Thanks for downloading Plasm-O-Matic 1.0 by Christopher Chin.
Plasm-O-Matic is a great program for creating plasmas -- beautiful pictures based on a simple algorithm. This Program is shareware, so if you find Plasm-O-Matic useful or just aesthetically pleasing, please send $5 to:
Christopher Chin
99 Gail Drive
New Rochelle, NY 10805
If you are the programmer type and would like the source code for Plasm-O-Matic, send $10, and I will send you a disk with the source code.
What Plasma is
In plasma, there are four pixels, each with its own color.
･ ･ Iteration Zero.
･ ･
5 new pixels are drawn. Their colors are the average of the two or four original pixels.
･ ･ ･ Iteration One.
･ ･ ･
･ ･ ･
For example, the left center pixel's color is determined by the average of the top left and bottom left pixels. The center pixel is the average of all 4 original pixels.
･ ･ ･ ･ Iteration Two.
･ ･ ･
･ ･ ･ ･
･ ･ ･
Here, we've plasma'd the left corner square. Every time we get into a stage of finer detail, we go up an iteration level. This iteration is not complete the other three squares will be plasma'd and then the new 16 squares will be plasma'd.
There are two variations of plasma which I created for Plasm-O-Matic. The first is Center Hole Plasma, which is just plasma without drawing the new center pixel. This creates a crystalline structure. I discovered the second variation by accident. The technical name I gave it is Overflow Plasma, but the cool name is Dark Chaos Plasma. Essentially, color values go from 0 to 65536. I said that if the new program has a color greater than 32768, than subtract 32768 from the color. I discovered this technique by accident when I was using a 68040 Mac with the compiler set incorrectly and thus having the same effect.
Plasm-O-Matic Functions
I will list what each menu function does.
The Apple Menu:
About Plasm-O-Matic: just displays the Plasm-O-Matic about box.
Tips and Information: Displays a window with Tips and Information for Plasm-O-Matic.
The File Menu:
Start Render: Starts to render the plasma. You should se pixels drawn in the window. This process cannot be stopped.
Clear Screen: clears the Plasma window with black.
Screen Saver: Starts a slide show of random plasma's. Because plasma rendering is fairly complex, you must hold the mouse button down until the end of the current plasma for it to end.
Quit: Quits Plasma.
The Options Menu:
Options: brings up the option dialog explained below.
Reset Custom Colors: Turn all you custom colors to black.
The Options Dialog
Size X: Y: There is a place to enter the Plasma window size. X is how wide in pixels and Y is how tall in pixels. It is generally best to be in either 257x257 or 513x513.
Iterations: The higher the Iterations, the higher the detail, however it is generally enough to go until you don't see empty spaces. An extra iteration applies a anti-aliasing effect to the center hole plasma.
Start At Iteration #: Tells Plasm-O-Matic at which iteration to start the Plasma algorithm. If you start at 0, there is only one plasma in the window. Starting at 1 creates 4 different, but blended plasmas. Starting at iteration 2 creates 16 and so on.
Randomize Colors: If this check box is checked(default), Plasm-O-Matic creates the original colors for you. If it is unchecked, you can click in the Plasma window to set your own original colors using the color wheel. Note that you can only have 81 custom colors ,so Start At Iteration # must be 3 or less. Otherwise Randomize colors must be on.
Center Hole: When checked, Plasm-O-Matic uses the Center Hole algorithm which creates crystalline structures.
Dark Chaos Plasma: When checked, Plasm-O-Matic uses the Overflow algorithm and bypasses the center hole check box.
What You Can Do With Plasm-O-Matic
This version Plasm-O-Matic can't export PICT, JPEG, GIF or any other type of file. You can, however, capture the screen into a PICT file by pressing Command, Shift and 3. Then use, Photoshop, Claris Works, GifConverter or JPEG view to crop it.
Plasma's can be used for 3D bump maps, textures, patterns, web page backgrounds etc. I've included a picture that I created exclusively with Plasm-O-Matic and Photoshop.
