Hi-
Not sure what you mean by overkill – do you mean expense wise? pIllusion is totally worth the money. It paid for itself on my first gig.
I use the program for my Motion Graphics work, 2D animation, 3D animation, and just about anywhere else I can. pIllusion saves me so much time, I try to do as much as possible with it.
If you want to see some examples of my pIllusion work, you can see a lot of it in my reel at https://www.allbetsareoff.com/ in the reel section of my website.
Also, I just released an Animation Training DVD for using particleIllusion with After Effects. You can check out the site for this Creative Cow Master Series DVD at https://www.pillusionfusion.com/. It will show you how to get the most out of compositing your particles in AE.
Also, there are a bunch of tutorials at the wondertouch site which can give you an idea of what it’s good for, and how you might use it when compositing or with 3D: https://www.wondertouch.com/tutorials.asp
Hope that helps.
Aharon
Aharon Rabinowitz
arabinowitz(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
http://www.allbetsareoff.com
http://www.pIllusionFusion.com