The Official JWildfire Blog

We are almost there! Just released JWildfire V2.00 BETA 3 which comes with many new stuff, among them two outstanding features: a new button in the editor to add randomized bokeh-like effects (it’s really great fun, just play with it) and the ability to create motion curves from mp3-files, the creating sound-synced flame-fractal-movies was never such easy!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS STILL WORK IN PROGRESS, AND PLEASE READ THE RELEASE NOTES.

Complete list of changes so far:

• BETA 3:
• button for simply-generation of bokeh-like effects in the main editor – it’s pure fun!
• new “Rect”-bokeh-style
• ability to use/create motion-curves made from mp3-audio, it has never been easier to create a sound-sync motion of a flame-fractal!
• ability to transform (shift, scale) motion-curves in the motion-curve-dialog
• improved the behaviour of “view-all”-function in the motion-curve-dialog
• increased the preview quality in the motion-curve-dialog (may be slower, but makes sense to see more detail here)
• options to specify custom (individual) sizes or quality-levels in the batch-renderer
• option to override (re-render) images in the Batch-renderer
• ability to display also rendered images in the batch-renderer
• BETA 2:
• some experimental OpenCl-code which can cause faster rendering on some devices (use the new checkbox in the launcher to turn it on or off, per default it is off)
• experimental channel mixer which allows to adjust raw fractal colors using several modes:
  • gamma
  • rgb (one curve for each color component)
  • full (three curves for each color component)
• new “NBlur”-bokeh style
• optimized the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer (disable property tinaOptimizedRenderingIR in the Prefs if this makes problems on slow machines)
• several small optimizations to the renderer
• the launcher now shows an error message (different from the technical java-error) when it detects a 32bit java and a memory usage below 1 GB
• BETA 1:
• please DO NOT USE, all new features are announced under BETA 2
• ALPHA 3:
• retain selected layer after “Undo”/”Redo”
• smoother transition between DoF and non-DoF-areas
• new “Stripes”-random-gradient-generator
• renamed the misspelled “Responsibility”-property into “Responsiveness”
• fine-tuned the new “responsiveness”-setting
• ALPHA 2:
• new “Black&White”-random-flame-generator inspired by the “B&W converter”-script by Brad Stefanov and Mick Hogan
• changed the “*crop”, “*circlecrop” and “fract*”-variations to use the new mechanism to hide samples (should remove an “annoying vertical line” in some cases)
• support for actually hiding pixels which can be used from within variations to control visibility, especiall useful for cropping which really crops instead of setting points at a random position or zero
• added a new experimental option to make the program (and the OS) more responsible while rendering. This is enabled by default. Change the property “tinaResponsibility” in the Prefs-window to tune the behaviour
• internally reworked the strategy of the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer
• added new scripts “Add Random Final FX by MH and MO”, “Textured_Cylinders_Rev01_by_MH” and “Crackle_Styles_Chooser_Rev01_by_MH”, all created  by Mick Hogan, as Standard-Scripts
• added new scripts “LoonieSplits DT”, “Buckballs by DT” and “M&M Flower DT”, all created  by Don Town as Standard-Scripts
• experimental support for an additional alpha channel which can be modified by variations
• new “dinis_surface”-variation
• new “pre_rect”-variation
• ALPHA 1:
• created a fix to avoid the default “overexposing” of many flames, i.e. most renders should look darker by default, but should look more smooth
• created a new “Bokeh”-subtab on the “DOF”-tab. Here you can adjust different options to create awesome “bokeh”-like effects
• tried to make the Interactive Renderer behave more “smooth”
• added two new parameters to “fract_*”-variations: “z_fill” to fill the vertical gaps in 3d-mode, “z_logscale” to use log-scale in z-direction (nice for creating 3D-meshes)
• fixed an unwanted “dot” in the “primitives_wf”-variation, when drawing a pyramid-shape
• new experimental “xheart_blur”-variation (which bases on “xheart” by Xyrus02)
• fixed dark background in the help-section

Note: please do not use the new “Channel Mixers”-tab yet 😉

Enjoy! 🙂

Just released JWildfire V2.00 BETA 2 which fixes some serious problems of BETA 1. Sorry for that, but I was in a hurry, as it is my birthday 😉 Enjoy this improved version, it comes with some experimental OpenCL-code and contains the first working version of the channel-mixer.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS STILL WORK IN PROGRESS, AND PLEASE READ THE RELEASE NOTES.

