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- <th colspan="3" align="center" id="chaptername">12. Rendering filters</th>
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- <div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
- <div class="titlepage">
- <div>
- <div>
- <h3 class="title"><a id="plug-in-ifscompose"></a>12.5. IFS Compose</h3>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <a id="id3489637" class="indexterm"></a>
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/filters/filters-render-ifscompose.png" />
- </div>
- <div class="simplesect" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
- <div class="titlepage">
- <div>
- <div>
- <h4 class="title"><a id="id3489669"></a>Overview</h4>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- This filter is found in
- <span class="guimenuitem">Image>Filters/Render/Nature/IFS <span class="accel">C</span>ompose...</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- This fractal-based plug-in is truly wonderful! With this
- versatile instrument, you can create amazingly naturalistic
- organic shapes, like leaves, flowers, branches, or even whole
- trees. ("IFS" stands for "Iterated Function System".)
- </p>
- <p>
- The key to using this plug-in lies in making very small and
- precise movements in fractal space. The outcome is always hard
- to predict, and you have to be extremely gentle when you change
- the pattern. If you make a component triangle too big, or if you
- move it too far (even ever so slightly), the preview screen will
- black out, or more commonly, you'll get stuck with a big
- shapeless particle cloud.
- </p>
- <p>
- A word of advice: When you have found a pattern you want to work
- with, make only small changes, and stick to variations of that
- pattern. It's all too easy to lose a good thing. Contrary to
- what you might believe, it's really much easier to create a leaf
- or a tree with IFS Compose than to make a defined geometrical
- pattern (where you actually know what you're doing, and end up
- with the pattern you had in mind).
- </p>
- <p>
- For a brief introduction to IFS's see Foley and van Dam, et
- al,. <i class="citetitle">Computer Graphics, Principles and
- Practice</i>, 2nd Ed., (Addison Wesley, 1990).
- </p>
- <p><b>The Main Interface. </b>
- The plug-in interface consists of the compose area to the left, a
- preview screen to the right, and some tabs and option buttons at
- the bottom of the dialog. The Default setting (in the preview
- window) is three equilateral triangles. (This gives rise to a
- fractal pattern called the <span class="emphasis"><em>Sierpinski
- Triangle</em></span>).
- </p>
- </div>
- <div class="simplesect" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
- <div class="titlepage">
- <div>
- <div>
- <h4 class="title"><a id="id3489760"></a>Options</h4>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="variablelist">
- <dl>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Relative Probability</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Determines influence or total impact of a certain fractal.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Spatial Transformation</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Gives you information on the active fractal, and allows
- you to type a value instead of changing it
- manually. Changing parameters with the mouse isn't very
- accurate, so this is a useful option when you need to be
- exact.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Simple color transformation</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Changes the color of the currently selected fractal
- component (which starts as the foreground color in the
- toolbox) to a color of your choice.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Full color transformation:</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Like the Simple color transformation but this time you can manage
- the color transformation for each color channel and for the alpha
- channel (shown as a black channel).
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Scale Hue/Value</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- When you have many fractals with different colors, the
- colors blend into each other. So even if you set "pure
- red" for a fractal, it might actually be quite blue in
- some places, while another "red" fractal might have a lot
- of yellow in it. Scale Hue/Value changes the color
- strength of the active fractal, or how influential that
- fractal's color should be.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Render Options: Spot Radius</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Determines the density of the "brushstrokes" in the
- rendered image. A low spot radius is good for thin
- particle clouds or spray, while a high spot radius
- produces thick, solid color strokes much like watercolor
- painting. Be careful not to use too much spot radius -- it
- takes a lot of time to render.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Render Options: Subdivide</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Controls the level of detail.
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Render Options: Iterations</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Determines how many times the fractal will repeat
- itself. (A high value for Subdivide and Iterations is for
- obvious reasons a waste of process time unless your image
- is very large.)
