OK, I’m looking for worthwhile tutorials on Apophysis scripting. I have downloaded some tutorials most not too informative. I have downloaded Datagram’s Advanced Scripting manual which has been the best but it is not up to date. As a for instance…I have Apo 2.04 and have downloaded scripts that are obviously written for the most recent versions of Apophysis and include functions and statements that stop the 2.04 script editor dead in its’ tracks when executing. Functions such as “pivot.mode” , transform.curl, transform.pdj, and several others and are not supported by the editor. 

I would like to know where I can find a tutorial or file that will tell me what the updated script functions and data is so that I may be able perhaps to circumvent the shortcomings of the older versions of Apophysis. In other words “pivot.mode” might be replaced by an earlier editor understood function in the “rotate” family and curl and pdj can be replaced by something else altogether. Thank you in advance.

Quest

Attached Link: Fracfan Forums

I've been asking for something similar myself... *grin*

"Fractscient" at Fracfan forums may be able to help you out - check out his posts at the link above - he is also known as "Fred E" on the Apophysis mailing list. Be prepared for a lot of reading - he can be a little verbose... lol!

"Gygrazok" wrote the version of Apophysis you are using, so he may also be able to help with pointers for that particular version http://gygrazok.deviantart.com

T.

Thanks T! It seems like the link is down for the moment but I have already bookmarked the site from a previous visit there. In fact, I think that’s where I downloaded Datagram’s Advanced Scripting Manual from if I’m not mistaken. I don’t mind verbose as long as it’s clear and concise verbose that I’m able to understand and follow LOL. After searching the Internet I was beginning to feel sure that it was a massive coverup conspiracy so that only a handful could be the prevailing masters of the program grin. Heresy I say…LOL!

 

Now that I have you here Tracey, I’ve been wrestling with the problem of obtaining well-defined, sharp flames. I’ve found that replicating certain transforms and leaving them in exactly the same space that they generally become slightly better defined while others I find that scaling down the replicas also help to sharpen them but not nearly as crystal clear as I have seen in other’s work. 

Joel Faber’s work for instance often seems as if he had drawn the flames by hand then scanned them into the computer and post-worked it into magnificence, really awesome stuff. but I wonder if there is a process that should be followed to obtain the sharpest, clearest renders?

 

Another thing that eludes me is how to correct the situation when I run a script and all that is left on the display is, for lack of a better term, a singularity. A single simple point that with no matter how much reset location clicking will not magnify into it’s full glory. Both Technica Julian and Technica Juliascope are amongst the several scripts that do this to me. Any solutions to this dilemma that you know of?

 

If it seems to you like I’m asking too many questions it is precisely because I feel like a two-year-old trying to learn his new environment: what’s this...what’s this...what’s that? LOL...Talk about verbose? Again, thanks in advance.

 

Quest

 

 

Sharp flames.... that's a hard one sometimes... it depends on the variations you are using too. Scaling transforms is probably the most effective way of sharpening - lots of trial and error involved, tweaking triangles until you are satisfied with the result.

I have my main window quality set to 25 - so if a flame looks pretty good at that quality, it's gonna look VERY nice when rendered at say 500 or 1000 quality.

The reset location thing doesn't work very well sometimes, and I don't know why... grrr! But all is not lost... in the Adjustment window, Render tab, there is a wonderful little thing called Master Scale... increase that and the image will get larger - in the 2.04 version, if you double click on the words Master Scale it will reset to 32 - and you can change the numbers manually as well. Don't go too high, or your flames will lose a bit of definition - I find that scales of 50 or less give me the best results. For finer detail at closer zooms, use the Zoom function instead of Master Scale...

Questions are good my friend... you ask as many as you need to, OK?

T.

OK then, so it seems that well-defined, sharp flames is a matter of flame tweaking. Thanks for the tip on the master scale thingie. I didn’t know about the double clicking feature so thanks for that handy tip as well.

 

How about the “singularity point” issue I mentioned, are you familiar with that problem? I’ve deleted scripts because I’m unable to view the final outcome after script flame manipulation. I’m not familiar enough at this time to decipher and alter the coding. But it appears to me that certain code instructions are not compatible with earlier versions of Apophysis.

