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	<title>Apophysis 3D Revealed</title>
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	<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog</link>
	<description>Using Apophysis 3D to Explore Stereoscopic Flame Fractals</description>
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		<item>
		<title>New Plugins and Scripts!</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/12/205</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/12/205#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:16:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3D hack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plugins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scripts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=205</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Visitors, there&#8217;s been a lot of activity recently relevant to Apophysis 2.08 3D hack, but the work is development of new plugins and scripts, so I haven&#8217;t taken much time to update or add to this site. That will change as there are many new things to add in both pictures and additional notes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" />Dear Visitors, there&#8217;s been a lot of activity recently relevant to Apophysis 2.08 3D hack, but the work is development of new plugins and scripts, so I haven&#8217;t taken much time to update or add to this site. That will change as there are many new things to add in both pictures and additional notes about using the program.</p>
<p>An exciting new development in the works is a script to allow you to render a stereo pair image set from a single parameter setting! If you have trouble understanding what&#8217;s taking place inside Apo, it can be a challenge to figure out how to find the right parameters for a paired image. The script was started by a good friend, Fred E. from the Apophysis discussion list and I&#8217;ve been fleshing it out with detailed features to make stereoscopic rendering much easier.</p>
<p>Other developments not mentioned on this blog up to now is the addition of a number of interesting new 3D plugins for Apo. Please visit my site on devArt for those plugins and information about them. <a href="http://aporev.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">http://aporev.deviantart.com</a></p>
<p>If this program is new to you here&#8217;s some basic information about the difference between plugins and scripts.</p>
<p>Both of those features allow you to expand what the basic program can do. Scripts can be simple where they tend to automate a task.</p>
<h3><span style="color: #ffcc00;"><strong>Scripts:</strong></span></h3>
<p>All the commands in the script get run together in sequence when you start the script. The program has a script editor so you can examine the code and make adjustments and changes to it, or start from scratch and write a new script. This is handy in many scripts as this is how you might make small adjustments to some of the parameters that it uses.</p>
<p>More complicated scripts make use of the full range of programming language to do many additional things. Fred E. commented to me recently that if you want, you could create a script to balance your checkbook. That has nothing to do with fractals, but the script facility is very flexible and powerful.</p>
<p>The bottom line for scripts is that they make use of the basic program functions and the installed plugins (Variations) to accomplish tasks ranging from simple to very complicated.</p>
<h3><strong><span style="color: #ffcc00;">Plugins</span></strong></h3>
<p>Plugins are very powerful too, but they accomplish something different than scripts. Apophysis uses Variations to provide the means of warping and transforming points in the rendering field to generate the fantastic range of fractal flames that exist.</p>
<p>Plugins do not have the access to many of the basic Apo functions that scripts have, but scripts cannot modify the rendering points like plugins. Ideally they both work together &#8211; the plugin creates interesting modifications to &#8220;point handling&#8221; processes and the script makes use of whatever the plugins make available.</p>
<p>As I&#8217;ve learned to program plugins, I&#8217;ve developed this philosophical outlook on the process of plugin operation:</p>
<p>Plugins are similar to spray painting where you have no idea which individual droplet of paint will appear out of the nozzle, but when it does, the plugin can literally do anything to that droplet before it lands on the image space. Well, not quite anything! <img src='http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt="icon wink New Plugins and Scripts!" class='wp-smiley' title="New Plugins and Scripts!" />  but close enough. Most particularly it can move them around freely.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve discovered that many plugins cause the image to dramatically darken and the reason is because the math behind the processes ends up assigning new point positions that are wildly outside of the rendering area, thus making the image have very few collected points per pixel. The solution then is to be careful with the math processes to make sure that the points stay inside the visible area and get used to brighten the intended patterns.</p>
<p>There are useful purposes in making points disappear though! More on that later&#8230;</p>
<p>Happy Holidays and Happy Fractaling!</p>
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		<title>Updates and Changes</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2012/01/updates-and-changes</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2012/01/updates-and-changes#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:14:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=213</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello Fractal Fans, &#160; It&#8217;s been a while since I had time to design new fractals, but that will be changing in the near future. There will be changes to the website too. &#160; The pictures, renderings and tutorials can best be displayed on static web pages instead of a blog. So Apophysisrevealed.com will still [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" />Hello Fractal Fans,</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been a while since I had time to design new fractals, but that will be changing in the near future. There will be changes to the website too.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The pictures, renderings and tutorials can best be displayed on static web pages instead of a blog. So Apophysisrevealed.com will still exist and over time it will grow further with new galleries.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The blog will be changed to a new domain name with new subjects and functions more appropriate for blogging. There will be some mention of fractals on the new blog, but they won&#8217;t be exclusively from Apophysis. The connection is an attempt to use complex fractals to illustrate some very fractal like patterns in business and marketing methods.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Apophysis is notorious for being difficult to obtain specific kinds of patterns to match some abstract concept or the designer&#8217;s arbitrary visual appearance goals, so the general practice follows the pattern below:</p>
<p>1. Experiment a lot and save interesting parameters.</p>
<p>2. Explore variations to interesting parameters.</p>
<p>3. If some of those end up resembling a desired pattern, keep track of that correspondence and build up a library over time.</p>
