MojoWorld: Pandromeda's world creation tool.(Evaluation)

MOJOWORLD, a "planet-creation" product from Pandromeda, is as much a tool that can be used by digital matte artists as it is a fun toy that allows friends and family from around the world to connect and explore digital worlds.

MojoWorld consists of two modules for creating and exploring worlds both fantastic and realistic, complete with moons and suns. The MojoWorld Generator creates the worlds, and the Transporter is a viewer. A Pro version of the Transporter is also available--both it and the Generator include the MojoVox chat utility. This last underscores one of the main purposes of MojoWorld--to offer the ability to explore worlds created by others in a community of users.

When you first open the software, you find yourself on a default planet in the Transporter. Here you have the ability to travel by foot, airplane, or UFO.

The Generator is accessed within the Transporter through a pull-down menu. Once in the Generator, prepare yourself for a substantial learning curve, but the end result will be well worth the time.

Part of the reason for the learning curve is the Generator's interface, which is attractively designed and clutter-free, but not particularly intuitive. The many different sliders that pop up whenever you click on the icons, lines, or circles that are used to create the planets do not indicate how the values are going to affect the element you are adjusting. You are left to experiment and hope you get what you desire. At press time, however, Pandromeda announced Version 1.2, which includes tutorials and reference guides that should shorten the learning time. Support for third-party plug-ins has also been added.

Within the Generator, you have access to controls for sky, fog, water, primitive objects, suns, moons, materials, and textures. All these controls affect the planet on a global scale. MojoWorld is definitely more for creating entire planets and panoramas rather than worrying about the specifics. It is only through the use of Parameter Bombs that you can make localized changes to the landscape such as individual mountains and craters. You use Parameter Bombs by dragging the mouse over the desired area, thus creating a sphere of influence. By placing Bombs within Bombs, you can create some interesting looks. The trick is aligning the objects just so and selecting the correct modifiers to make the ...