 

Unfortunately for me the 2 Technica scripts by Tom Desloges also culminate in this “singularity point” display but I’m now choosing to keep those at hand until I better acquaint myself with some coding knowledge, in the hope that I might be able to finagle and coerce the script into working for me.

 

After finally getting access to the site linked to above I realized I was wrong, the site is not the site where I downloaded Datagram’s Advanced Apo Scripting manual and for those interested, it was from here:

 
The FractalFarm

 

BTW T, good site, my account with Fracfan forums has not been activated. I forwarded you an email letting you know. You should receive it shortly. So until then I can’t post questions or message anyone. 

Quest

The basic Technica workflow is as follows...

1. In editor window, click on "new blank flame"
2. change the variations on transform 1 to Linear = 0 and Disc = 1
3. change the variations on transform 2 to Linear = 0 and Julian = 1
4. chane the variables on transform 2 to Julian Power = 4 and Julian Dist = -1
5. change the weight (transform tab) of transform 1 to 2.5
6. change the weight (transform tab) of transform 2 to 3
7. scale down transform 1 to about 0.5 or 04 of it's original size
8. scale down transform 2 to about 0.2 or 0.3 of it's original size

You can also do the same workflow but substitute Juliascope for Julian with the following workflow...

1. In editor window, click on "new blank flame"
2. change the variations on transform 1 to Linear = 0 and Disc = 1
3. change the variations on transform 2 to Linear = 0 and Juliascope = 1
4. chane the variables on transform 2 to Juliascop Power = -250 and Juliascope Dist = 10
5. change the weight (transform tab) of transform 1 to 5
6. change the weight (transform tab) of transform 2 to 0.25
7. scale down transform 1 to about 0.5 or 04 of it's original size
8. scale down transform 2 to about 0.2 or 0.3 of it's original size

Tom's Technica scripts aren't working in Apo 2.04 - some of the scripting commands  were changed  in 2.05 and 2.06 ... which was when these scripts were written.

Try the above, and then play with some final transform additions - Spherical gives some nice effects if you move the Final Xform around a bit...

T.

Wow! Thank you much T, the directions for Technica you offered are excellent. I tried the first one, got some interesting results but I need to experiment some more. I’ll try the second one after I post this.

 

I’m still not activated at FracFan but you have some great resources there. You have a link there which you call the “Virtual one stop shop” which is just great. I downloaded all of TaraRoys’ tutorials from the advance and intermediate section there and she is absolutely fantastic. Not to mention that she is really down and dirty mathematically involved with her art.

 

To me, that’s a breath of fresh air when you can get someone who is not only good at their art but is able to quantify the work as well while making you understand the concepts and she’s absolutely brilliant at such a young age. My hat’s off to her.

 

In any case, she has a tutorial called “Weights and Chaos” which basically talks about the transform weights and how they influence the flames and their appearances. Many of my flame sharpness questions were answered there in more detail. The gist of which as T said, takes some flame tweaking not only with scaling but also with transform weight distribution since weight is attributed to a sphere of influence between transforms from what I can gather from her tutorial. It’s absolutely a must read and I highly recommend it as I do all her other tutorials.

 

I’m finding many brilliant and talented minds in this art niche and I’m loving it. I’ll be back with other questions and hopefully some answers to my own questions.

 

Quest

Your Fracfan account has been activated now my friend... I'm on the opposite side of the planet here, and the time zone differences are a doozy... thank you for your patience...

Check out Claire Jones' tutorials too - well written, well researched, and she makes suggestions of things to try for different effects also.

Gradient choice will have a fairly large influence of flame detail too... I've been known to spend hours finding just the right gradient to bring out small details in some of my images... grin

I'll definitely check out Tara's tutorials - I could do with a refresher course... lol!

T.

Tried Clair Jones' tutorial, yes, I agree, an excellent tutorial. I can't seem to get anywhere regarding cross referencing old and new script coding commands.

Me either... grrr!

T.

I don’t know T, this might not fair well but we know that certain vintage artists have been writing scripts throughout the different versions of Apophysis and so I can’t understand why they would not come forward to explain those differences.