<p>4. Add any variations that provide specific number values to Flame parameters when numerical significance by count or geometry is the goal.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>While I was busy working with Apophysis daily I discovered how to program plugins which can impose the designer&#8217;s intentions a bit more emphatically. In the near future a new set of plugins will be designed around the idea of obtaining illustrative patterns for specific abstract concepts.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The advantage of doing this is that the resulting meaningful Flame Fractals will have the complex and beautiful patternings that make them so intuitively attractive. It may still require some explanation as to what different features might represent because any chart or graph needs labels for clarity.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The goal is to assist in making various concepts visually clear, which is more fun and takes less time than reading a dozen web pages and thousands of descriptive words. Many misunderstandings that are common with new information can be overcome with visual illustrations.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Thanks for being interested in Apophysis Flame Fractals, and cool eye candy generally!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Welcome</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/welcome</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/welcome#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:47:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3D hack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flame]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[methods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plugins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[random]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rotate Pitch Script]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scripts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stereoscopic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[variations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=23</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Note: Make sure to visit the pictures on the Stereo Exhibition page! They are presented in a wonderful Page Flip plugin. The Apophysis program has always provided a fascinating range of fractals that while infinite, are also unique compared to the original Mandelbrot fractals and the related Julia sets. Until a few years ago, Apophysis [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" /><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Note: Make sure to visit the pictures on the <a title="Stereo Exhibition" href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/stereo-exhibition" target="_self">Stereo Exhibition</a> page! They are presented in a wonderful Page Flip plugin.</strong></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ccffcc;">The <em>Apophysis</em> program has always provided a fascinating range of fractals</span></strong> that while infinite, are also unique compared to the original Mandelbrot fractals and the related Julia sets. Until a few years ago, <em>Apophysis</em> only created fractals as 2D images. The shapes and patterns it creates are called flames because of the resemblance of many of them to various flame like shapes. The name for the program means to protrude a shape so it seems to me that it got that name for good reason, the patterns suggest shapes!</p>
<div id="attachment_29" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 658px"><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/classicflame.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-29" title="classicflame" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/classicflame.jpg" alt="classicflame Welcome" width="648" height="314" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Classic Flame Fractal Shapes</p></div>
<p>To begin with that <em>suggestion of shape</em> was as far as it went. People love looking at the images that were rendered and imagining what shapes were present. It&#8217;s similar to cloud watching and imagining animals and figures in the cloud patterns. <span style="color: #ffcc99;"><strong>The intrigue of suggested shape is part of the attractiveness of this class of fractals.</strong></span></p>
<p>When I first came across the program I attempted to &#8216;trick&#8217; the program in various ways to show me more than one viewpoint of a flame fractal so that I could see the results in 3D. It didn&#8217;t work. Nothing repeated with sufficient predictability or defined direction for it to reveal the real shapes.</p>
<p>A review of the source code told me that it was entirely possible to modify it to include the third dimension, but not having the time, I wasn&#8217;t the one to set about the task.</p>
<p>Then a young genius with the handle <a title="&quot;Zueuk&quot;" href="http://zueuk.deviantart.com" target="_blank">&#8220;Zueuk&#8221;</a> came along and did the conversion into 3D. Now you can visualize, design and render scenes of flames from any angle and best of all, it faithfully allows you to craft the precise view locations for stereoscopic output. Not only can you get an idea of what features are located where, but <strong><span style="color: #ffcc99;">you can explicitly see the shapes in glorious detail and in 3D space!</span></strong></p>
<h4><span style="color: #ffff00;">Please understand, the program does not include direct stereoscopic tools. To obtain stereo views you have to get your render-camera to the right viewpoints <strong>AND</strong> you have to design a flame that is more than just a flat surface picture! In some cases that can be challenging.</span></h4>
<p><span style="color: #ccffcc;"><strong>Most of the &#8220;variations&#8221; and &#8220;plugins&#8221; for the program</strong></span> are written solely for 2D manipulation. That means that while they make interesting shape-suggestive patterns, they do so by painting flat &#8211; like onto a canvas. There are a useful number of additional plugins which have been written for the 3D hack versions and they provide the means to pop a flat texture into a genuine 3D shape.</p>
<p><span style="color: #ccffcc;"><strong>Once the shape is established,</strong></span> some of the 2D variations end up painting on the 3D shapes and that allows you to continue designing in 3D. Whether you explore using random tools, or deliberately build a flame transform by transform, and painstakingly work your way through the long list of variation options, the 3D flame that results can be very interesting and often surprising.</p>
<p>Discussions on this blog will help the <strong>beginner</strong> to use <span style="color: #cc99ff;"><em><strong>Apo 3D hack</strong></em></span> with basic guidelines. Since the program is quite complex, <strong>there&#8217;s plenty for an experienced flame designer</strong> to learn too. <strong>That&#8217;s especially true if you want to develop quality stereoscopic image pairs as the output.</strong></p>
<p>As things develop on this site, a number of stereoscopic tools will be developed as scripts, which makes it easy for you to use, whether or not you understand what needs to happen. I&#8217;ve started with one really useful and basic script called the <span style="color: #ffff99;"><strong><a title="Rotate Pitch Script" href="http://aporev.deviantart.com/art/Rotate-Pitch-Script-109443934" target="_blank">Rotate Pitch Script.</a></strong></span> It easily tips the Pitch axis up and down so you can switch from a top-down view (Pitch=0) to a direct side view (Pitch=90), or a view from 30 degrees. <span style="color: #99ccff;">Anyone using <em>Apo 3D</em> needs to do this a lot during the design and exploration process.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: #ccffcc;">When you want stereoscopic images,</span> there are a number of <strong>methods of working with the program</strong> that you should follow to insure that when you find the perfect flame and viewpoint, it will be simple to arrange the camera in the right way to get perfect results. Maybe some future version of the 3D hack can have additional improvements to overcome some of the idiosyncrasies and bugs that currently exist in the program.</p>