Complete list of changes so far:

• BETA 2:
• some experimental OpenCl-code which can cause faster rendering on some devices (use the new checkbox in the launcher to turn it on or off, per default it is off)
• experimental channel mixer which allows to adjust raw fractal colors using several modes:
  • gamma
  • rgb (one curve for each color component)
  • full (three curves for each color component)
• new “NBlur”-bokeh style
• optimized the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer (disable property tinaOptimizedRenderingIR in the Prefs if this makes problems on slow machines)
• several small optimizations to the renderer
• the launcher now shows an error message (different from the technical java-error) when it detects a 32bit java and a memory usage below 1 GB
• BETA 1:
• please DO NOT USE, all new features are announced under BETA 2
• ALPHA 3:
• retain selected layer after “Undo”/”Redo”
• smoother transition between DoF and non-DoF-areas
• new “Stripes”-random-gradient-generator
• renamed the misspelled “Responsibility”-property into “Responsiveness”
• fine-tuned the new “responsiveness”-setting
• ALPHA 2:
• new “Black&White”-random-flame-generator inspired by the “B&W converter”-script by Brad Stefanov and Mick Hogan
• changed the “*crop”, “*circlecrop” and “fract*”-variations to use the new mechanism to hide samples (should remove an “annoying vertical line” in some cases)
• support for actually hiding pixels which can be used from within variations to control visibility, especiall useful for cropping which really crops instead of setting points at a random position or zero
• added a new experimental option to make the program (and the OS) more responsible while rendering. This is enabled by default. Change the property “tinaResponsibility” in the Prefs-window to tune the behaviour
• internally reworked the strategy of the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer
• added new scripts “Add Random Final FX by MH and MO”, “Textured_Cylinders_Rev01_by_MH” and “Crackle_Styles_Chooser_Rev01_by_MH”, all created  by Mick Hogan, as Standard-Scripts
• added new scripts “LoonieSplits DT”, “Buckballs by DT” and “M&M Flower DT”, all created  by Don Town as Standard-Scripts
• experimental support for an additional alpha channel which can be modified by variations
• new “dinis_surface”-variation
• new “pre_rect”-variation
• ALPHA 1:
• created a fix to avoid the default “overexposing” of many flames, i.e. most renders should look darker by default, but should look more smooth
• created a new “Bokeh”-subtab on the “DOF”-tab. Here you can adjust different options to create awesome “bokeh”-like effects
• tried to make the Interactive Renderer behave more “smooth”
• added two new parameters to “fract_*”-variations: “z_fill” to fill the vertical gaps in 3d-mode, “z_logscale” to use log-scale in z-direction (nice for creating 3D-meshes)
• fixed an unwanted “dot” in the “primitives_wf”-variation, when drawing a pyramid-shape
• new experimental “xheart_blur”-variation (which bases on “xheart” by Xyrus02)
• fixed dark background in the help-section

Note: please do not use the new “Channel Mixers”-tab yet 😉

Enjoy! 🙂

Just released JWildfire V2.00 BETA 1 which is another milestone. Is comes with some experimental OpenCL-code and contains the first working version of the channel-mixer.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS STILL WORK IN PROGRESS, AND PLEASE READ THE RELEASE NOTES.

Complete list of changes so far:

• BETA 1:
• some experimental OpenCl-code which should cause faster rendering (if not, disable tinaUseExperimentalOpenClCode in the Prefs)
• experimental channel mixer which allows to adjust raw fractal colors using several modes:
  • gamma
  • rgb (one curve for each color component)
  • full (three curves for each color component)
• new “NBlur”-bokeh style
• optimized the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer (disable property tinaOptimizedRenderingIR in the Prefs if this makes problems on slow machines)
• several small optimizations to the renderer
• ALPHA 3:
• retain selected layer after “Undo”/”Redo”
• smoother transition between DoF and non-DoF-areas
• new “Stripes”-random-gradient-generator
• renamed the misspelled “Responsibility”-property into “Responsiveness”
• fine-tuned the new “responsiveness”-setting
• ALPHA 2:
• new “Black&White”-random-flame-generator inspired by the “B&W converter”-script by Brad Stefanov and Mick Hogan
• changed the “*crop”, “*circlecrop” and “fract*”-variations to use the new mechanism to hide samples (should remove an “annoying vertical line” in some cases)
• support for actually hiding pixels which can be used from within variations to control visibility, especiall useful for cropping which really crops instead of setting points at a random position or zero
• added a new experimental option to make the program (and the OS) more responsible while rendering. This is enabled by default. Change the property “tinaResponsibility” in the Prefs-window to tune the behaviour
• internally reworked the strategy of the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer
• added new scripts “Add Random Final FX by MH and MO”, “Textured_Cylinders_Rev01_by_MH” and “Crackle_Styles_Chooser_Rev01_by_MH”, all created  by Mick Hogan, as Standard-Scripts
• added new scripts “LoonieSplits DT”, “Buckballs by DT” and “M&M Flower DT”, all created  by Don Town as Standard-Scripts
• experimental support for an additional alpha channel which can be modified by variations
• new “dinis_surface”-variation
• new “pre_rect”-variation
• ALPHA 1:
• created a fix to avoid the default “overexposing” of many flames, i.e. most renders should look darker by default, but should look more smooth
• created a new “Bokeh”-subtab on the “DOF”-tab. Here you can adjust different options to create awesome “bokeh”-like effects
• tried to make the Interactive Renderer behave more “smooth”
• added two new parameters to “fract_*”-variations: “z_fill” to fill the vertical gaps in 3d-mode, “z_logscale” to use log-scale in z-direction (nice for creating 3D-meshes)
• fixed an unwanted “dot” in the “primitives_wf”-variation, when drawing a pyramid-shape
• new experimental “xheart_blur”-variation (which bases on “xheart” by Xyrus02)
• fixed dark background in the help-section

