Apophysis 3D Revealed

How to tell one from the other

In Stereo images, left and right are critically important. In Apophysis it can be difficult to determine which is which because of the abstract nature of fractals and how images are rendered. Surfaces within the Flame Fractal are transparent and it can be tough to know whether a bright spot is supposed to be in front of or behind other features.

If there is a flat plane in the scene and you want to see it from slightly above, typical of how we see the ground we walk on, which way do you tilt/rotate the flame to make that flat area a ground surface, ie: looking slightly down at it. If you tilt it the wrong way it will show as if you are looking up at it, as if from beneath the ground. The same thing happens if you tilt it the right way, but reverse which side is Left or Right.

In stereo, it’s important to frame the fractal relative to the Stereo Window which is formed by the side edges of the rendered image. If you don’t know which image is the Right or Left, you won’t know which image to shift to get BOTH the R/L of the stereo depth AND R/L of the window coordinated correctly!

In order to understand Flame navigation as you work it helps to establish some basic reference points and stick to a procedure for working that keeps you in touch with up/down and left/right all the time.

It may be possible to organize your work differently from how I’m describing it and still get the results you want, so the point is to figure out which direction is which and keep track of it. The guidelines I’m describing are based on what I’ve worked out that seems logical and fitting to how the program responds.

By knowing a list of reference points and navigational guide lines you can avoid hours of figuring it out for yourself, or having to repeatedly test every rendered pair for the desired directional results. You are welcome to verify these steps for yourself so you gain an intuitive skill to know your directions as you work. It saves confusion when it comes time to render.

Nothing is more frustrating than waiting 15 hours for a single render, times 2 for a stereo pair, only to discover that you had Left and Right images reversed! The fix is to re-render one side of that pair with changed parameters.

Basics: You found your flame view, set the Pitch = 90, made any rotations using Variation parameters or Triangle rotations, and stayed away from the Camera controls – Rotation = 0, Perspective = 0. At this point you can click the Yaw control (the space where the word “Yaw” exists in the Adjust panel) and drag it to change the value. As you do this, the flame will rotate in the preview window. This should give you some feeling as to which part of the image will be foreground and which is background. Remember you are moving the camera, not the flame.

Screen capture the preview window for both sets of image parameters and freeview them to see where details end up. Reverse the side by side order and see what depth relationships change places. Which view matches your expectations after watching the rotating preview when you dragged the Yaw control?

Other Clues.  Notice any particular bright areas that seem to be in front of less defined areas, or bright areas that seem cut-off by disappearing behind another feature. Then compare that information to what you see in the stereo viewing process. When all the clues agree, you probably have the correct eye correlation figured out. Change the saved file names to reflect this knowledge of which is which. There will be more on this topic in other discussions.