<p><strong>Stereo results are fun and wildly rewarding.</strong> Obtaining them need not be terribly difficult when you learn some of the tricks. Stay tuned to this blog and website for more information, and most of all, <span style="color: #ffcc99;"><strong>try things for yourself in <span style="color: #ffcc00;"><a title="Apophysis 3D!" href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=127736" target="_blank">Apophysis 3D!</a></span></strong></span></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Apo Treasures</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/apo-treasures</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/apo-treasures#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:22:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Parallel Perspective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adjust Panel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[final transform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pitch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stereoscopic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yaw]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=152</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Parallel Perspective The existence of parallel perspective in Apophysis 3D hack is a gem of a treasure for those who enjoy stereoscopic images. It makes the process of setting up good views and getting stereo results that are consistently usable without eye-strain very easy. It is also the quality that makes it possible to create [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" />
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Parallel Perspective</span></h2>
<p>The existence of <strong>parallel perspective</strong> in <em><strong>Apophysis 3D hack</strong></em> is a gem of a treasure for those who enjoy stereoscopic images. It makes the process of setting up good views and getting stereo results that are consistently usable without eye-strain very easy. It is also the quality that makes it possible to create <span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong><a title="3D Webscapes" href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/webscapes.html" target="_blank">3D Webscapes</a></strong></span> textures with <em><strong>Apophysis 3D hack</strong></em>.</p>
<h3><span style="color: #ffff99;">Definition</span></h3>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Parallel Perspective is the special case</strong></span> where <strong>perspective lines DO NOT CONVERGE</strong> as distance from the viewpoint increases. It is different from normal perspective where perspective lines converge at a defined infinity point or points in the picture or off-picture but relating to the photo, drawing or illustration. Perspective lines themselves are usually not part of a picture but are an illustration to help us understand the effect of perspective. Another way of describing normal perspective is the observation that objects farther away appear smaller than the same objects nearby. By contrast <strong>in parallel perspective no matter how far away the object is it remains visibly the same size.</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Parallel perspective can take a number of forms.</strong></span> Some location maps use a kind of parallel perspective. There might be a marker saying, “you are here,” and trails or roads lead to different areas within a region that is illustrated on the map. If it were a public park, little structure symbols might be used to show where bathrooms are available or camping sites, or picnic facilities exist. The symbols would be the same size for any location on the map. Trees and roads would be drawn to the same scale everywhere on the map.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Another kind of parallel perspective is used in what is termed <strong>“primitive art”</strong> which is a style typical of times in the past and the tendency of a number of modern artists to represent things in a simple style without attempting to portray a realistic perspective. Typically they show placid scenes of small towns or farms and houses. A painting might show several streets of a town with beautifully painted buildings on each street. The buildings pictured on a street at the back of the town would be essentially the same scale as buildings on the closest nearby street. Farm scenes might show cows and horses at the same size whether they are close to a road in the foreground or at the back of a distant fenced field.</p>
<p>Here are some images <span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>illustrating Parallel Perspective</strong></span> and comparing it to <strong>Normal Perspective.</strong> The first is Normal Perspective as you would experience in using a digital camera.</p>
<div id="attachment_158" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 543px"><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/normalperspective.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-158" title="normalperspective" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/normalperspective.jpg" alt="normalperspective Apo Treasures" width="533" height="356" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Normal Perspective and Stereo Camera</p></div>
<p>Normal Perspective lines spread out from the viewpoint. Nearby objects thus appear larger than farther ones. Normal every-day reality is experienced this way.</p>
<p>Parallel Perspective is uniquely different and fun to work with.</p>
<div id="attachment_159" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 570px"><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/parallelperspective.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-159" title="parallelperspective" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/parallelperspective.jpg" alt="parallelperspective Apo Treasures" width="560" height="420" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Parallel Perspective</p></div>
<p>It&#8217;s easy to see that in order to capture a larger Fractal, the <strong>virtual camera&#8217;s Render Size</strong> is increased enough to show as much of the Fractal as you might want. Distant portions of the fractal have the same size as a similar feature close to the virtual camera.</p>
<p>This next picture illustrates how a stereo image is captured in <em><strong>Apophysis</strong></em>.</p>