Note: please do not use the new “Channel Mixers”-tab yet 😉

Enjoy! 🙂

Just released JWildfire V2.00 ALPHA 3 which comes with some really nice additions I wanted to publish before having completed the whole thing:

Complete list of changes so far:

• ALPHA 3:
• retain selected layer after “Undo”/”Redo”
• smoother transition between DoF and non-DoF-areas
• new “Stripes”-random-gradient-generator
• renamed the misspelled “Responsibility”-property into “Responsiveness”
• fine-tuned the new “responsiveness”-setting
• ALPHA 2:
• new “Black&White”-random-flame-generator inspired by the “B&W converter”-script by Brad Stefanov and Mick Hogan
• changed the “*crop”, “*circlecrop” and “fract*”-variations to use the new mechanism to hide samples (should remove an “annoying vertical line” in some cases)
• support for actually hiding pixels which can be used from within variations to control visibility, especiall useful for cropping which really crops instead of setting points at a random position or zero
• added a new experimental option to make the program (and the OS) more responsible while rendering. This is enabled by default. Change the property “tinaResponsibility” in the Prefs-window to tune the behaviour
• internally reworked the strategy of the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer
• added new scripts “Add Random Final FX by MH and MO”, “Textured_Cylinders_Rev01_by_MH” and “Crackle_Styles_Chooser_Rev01_by_MH”, all created  by Mick Hogan, as Standard-Scripts
• added new scripts “LoonieSplits DT”, “Buckballs by DT” and “M&M Flower DT”, all created  by Don Town as Standard-Scripts
• experimental support for an additional alpha channel which can be modified by variations
• new “dinis_surface”-variation
• new “pre_rect”-variation
• ALPHA 1:
• created a fix to avoid the default “overexposing” of many flames, i.e. most renders should look darker by default, but should look more smooth
• created a new “Bokeh”-subtab on the “DOF”-tab. Here you can adjust different options to create awesome “bokeh”-like effects
• tried to make the Interactive Renderer behave more “smooth”
• added two new parameters to “fract_*”-variations: “z_fill” to fill the vertical gaps in 3d-mode, “z_logscale” to use log-scale in z-direction (nice for creating 3D-meshes)
• fixed an unwanted “dot” in the “primitives_wf”-variation, when drawing a pyramid-shape
• new experimental “xheart_blur”-variation (which bases on “xheart” by Xyrus02)
• fixed dark background in the help-section

Note: please do not use the new “Channel Mixers”-tab yet 😉

Enjoy! 🙂

Just released JWildfire V2.00 ALPHA 2 which again comes with some really nice additions (major features: better responsibility of the program and the possibility to actually hide samples from within variations which is especially interesting for cropping) I wanted to publish before having completed the whole thing:

Complete list of changes so far:

• ALPHA 2:
• new “Black&White”-random-flame-generator inspired by the “B&W converter”-script by Brad Stefanov and Mick Hogan
• changed the “*crop”, “*circlecrop” and “fract*”-variations to use the new mechanism to hide samples (should remove an “annoying vertical line” in some cases)
• support for actually hiding pixels which can be used from within variations to control visibility, especiall useful for cropping which really crops instead of setting points at a random position or zero
• added a new experimental option to make the program (and the OS) more responsible while rendering. This is enabled by default. Change the property “tinaResponsibility” in the Prefs-window to tune the behaviour
• internally reworked the strategy of the refresh of the display of the interactive renderer
• added new scripts “Add Random Final FX by MH and MO”, “Textured_Cylinders_Rev01_by_MH” and “Crackle_Styles_Chooser_Rev01_by_MH”, all created  by Mick Hogan, as Standard-Scripts
• added new scripts “LoonieSplits DT”, “Buckballs by DT” and “M&M Flower DT”, all created  by Don Town as Standard-Scripts
• experimental support for an additional alpha channel which can be modified by variations
• new “dinis_surface”-variation
• new “pre_rect”-variation
• ALPHA 1:
• created a fix to avoid the default “overexposing” of many flames, i.e. most renders should look darker by default, but should look more smooth
• created a new “Bokeh”-subtab on the “DOF”-tab. Here you can adjust different options to create awesome “bokeh”-like effects
• tried to make the Interactive Renderer behave more “smooth”
• added two new parameters to “fract_*”-variations: “z_fill” to fill the vertical gaps in 3d-mode, “z_logscale” to use log-scale in z-direction (nice for creating 3D-meshes)
• fixed an unwanted “dot” in the “primitives_wf”-variation, when drawing a pyramid-shape
• new experimental “xheart_blur”-variation (which bases on “xheart” by Xyrus02)
• fixed dark background in the help-section

