. What makes it unique is that, whereas other bitmap editors deal with fundamentally flat pictures, Piranesi’s EPix images contain depth information. It’s a simple difference that leads to some extraordinary creative power.

To unlock this power you need to have an EPix image to work with. Informatix has worked hard to ensure that most of the main professional 3D applications – 3ds Max, Lightwave, Cinema 4D, Vue and so on – can directly render to the EPix format.

For 3D applications that can’t output directly, Informatix provides Vedute 2010, which lets you import models in an extended range of formats – including 3ds, fbx, dwg and dxf - and set up your view and lighting ready for export. Most significantly, Informatix also now provides an export plugin for the free version of Google SketchUp, which means anyone can quickly develop 3D ideas in SketchUp that they can then bring to creative life in Piranesi.

Once you’ve loaded your EPix bitmap into Piranesi you can begin working on it using the selection of tools (Pen, Brush, Fill, Painter and so on) that runs down the left edge of the screen. The main tool options, and there are lots of them, are handled via the context-sensitive Properties bar where you control the paint or effect to apply. A handy option, new to this version, is the colour sampler that lets you quickly pick up colours from the current image. More advanced control is offered via a range of floating panels.

Despite its new branding, the Piranesi 2010 interface is showing its age – “Piranesi 1995” would have been more appropriate – and as a traditional flat bitmap editor, the program would have little to recommend it. However, as you explore Piranesi, the advantages of its 3D handling become apparent.

For starters, you can vary the size and angle of your brush according to the underlying surface. The biggest immediate benefit of this is the ability to quickly lock tools to underlying materials, planes and orientations, and this strength is boosted by Piranesi 2010’s ability to highlight the areas affected by the current lock setting as you mouse over the image.

Even more impressive than this, however, is what it can do with textures. Piranesi 2010 Pro provides a wide range of seamless textures in categories such as walls, flooring and so on. With the option to automatically wrap textures to surfaces this means you can quickly turn a simple unformatted plan into a fully-realised, near photo-realistic rendering. The Clone capability, meanwhile, allows you to pick up existing textures from the image and accurately apply them to other surfaces.