<div id="attachment_160" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 570px"><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/stereoparallelperspective.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-160" title="stereoparallelperspective" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/stereoparallelperspective.jpg" alt="stereoparallelperspective Apo Treasures" width="560" height="420" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Stereo Parallel Perspective</p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<h2 class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Apophysis Perspective</span></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the <em><strong>Adjust Panel</strong></em> &lt;F5&gt; of the <em><strong>3D hack</strong></em> version of the program there is a control called <strong>“Perspective.” </strong>It’s purpose is to simulate the effect of normal perspective so that nearby objects seem larger than the same object farther away. The parameters for this setting can be adjusted to values that distort the image to an extreme degree. You could call that a “special effect” which generally you won’t want to use.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>For most stereoscopic purposes</strong></span> the setting should be set to <strong>Perspective = 0</strong> and left there. The following illustrations will show what this control does and why it is best left at 0 or only used in small amounts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Stereoscopic images are generally pairs of very similar pictures.</strong></span> The precise differences between them are what make them stereoscopic. Their purpose is to provide image data to each eye that the brain can process into a recognition of depth placement in a volume of space rather than just placement on a flat surface. Yet the images themselves are flat because each eye has only a single perspective.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>What changes are there between each eye’s perspective?</strong></span> If they are done correctly, there will be ONLY one definable change – a slight horizontal displacement of each image detail according to relative distance from the camera or viewpoint. Any changes other than strictly horizontal placement changes are errors and cause various degrees of eye stress as the mind attempts to connect the information in each picture in a recognizable way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In order to render good stereo images with <strong><em>Apophysis</em></strong> the above information is important. When the <strong><em>Perspective</em></strong> setting is something other than 0, the result is that some image information will shift up or down during the attempt to define two stereo viewpoints.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Here’s an image designed by changing various parameters from those provided in a <strong>tutorial</strong> called<strong> <a title="Xaos Bubbles Tutorial" href="http://nightmares06.deviantart.com/art/Xaos-Bubbles-Tutorial-108613382" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc99ff;"><em><strong>Xaos Bubbles Tutorial</strong></em></span>,</a> </strong>written by <strong><span style="color: #ccffff;">Nightmares06</span></strong>.<strong> </strong>Specifically, in <em><strong>Transform</strong></em> 1 the variation for <strong>Hexes=1</strong> is changed to <strong>Hexes=0</strong> and instead the <em><strong>Variation</strong></em> <strong>Flower=6</strong> is used, along with the corresponding <em><strong>Variables</strong></em>, <strong>Petals=4</strong> and <strong>Holes=1.125.</strong></span></p>
<div id="attachment_153" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 630px"><strong><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/correct-stereo-pair.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-153" title="correct-stereo-pair" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/correct-stereo-pair.jpg" alt="correct stereo pair Apo Treasures" width="620" height="315" /></a></strong><p class="wp-caption-text">Correct Stereo Pair</p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>If you wish to try and duplicate these results,</strong></span> note that instead of setting the <strong><em>Pitch</em></strong> to 60 as instructed in the tutorial, the <strong><em>Pitch</em></strong> here is set to <strong>90</strong> and the <strong><em>Final Transform</em></strong> is enabled and used to create <strong>post_rotate_x = 0.333.</strong> <span style="color: #ffcc99;">This change approximates the desired view-angle and specifically makes it possible to use the <em><strong>Yaw</strong></em> control to establish accurate stereo-camera viewpoints.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_154" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 401px"><strong><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/adjust-panel.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-154" title="adjust-panel" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/adjust-panel.jpg" alt="adjust panel Apo Treasures" width="391" height="291" /></a></strong><p class="wp-caption-text">Adjust Panel Settings</p></div>
<div id="attachment_155" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 202px"><strong><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/transform-editor-fx.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-155" title="transform-editor-fx" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/transform-editor-fx.jpg" alt="transform editor fx Apo Treasures" width="192" height="379" /></a></strong><p class="wp-caption-text">Transform Editor FX enabled</p></div>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong><strong>The next picture has the value, Perspective=0.1.</strong></strong></span><strong> </strong>Note that the nearby flower is larger than it’s corresponding flower in the distance. This gives a nice perspective effect.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_156" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 630px"><strong><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/persp_0dot1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-156" title="persp_0dot1" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/persp_0dot1.jpg" alt="persp 0dot1 Apo Treasures" Perspective=0.1" width="620" height="315" /></a></strong><p class="wp-caption-text">Perspective = 0.1</p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">The image can be viewed in stereo because the discrepancies are minimal, but they do exist. Note the <strong>horizontal reference lines</strong> and the <strong>arrows</strong> which point out where image data has moved slightly up or down between the two side views.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong><strong>As the Perspective value is increased</strong></strong></span><strong> </strong>or the <strong><em>Yaw</em></strong> is increased the errors tend to increase. The next illustration is not intended for stereo viewing as it uses a <strong><em>Yaw</em></strong> difference = 40 degree angle. This first picture has <strong>Perspective=0.1</strong>. Notice that the errors have increased especially for more distant background or closer foreground objects.</p>
<div id="attachment_157" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 630px"><strong><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/persp_y40_0dot1.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-157" title="persp_y40_0dot1" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/persp_y40_0dot1.jpg" alt="persp y40 0dot1 Apo Treasures" Perspective=0.1, Extreme Yaw angle" width="620" height="315" /></a></strong><p class="wp-caption-text">Perspective = 0.1, Extreme Yaw angle</p></div>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong><strong>The following final image has the same extreme Yaw difference</strong></strong></span><strong> angle=40 (+20 and -20)</strong>, but this time there is NO perspective. <strong>The setting is <em>Perspective</em>=0.</strong> In this case, even though the change of angle is extreme the<strong> <span style="color: #ccffff;">image details remain perfectly horizontal,</span> </strong>they don’t move up or down at all. This illustrates what is happening in <strong><em>Apophysis</em></strong> and how to get excellent stereo results. It is possible to introduce small amounts of perspective for the effect as long as you keep it really small.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_166" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 630px"><a href="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/persp_y40_0.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-166" title="persp_y40_0" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/persp_y40_0.jpg" alt="persp y40 0 Apo Treasures" width="620" height="315" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Extreme Yaw difference, no perspective</p></div>