 

I can easily sit back and assume that they do not want to share their knowledge with us for whatever reason, but then again that “other” reason might be “life interruptus”. Fine people overwhelmed by daily life’s routines.

 

I therefore fall short of directly messaging because I’m sure these good people are inundated with all types of questions and mine just doesn’t take precedence. But I do so hope that one or several of them would view this thread and find it in themselves to relieve us and others like us who are trying to learn, of our curiosity, interest and ignorance.

Quest

Attached Link: Elizabeth Tomchek's Scripts

What I've done when I've wanted to write a script is to look at other people's scripts and work from there... a lot of trial and error, but usually gets decent results.

I've included a link to Elizabeth Tomchek's scripts for you - she has a pretty broad range of scripts there to play with and see how various commands work...

T.

Yes, I’ve visited her site before only to be deflated when trying to run her wonderful scripts on my system. I’ve saved some of them to play with when I finally get an answer on what the individual functions and commands mean for the updated scripts. I have run them using Apophysis 2.06 but can’t really enjoy them when I can only view them the size of a quarter cent piece…LOL! Hopefully Fractscient could direct me to the mother load of Apophysis scripting language center of updated founctions, commands, syntax and usage to compare the old with the new.

 

Thanks Tracey!

 

Quest

Attached Link: Fractal Repository scripts

Here is another link to a whole pile of older scripts for you my friend... these should work fine on the version of Apophysis you are running...

T.

Hey thanks Tracey for hunting these down, I’m certainly going to try them. Maybe I can finally learn something! LOL

Quest

I also see that Fred is giving you a lot of pointers over at Fracfan... isn't he a sweet guy?

T.

Hi Tracey! I got back from my small holiday fun on Tuesday (Monday was my birthday and I went to celebrate it with a very good and dear fellow artist friend from out of town) and I was started on a new occupational assignment the next day, Wednesday, so you can imagine that my immediate priorities have taken a sudden change as often happens in my life.

 

Indeed, Fred has been most generous and kind as so have you my friend. His pointers have reaffirmed my conviction that the scripting information is scattered. And please don’t think me unappreciative, but I wonder why some of the other scripters, and there are many fine ones out there, have not partaken in contributing to the subject matter at hand.

 

I do not wish to be perceived as overbearing but I would think that such subject matter would most interest those that practice it. And also again, perhaps they, like myself, have been detoured by priorities in real life. So I must be patient and see over the long run what other fine additions will come to this thread in the future.

 

The matter seems to be that there is no central locale where followers of this fine program (Apophysis) can go to get the most updated scripting resources. Through all the different versions no one person in particular has taken it upon themselves to gather a history nor a sequence of all the changes in scripting that have occurred.

 

Henceforth, those that have followed the program from inception and throughout its development have a better understanding of it. As a result, all those that have just come to know the program or those that have not been able to keep up with the program changes, have a harder time in getting information on scripting.

 

I do have some background in programming. In particular with C++ object programming and Basic with some very little Assembly language. So I can fairly well understand many of the syntax. But since I don’t use it in an everyday scenario, I’m not fluent at it. And not having a list of the commands, makes it all the harder.

 

Tracey, I’m also very impressed with your fine work in this field and kudos must go out to you as well in this endeavor. Any pointers from you would be handsomely accepted.

 

Quest

Attached Link: http://www.tmssoftware.com/scriptstudio.htm

Well - essentially Apophysis is programmed in Pascal, written via Delphi. I do believe that the actual scripting is parsed via Scripter Studio (see link attached for that component) - obviously not all of the commands are relevant to scripting for flame production, and some of the component names are defined in the actual program files  - things like "Transform.Linear" for example.

Fred has done some pretty extensive playing with scripts, and the only other person that would know more than anyone about them is Piotr Borys (one of the actual Apo developers), but I'm not sure if he has the free time available to write a definitive text on scripting (full time job and all that sort of thing... lol!) Fred gave you a link to Piotr's webpages that contain the update text files for Apo, didn't he? Those are probably the best place to start the journey to learning how to write scripts, as is picking apart some of the older scripts linked above, and play about... grin

T.