- </p>
- </dd>
- <dt>
- <span class="term">Render Options: Memory</span>
- </dt>
- <dd>
- <p>
- Enables you to speed up rendering time. This is especially
- useful when working with a large spot radius; just
- remember to use even multiples of the default value:
- 4096, 8192, 16384, ...
- </p>
- </dd>
- </dl>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="simplesect" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
- <div class="titlepage">
- <div>
- <div>
- <h4 class="title"><a id="id3489924"></a>A Brief Tutorial</h4>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- This is a rather complex plug-in, so to help you understand it,
- we'll guide you through an example where you'll create a leaf or
- branch.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many forms of life, and especially plants, are built like
- mathematical fractals, i.e., a shape that reproduces or repeats
- itself indefinitely into the smallest detail. You can easily
- reproduce the shape of a leaf or a branch by using four (or
- more) fractals. Three fractals make up the tip and sides of the
- leaf, and the fourth represents the stem.
- </p>
- <div class="orderedlist">
- <ol type="1">
- <li>
- <p>
- Before invoking the filter: Select
- <span class="guimenu">File</span>-><span class="guimenuitem">New Image</span>
- Add a transparent layer with
- <span class="guimenu">Layers</span>-><span class="guisubmenu">Layers and Channels</span>-><span class="guimenuitem">New Layer</span>
- Set the foreground color in the toolbox to black, and
- set the background to white.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <div class="informalfigure">
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/filters/examples/ifscompose-tut1.png" />
- <div class="caption">
- <p>
- Start by rotating triangles 2 and 3, trying
- to keep them nearly the same size.
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Open IFS Compose. Start by rotating the right and bottom
- triangles, so that they point upward. You'll now be able to
- see the outline of what's going to be the tip and sides of
- the leaf. (If you have problems, it may help to know that
- the three vertices of a triangle are not equivalent.)
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- To make the leaf symmetrical, adjust the bottom triangle to
- point slightly to the left, and the right triangle to point
- slightly to the right.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <div class="informalfigure">
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/filters/examples/ifscompose-tut2.png" />
- <div class="caption">
- <p>
- Add a fourth component, then stretch, scale, and move it
- as shown.
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Press <span class="guibutton">New</span> to add a component to the
- composition. This is going to be the stem of the leaf, so we
- need to make it long and thin. Press
- <span class="guibutton">Stretch</span>, and drag to
- stretch the new triangle. Don't be alarmed if this messes up
- the image, just use <span class="guibutton">Scale</span> to adjust
- the size of the overlong
- triangle. You'll probably also have to move and rotate the
- new fractal to make it look convincing.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <div class="informalfigure">
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/filters/examples/ifscompose-tut3.png" />
- <div class="caption">
- <p>
- Enlarge component 1, arrange the other components
- appropriately, then select all, scale and rotate.
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- You still have to make it look more leaf-like. Increase the
- size of the top triangle, until you think it's thick and
- leafy enough. Adjust all fractals until you're happy with
- the shape. Right-click to get the popup menu, and choose
- <span class="guibutton">Select all</span>. Now all components are
- selected, and you can scale
- and rotate the entire leaf.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <div class="informalfigure">
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/filters/examples/ifscompose-tut4.png" />
- <div class="caption">
- <p>
- Assign a brownish color to component 4, and various shades
- of green to the other components.
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- The final step is to adjust color. Click on the
- <span class="guibutton">Color Transformation</span> tab, and choose
- a different color for each fractal. To do this, check
- <span class="guibutton">Simple</span> and press the right color
- square. A color circle appears, where you can click or
- select to choose a color.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- Press OK to apply the image, and voilà, you've just made a
- perfect fractal leaf! Now that you've got the hang of it,
- you'll just have to experiment and make your own
- designs. All plant-imitating fractals (be they oak trees,
- ferns or straws) are more or less made in this fashion,
- which is leaves around a stem (or several stems). You just
- have to twist another way, stretch and turn a little or add
- a few more fractals to get a totally different plant.
- </p>
- </li>
- </ol>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
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