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		<title>Apo Bugs</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/03/apo-bugs</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/03/apo-bugs#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:24:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Bugs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adjust Panel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mutation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pitch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rotate Pitch Script]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Script]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=169</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I encounter various bugs in Apo quite often. That&#8217;s part of the nature of the program and a person learns to work around those bugs. For beginners who haven&#8217;t encountered them yet, they can prove puzzling or confusing. Eventually I hope to list as many of them here as can be identified. Maybe it will [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" /><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>I encounter various bugs in Apo quite often.</strong></span> That&#8217;s part of the nature of the program and a person learns to work around those bugs. For beginners who haven&#8217;t encountered them yet, they can prove puzzling or confusing.</p>
<p>Eventually I hope to list as many of them here as can be identified. Maybe it will help beginners and maybe a programmer working on updating the code will find it useful in making the program better! <span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>If you know of specific bugs and a work-around method, feel free to comment about them here, or send me an email with the information.</strong></span></p>
<h3>I&#8217;ll start with a simple one.</h3>
<p>While working in the <em><strong>&#8220;Adjust Panel&#8221;</strong></em> one can enter numerical values directly by selecting the value already there, then typing in the new value. For some reason this process frequently stops working. The program fails to update, despite entering the number and clicking <strong>ENTER</strong> on the keyboard.</p>
<p>That is partly why I wrote the <a title="Rotate Pitch Script" href="http://aporev.deviantart.com/art/Rotate-Pitch-Script-109443934" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ccffcc;"><em><strong>Rotate Pitch Script</strong></em></span></a> because I found that when the above problem occurs, the script will force the values to update correctly.</p>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>One effect of the bug</strong></span> is that as you work with <strong>Pitch=90</strong> and make edits, it is useful to occasionally look at the fractal from a different vantage point such as <strong>Pitch=0.</strong> Often after switching back and forth by manually entering a value, the program refuses to recognize the activity, but the little <strong>Pitch value window</strong> will show the value I&#8217;ve entered, making it seem as if it changed, but the preview remains the same.</p>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>A similar effect of this bug</strong></span> is that after working at <strong>Pitch=90</strong>, then opening the <em><strong>Mutation</strong></em> panel, the central window in that panel will show the current side view, but the previews are all rendered from <strong>Pitch=0.</strong> Often if one of those <em><strong>Mutation</strong></em> options is clicked, the main preview will redraw showing the new flame from a <strong>Pitch=0</strong> direction, but the <span style="color: #ffff99;"><strong>Pitch control box fails to update</strong></span> and still shows <strong>Pitch=90.</strong></p>
<h3><span style="color: #00ffff;">This causes confusion because it is false information.</span></h3>
<p>To verify the actual value, click on the word <strong>&#8220;Pitch&#8221;</strong> and start to slowly drag the mouse either left or right. <strong>This forces the value to update and begin incrementing</strong> as you drag. If it has been showing false information of <strong>Pitch=90</strong> while the program is really working from <strong>Pitch=0,</strong> then this click drag action will cause the values to <span style="color: #ccffcc;"><strong>instantly change from the visible but false 90, showing that now you are adjusting values near Pitch=0. </strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #ffcc00;"><strong>There seems to be only two solutions to this issue. Use a script to control the values, or use the click-drag action of your mouse.</strong></span> The issue with Click-drag is that it can be difficult to arrive at the precise value you&#8217;re trying to get to.</p>
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		<title>Announcement</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/07/189</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/07/189#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Apophysis 3D]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=189</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Announcement: On the afternoon of July 10th, Friday, Apophysis 3D Revealed was a short 6 minute feature during the Digital Theater Presentation at the NSA (National Stereoscopic Association) 35th annual convention in Mesa Arizona. Including a title sequence and several ending credit slides, there are a total of 44 image pairs.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" /><strong><span style="color: #ffff00;">Announcement:</span></strong> On the afternoon of July 10th, Friday, <span style="color: #ffcc00;"><strong>Apophysis 3D Revealed</strong></span> was a short 6 minute feature during the Digital Theater Presentation at the NSA (National Stereoscopic Association) 35th annual convention in Mesa Arizona. Including a title sequence and several ending credit slides, there are a total of 44 image pairs.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Stereo Disparity</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/07/192</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/07/192#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:27:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Stereo Disparity Percentage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=192</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Stereo Disparity Percentage Stereoscopic enjoyment is all about seeing and exploring the depth factors. Enjoyment is all about having the right relationships in place without going to a stressful extreme. This highlights one of the most difficult challenges in stereoscopic 3D because there are so many variables to account for. In stereo photography the goal [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" />Stereo Disparity Percentage</p>
<p>Stereoscopic enjoyment is all about seeing and exploring the depth factors. Enjoyment is all about having the right relationships in place without going to a stressful extreme. This highlights one of the most difficult challenges in stereoscopic 3D because there are so many variables to account for.</p>
<p>In stereo photography the goal is to provide an image pair that when viewed appropriately, recreates for your senses the same visual geometry of the original scene. Lots of discussion can erupt over topics of whether or not it is OK or good to use a wider baseline between the camera lenses in what is termed hyperstereo. Hyperstereo can be very useful especially if you want to observe shape details of a distant scene which normally would appear not to have depth.</p>
