The dreaded hourglass in Apo 2.06 could be attributed to a couple of possibilities, so I'll give you a couple of answers that have rectified the problem for some other people...

1. The number of random images you have Apo trying to create when the program starts up HAS to be more than 1 - so you will need to open your Apophysis Options, select the Random tab, and change the Random Batch batch size to 5 or more (mine is set to 10) - close down Apo after changing this, then reopen it to see if that has fixed your problem...

2. Mutlithreading and older versions of Windows (Me, 98) - again, open your Apophysis Options, and make sure that Multithreading is turned Off on the General tab - close Apo, then reopen to see if this has fixed the problem...

I hope one of these solutions fixes your problem, and we get to see some amazing works posted for our viewing pleasure... lol!

T.

Have you loaded any plugin variations lately? Some of the ones released to cover the Z+ variations are buggy.

My suggestion is to cut/paste all of the .dll files from your Apo Plugin folder to somewhere else, then open Apo and see if the problem is still there... if not, start adding the .dll files back into the Plugin folder one by one until you get the error again - that will isolate which one is causing the error you are seeing...

T.

Have you installed any of the plugins? There are problems with some from the z+c+ pack apparently...

Try removing all of your installed plugins, then adding the .dll's back one at a time to find out which one is causing this error...

T.

You can render your flames with a transparent background with Apophysis - but you need to render them as .png files - also you need to make sure that you have "Transparency" set to "Enabled in your Options/Display tab.

Once you have rendered your .png file with the transparent background, you can open it in Paint Shop Pro to use as you see fit...

T.

In the Editor window - right click in the small preview window - if there is a check mark next to "Auto reset location", left click on it to turn it off...

Also, in the OptionsEditor tab - try taking the check mark out of "Extended edit mode"

T.

Close the Mutation window if you are working with the Editor window - there is a known bug that occurs when both are open at the same time...

T.

Wow!! I got me a FWW! Thank you muchly!

T.

If you are talking about the "tube" fractals created in Apophysis - try this tutorial - this is where it all started...

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39470081/

For some Apophysis scripts to create similar effects, try the following links...

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/48885674/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/48965690/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/50076211/

Enjoy!

T.

Skye,

Are you running Apo under Windows 98 or Windows ME?

Try going into the Options->General tab and set Multithreading to 0 (zero)

If that doesn't work, you are going to have to try uninstalling all versions of Apo, and also removing all of it's Windows Registry entries manually - then reinstall Apo...

T.

Have you tried using the internal renderer in Apo itself - the little yellow cog button?

T.

hqi.exe is a VERY old precursor to Flam3 - it probably won't render some of the newer variations properly either...

I think your problem may be with the png viewing settings in ACD See - especially if Photoshop is viewing the file correctly... you are rendering to png, aren't you?

T.

Didn't Mark Townsend do the last 2.05 beta ucl? Susan had a million other things on her plate at the time I seem to remember...

Mark and Susan both have access to the development forums and the raw code for the variations... maybe if someone asked Mark nicely, he might be persuaded to do new ucl's for other versions of Apo with the funky new variations? Both Joel Faber and Gygrazok have link to their raw code for their versions also.

T.

Hmmm... you used to be able to get to an archive page for the community resources... can't find that anywhere...

T.

Have you had a look at Chaoscope?

http://www.btinternet.com/~ndesprez/

T.

The following address has a lot of tutorial links for Apophysis and UF...

http://imagersfractaldds.deviantart.com/journal/9563338/

For the jewel types, you want the Julian tutorials - and there is a wires/tubes tutorial there too...

Enjoy!

T.