Note: please do not use the new “Channel Mixers”-tab yet 😉

Enjoy! 🙂

Just released JWildfire V2.00 ALPHA 1 which comes with some really nice additions I wanted to publish before having completed the whole thing:

Complete list of changes so far:

• created a fix to avoid the default “overexposing” of many flames, i.e. most renders should look darker by default, but should look more smooth
• created a new “Bokeh”-subtab on the “DOF”-tab. Here you can adjust different options to create awesome “bokeh”-like effects
• tried to make the Interactive Renderer behave more “smooth”
• added two new parameters to “fract_*”-variations: “z_fill” to fill the vertical gaps in 3d-mode, “z_logscale” to use log-scale in z-direction (nice for creating 3D-meshes)
• fixed an unwanted “dot” in the “primitives_wf”-variation, when drawing a pyramid-shape
• new experimental “xheart_blur”-variation (which bases on “xheart” by Xyrus02)
• fixed dark background in the help-section

Note: please do not use the new “Channel Mixers”-tab yet 😉

Enjoy! 🙂

Just released JWildfire V1.90 which was on it’s way (under the hood) for quiet  a while. But, finally, today I decided it is enough of development time, and ready for take-off 🙂
So what is it all about? It was never been so easy to create fractal animations because you may now animate any fractal-property … by just drawing a curve with your mouse.  Imagine a rotation angle fixed to 30 degrees. Now you can not only set this fixed value to the rotation angle, you may also draw a curve, for example  a line with just two points.
First point at frame 1 with a value of 30 degreess, and a second point at frame 200 with 300 degrees. You just defined a rotation! But, of course, you may animate ANY property this way, and have visual feedback to control the shape of you curve. As an additional feature, you may even add motion-blur effects!

Complete list of changes:

• Motion-Curves in the Main-Editor:
  • after a long period of development I finally decided to enable the motion-curve-editor in the main editor! This means you can define
    a motion curve (drawn with you mouse) for each flame-property to create awesome animations, using the most easy-to-use interface possible.
    You may even add controlled motion-blur!
    Or you can use this feature to modify different properties at the same time to find “interesting spots”. The possibilities are endless 🙂
    You will see a new large button to enable/disable this new features. I. E. if you dont care about animations, you will notice no change,
    unless you press this button 🙂
    A video-tutorial on all this stuff will come later…
  • preview-playback-function for the global motioncurve-editing-mode
  • automatically save the flame rendered in the interactive renderer as “jwf_ir_current.flame” (like an auto quicksave). So, in case of a rare crash you will always keep you latest flame in the IR.
• Mesh-Generator:
  • new Option to skip slices in the mesh-generating-process
  • added some image-pre-filtering-options to modify (smooth) the generated slices
  • some experimental option to thicken details, may get obsolete by using the pre-filters (requires more testing, any feedback is welcome)
  • Created an official JWildfire-shop at shapeways: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/jwildfire (It is not about making money, just to show what
    the mesh-generator can do. But you can also buy this stuff, of course, I have tried to make the prices as fair as possible)
• Other changes:
  • improved the speed and “smoothness” of the interactive renderer
  • extended the “mandelbrot”-variation by three params: “seed” (allowing fixed random shapes which may be better animated), “max_points” (to specify the number of fixed major points which build the shape, good if you plan to increase the surface by using a blur-variation) and “rnd_z_range” (specify a range at the z-direction where the major points get distributed, can lead to much more interesting models)
  • added new shape TRIANGLE and PYRAMID to “primitives_wf”-variation (right, it is now easy to build the pyramids :D)
  • fixed the encoding of the start_mac.command file, thanks again to Matthew Townsend
  • new “sph3D”-variation by Xyrus02
  • added the methode getCurrLayer() to the script-runner-interface
  • some additions to the FAQ-section

Enjoy! 🙂