<p>The medium of Stereoscopic imagery is actually a very flexible, stretchable medium. That is good in that it allows the artist/photographer plenty of lattitude in composing and arranging an image or scene. It can be bad in that a novice can easily be unaware of some effects which have the potential to affect people in an adverse way when they view the results.</p>
<p>Abstract art such as Fractal Flames has the advantage of not containing familiar and recognizable features. Thus when dimensions become stretched or distorted, who is to say it didn&#8217;t belong that way to begin with?! If the subject were a human or animal face, any distortion can be easily noticed and most often the impression would be negative.</p>
<p>More particularly relating to this website and stereoscopic issues, there is a huge difference between freeviewing or cross-viewing images on a computer monitor and attempting to project those same images onto a theater sized screen in stereo! The easy explanation is that cross-viewed images on the computer screen are far more compressed, which allows a much larger overall stereo disparity to be present before viewing stresses become too much. By comparison, when stereo images are projected to a large screen, the viewing geometry is stretched so much that a much smaller range of disparity is necessary. The guidelines for the NSA presentation call for a maximum of 3% disparity. The percentage is found by dividing the image width by the total measured stereo disparity between near and far points.</p>
<p>All of the images used for the NSA show had to be rendered especially for that viewing environment. For one thing they needed to be a particular shape and size for best performance, but also their parameters had to be adjusted so that the finished stereo pairs had no more than 3% disparity. Some of them as they originally existed had been rendered with 6% or more disparity and were quite comfortable to view on a computer screen.</p>
<p>Below is an illustration to help visualize the situation. The basic fractal image has been resized for website viewing and is actually 500 x 382 pixels. The ideal 3% then is 15 pixels as a total stereo disparity. When I measured the image I found that the foreground, or near point projected in front of the stereo window formed by the two sides and the plane of zero disparity. The total disparity from that near point to the most distant points turned out to be 4.4%.</p>
<div id="attachment_193" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 741px"><img class="size-full wp-image-193" title="Disparity" src="http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Disparity.jpg" alt="Disparity Stereo Disparity" width="731" height="339" /><p class="wp-caption-text">Stereo Disparity Extremes</p></div>
<p>In this image various levels of disparity have been marked by the numbers. You may want to back up a ways from your computer monitor before trying to visually fuse the more extreme values represented by the range from 12% to 25%. I can personally fuse all the values, but when I view 25%, much of the rest of the image blurs out of range. For some that may cause eye strain so don&#8217;t try too hard! For others you simply may not be able to fuse the more extreme levels at all.</p>
<p>Projected stereo images with disparity well over 3% become for that audience what levels above 12% does for the freeviewing example.</p>
<p>It would be well to limit one&#8217;s creative expression to the more conservative and viewable levels of 3% to 8% when freeviewing on a computer screen. Then be aware that not all viewing circumstances will provide the same experience and no two pair of eyes are the same either!</p>
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		<title>Batch Rendering</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/batch-rendering</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/batch-rendering#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:48:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Rendering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flame menu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Render All Flames]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=88</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are several ways of rendering images from Apophysis settings. With stereo work I usually have at least two pictures and some design sessions yield more than that as saved parameters waiting rendering time. It&#8217;s cool to set it to render then go to bed, or off to some appointment. On the main panel, under [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" /><span style="color: #ccffcc;"><strong>There are several ways</strong></span> of rendering images from <em><strong>Apophysis</strong></em> settings. With stereo work I usually have at least two pictures and some design sessions yield more than that as saved parameters waiting rendering time. It&#8217;s cool to set it to render then go to bed, or off to some appointment.</p>
<p>On the main panel, under the <em><strong>Flame</strong></em> menu there is an option to <strong>Render All Flames</strong>. It usually works for me, but some have said it often fails. You might want to try it for simple convenience but there are tricks to how it works that might help.</p>
<ul>
<li>It is designed to render all flames that exist within an opened flame file, where you see the named parameter sets in the Main panel file menu.</li>
<li>When you activate it and provide directions where to save the renders, it goes about its job. If you go with whatever image size is in the parameters be aware that it will read and use the first set, and all other files will be rendered at the same size! If you set a size, all files will render to that adjusted size.</li>
<li>Just to make sure it has the best chance of working, after saving my various parameters, I will open some other flame file, then navigate back to the one I want to render from and make sure the top file in the list is highlighted and open in the preview. Then I say &#8220;go&#8221;.</li>
<li>If the render sizes are large and you have more than one parameter set, it can be puzzling because the information about progress won&#8217;t show up for a long time. I haven&#8217;t had it crash but I have had it stay blank and unresponsive till all but the last render is taking place.</li>
<li>If you really want to render a large file, do them one at a time so you can keep track of the activity.</li>
</ul>
<p>That last tip is because I think there was a problem one time when it was pointing at some other parameter set than the top one. I haven&#8217;t tried to duplicate the problem so just in case I try to keep a clean approach to rendering.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s great to come back later and find one or several stereo pairs waiting to be viewed!</p>
<p>Some folks have authored scripts for batch renders so in the future I might link to those resources after giving them a tryout.</p>
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		<title>Gradient Files</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/gradient-files</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/gradient-files#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:21:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Gradients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adjust Panel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ApoMap]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clipboard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[color sample]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[container]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[converter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gradient]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gradient browser]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Map file]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smooth palette]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[source image]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UGR file]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[utility]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=91</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ApoMap This little program is helpful in designing your own gradients but it&#8217;s not the only way to go. In the Adjust panel under the Gradient tab there are four small buttons on the bottom right corner. The first one is &#8220;copy gradient to clipboard.&#8221; The next is &#8220;paste gradient from clipboard.&#8221; The third one [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" />
<h2>ApoMap</h2>
<p><span style="color: #ccffcc;"><strong>This little program is helpful</strong></span> in designing your own gradients but it&#8217;s not the only way to go.</p>
<p>In the <em><strong>Adjust</strong></em> panel under the <em><strong>Gradient</strong></em> tab there are four small buttons on the bottom right corner. The first one is <strong>&#8220;copy gradient to clipboard.&#8221;</strong> The next is <strong>&#8220;paste gradient from clipboard.&#8221;</strong> The third one is <strong>&#8220;open gradient browser.&#8221;</strong> The last one says <strong>&#8220;Smooth Palette.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>The first two are pretty self explanatory but it might be helpful to understand the last two. The <em><strong>gradient browser</strong></em> is a handy tool to open and explore previously saved collections of gradients for <em><strong>Apophysis.</strong></em> When you save gradients from the program it saves them in container files called UGR files. Each one can contain a large number of gradients identified with names. It is helpful to organize them so that only similar gradients exist in each one but that&#8217;s up to you to organize.</p>
<p>The <em><strong>smooth palette</strong></em> button opens a menu where you can navigate to any <strong>bmp</strong> or<strong> jpg</strong> image file. Once you&#8217;ve selected an image file, the program will analyze the file and create a new gradient based on colors that it samples at random from the image. For best results, prepare ahead of time by copying just small portions of image files from which to sample. Often a single source image can provide many smaller color samples.</p>
<p>You can use any digital image as a source for gradients, including painting small image files in a graphics program. This gives you a bit more control over the results.</p>
<p>Once the gradient is made, it loads into Apo and your Flame will be painted with the new colors. Remember to Right-click the gradient area and save the gradient in a convenient UGR file.</p>
<p>Gradients can be loaded into ApoMap from the clipboard, which makes it convenient for fine tuning a gradient to match your current flame, or you can design new gradients from scratch by drawing with the RGB tool.</p>
<p>The thing to be aware of is that <em><strong>ApoMap</strong></em> saves gradients in Fractint <em><strong>map</strong></em> files instead of <strong>UGR</strong> files. There is only one gradient in each <em><strong>map</strong></em> file. The <em><strong>gradient browser</strong></em> can open both <strong>UGR</strong> and <strong>MAP</strong> files.  A directory for Map files can fill up with a couple dozen files quickly, but using them in Apo one at a time is not very convenient. To get better organized it&#8217;s handy to stuff all those Map files into one or two UGR files.</p>
<p><a title="Datagram on devArt" href="http://datagram.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Datagram</a> has written a handy utility that will do exactly that. It works real well and is very convenient and It&#8217;s called the <a title="Map to UGR converter" href="http://datagram.deviantart.com/art/Map-to-UGR-Converter-Compiler-17398315" target="_blank">Map-to-UGR-Converter-Compiler</a>.</p>
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		<title>Random Flames</title>
		<link>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/random-flames</link>
		<comments>http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/2009/02/random-flames#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:04:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Exploring Randoms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clear All]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exploration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flame]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[incremental]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mutation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Options]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parameter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plugins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[random]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[random batch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rotate Pitch Script]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Save All Parameters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Script]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Title prefix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trend]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://apophysisrevealed.com/apo3dblog/?p=98</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate Quick Facts Easy Exploration of Vast Territory Definitions Activate all plugins, get fewer useful results but cover greater territory Restricted plugin list – greater number of interesting results Choosing your Transform complexity Mutation window – randoms in a direction and speed Use a Script to create randoms that restrict parameter [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p id="top" />
<h2><span style="color: #00ffff;">Skill Level:</span> <span style="color: #00ff00;">Beginner to</span> <span style="color: #ffff00;">Intermediate</span></h2>
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Quick Facts</span></h2>
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Easy Exploration of Vast Territory</h4>
</li>
<li>
<h4>Definitions</h4>
</li>
<li>
<h4>Activate all plugins, get fewer useful results but cover greater territory</h4>
</li>
<li>
<h4>Restricted plugin list – greater number of interesting results</h4>
</li>
<li>
<h4>Choosing your Transform complexity</h4>
</li>
<li>
<h4>Mutation window – randoms in a direction and speed</h4>
</li>
<li>
<h4>Use a Script to create randoms that restrict parameter values to a useful range</h4>
</li>
</ul>
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Definition</span></h2>
<p>Flame parameters that are generated by random functions are termed “randoms.” Each time you open <em><strong>Apo</strong></em> it automatically renders a new <em><strong>Random batch</strong></em> which you can sort through and save singly or as a batch.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Method 1</strong> –  Use the <em><strong>Random Batch</strong></em> &lt;Ctrl B&gt; option in the <em><strong>File</strong></em> menu. Remember to set the <em><strong>Batch Size</strong></em> in the <em><strong>Options</strong></em> panel &lt;Ctrl P&gt; under the <em><strong>Random</strong></em> tab</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> <strong>Method 2</strong> – Use the <em><strong>Mutation</strong></em> panel &lt;F7&gt;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
<h4>Method 3 – Use a <em><strong>Script</strong></em> to generate random choices</h4>
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<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Recommendations</span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Upon finding an interesting random</strong></span>, save it to a unique Flame File. Then open that new flame file so that’s the only file visible. Explore using the <em><strong>Transform Editor</strong></em> and try new things. Save under an incremental name change every time something new or more interesting shows up. In Apo 3D, use the <strong>Rotate Pitch Script</strong> to easily visualize whether there is existing shape or whether changes made generate shape or flatten it and how much. Plan to render relatively small images to begin with. Decide later whether it is worth a large render.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">How To</span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>The different methods</strong></span> generally result in different percentages of useful or interesting results. With all the <strong>Plugins</strong> active, resulting flames will have fewer useful or interesting qualities. There are so many variations in the whole list that combined with open ended random values it can prove too much of a wild card. Be prepared to discard or delete many of these parameters before saving the batch. It can be useful to use the <em><strong>Save All Parameters</strong></em> &lt;Shift+Ctrl+S&gt;  in a storage flame file for later study or retrieval that is only used for random batches.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Better</span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>To get a higher percentage of interesting results,</strong></span> go to <em><strong>Options</strong></em> &lt;Ctrl P&gt; under the <em>Variations</em> tab and choose the <em><strong>Clear All</strong></em> button. Then go through the list and select only a handful of variations. Choose the ones you know are interesting or which tend towards designs you want to work with. Go to the <em><strong>Random</strong></em> tab and make any changes to those settings, <strong>especially</strong> take note of the box where you enter a <em><strong>Title prefix</strong></em> for the generated randoms and the settings for minimum and maximum <em><strong>Number of transforms.</strong></em></p>
<p>Random batches are generated with random values. It can easily be observed that some <strong>Variations</strong> are more sensitive to value changes than others or in certain combination&#8217;s with other factors. This can cause many flames to seem uninteresting, ugly and sometimes just appear as a tiny spot or be completely black.</p>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;">It may be possible</span> to quickly identify what properties in those “uninteresting” flames are causing them to be blank or ugly. Often they can pop into very interesting patterns so don’t assume they are useless without doing some exploring. On the other hand, designing from scratch with a deliberate direction is easy and there are plenty of already visible and interesting randoms on which to spend exploration time.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Mutation Windows</span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>This is a good tool</strong></span> and can be used a number of ways. Start with an interesting flame parameter from either a random or a custom flame.</p>
<p>When the <em><strong>Mutation</strong></em> panel &lt;F7&gt; is opened the current flame will show in the central <em><strong>Preview</strong></em> port and variations are arranged around it in 8 choices. There are controls at the bottom, a slider called <strong><em>Speed</em></strong>, a drop-down menu labeled <strong><em>Trend</em> </strong>and a <em><strong>check box</strong></em>.</p>
<p>New values in the variation previews are assigned randomly but by using a smaller <strong><em>Speed</em></strong> factor the increments will be smaller resulting in less change per sample.</p>
<p>The <em><strong>Trend</strong></em> drop down menu offers a choice of variations from a list of those that are presently available to the program, whether selected or not, or an option to use a random choice of variation. By selecting a variation from the list the options displayed in the previews will have incremental changes applied to the current flame based on the chosen variation.</p>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Restrict the range of options</strong></span> via the check box for the <em><strong>Same no. of transforms</strong></em> as your starting flame. If you don’t check that box, there is an control in the <em><strong>Options</strong></em> &lt;Ctrl P&gt;, <em><strong>Random</strong></em> tab called <em><strong>Mutation Transforms</strong></em> where you can pre-determine the minimum and maximum number of transforms that get applied by random processes.</p>
<p>Any time an option window is clicked it moves to the central flame and a new set of changed variations are generated around it. Click the center window and it doesn’t change but the new possibilities around it are updated. When something interesting shows up change to a slower <em><strong>Speed</strong></em> factor. Stop and <em><strong>Save</strong></em> any parameters that you might want to explore later.</p>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Because of all the preview windows</strong></span> this way of exploring can make the program run slower as each change requires so many windows to update. The advantage is the ability to cover a lot of random variables. It can be useful when building from scratch as well as just exploring randomly.</p>
<h2><span style="color: #ccffcc;">Scripting</span></h2>
<p><span style="color: #00ffff;"><strong>Possibly the best way</strong></span> to explore randoms is to create or use a <em><strong>Script.</strong></em> Many Scripts already exist which add transforms to a blank flame then randomly assign variations and values. This makes it possible to include just the variations that are desired and best of all, limit the range of values that are assigned to each one. Scripts can be used to save batches of carefully crafted randoms too.</p>
<p>The Random function in scripting generates values between 0 and 1. The goal is to develop code which calculates a minimum and maximum value, positive or negative, depending on which variation type is being worked with. This method provides greater refinement and control over the results while retaining the advantage of random exploration. Study existing scripts and read tutorials to understand how to script. Later posts will add detail to the scripting idea but to start with some very nice tutorials already exist.</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #00ffff;">Most authors of scripts intend</span></strong> that they be used as learning tools so download and study many of them. Unpack them if they are compressed and store them in a convenient folder under your <em><strong>Apo</strong></em> installation. Open <em><strong>Apo</strong></em> and click the <em><strong>Script</strong></em> menu to find the <em><strong>Open Script</strong></em> &lt;Ctrl E&gt; option. Navigate to your list of scripts and select a script. Click <em><strong>Edit Script</strong></em> &lt;Ctrl D&gt; and <strong>read the text of the script to study what is taking place.</strong> Save any changes with a new name.</p>
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