Postcards from paradise

Wish you were here.

The shaman's mask

The smaller version at the forehead represents the opening of the third eye in the form of the shaman's higher self in direct contact with unseen dimensions.

Death's heads

"We ended up having to eat each other."

Initial parameters from this Spherical-Juliascope script.

Timewave zero

During his famously monumental psilocybin session in the early '70s, Terrence McKenna 'downloaded' the idea of connecting the I Ching with a description of time. The result was the Fractal Timewave, predicted to complete its final infinitessimal cycle in 2012, as the ingress of novelty approaches the infinite.

First outing for the excellent new qwave plugin: http://keeps.deviantart.com/art/qwave-116810485

Full view essential.

Glynn goes clubbing

What will Julian say?

After the rain

Blurry, smudgy abstract, like a watercolour left in the rain.

Only 313 shopping days left till Christmas

The madness of consumerism.

Dream alembic

The recurrence of an elusive form.

Cave painting

A depiction of winter plant skeletons, illuminated by torchlight.

Khronos

Tales from the time machine.

Tip: ad hoc scripting #2 - rapidly change variables for a group of transforms

I have already published a set of utility scripts for working on groups of transforms (link). It's easy enough to write scripts that generalise when it comes to working with variations (one simply needs to maintain a list of currently installed plugins in alphabetical order): the old method of referencing variations by number is most useful in this context. But it doesn't allow for easy manipulation of variables. Rather than write an enormous script that covers all, I've developed a (wait for it) spreadsheet that picks up all the variables via a lookup table. But it's not necessary - just a code snippet repository or, better, a clipboard utlility (e.g. ArsClip, my review) will do the trick. As an example, we'll take the lazysusan variation - all that's required is:

Transform.lazysusan_spin := 3.14159;
Transform.lazysusan_space := 0;
Transform.lazysusan_twist := 0;
Transform.lazysusan_x := 0;
Transform.lazysusan_y := 0;

These are the default values. Also, a loop wrapper:

for i := a to b do
begin
SetActiveTransform(i);
...variables...
end

where a and b are the first and last transforms of the group (zero-based counting, that is the first transform of the flame is in fact transform #0).

Running Apophysis with the script editor window open (Ctrl-D), just click the New tool and paste in the code, amend the values as desired and click the Run tool - one click to perform what would take perhaps 30 seconds to accomplish in the Transform Editor.

The dig

Complete abstract, or an aerial view of an archaeological dig... or something else?

Tip: ad hoc scripting #1 - batch rendering multiple .flame files

Following on from the previous tip, this becomes a very simple but powerful tool to enhance lengthy unattended rendering, ideal for setting up before a weekend away. With reference to the previous tip, [script code] represents the chosen block of script for rendering the contents of a single .flame file. The choice of method may be varied for each .flame file. The following code will render the content of three .flame files in a single run:

SetFlameFile('full path\filename1.flame');
[script code]
SetFlameFile('full path\filename2.flame');
[script code]
SetFlameFile('full path\filename3.flame');
[script code]

The snippet may be stored in a text file and then amended and copied to the clipboard (Ctrl-C). In Apophysis, open the script editor (Ctrl-D), click New and paste (Ctrl-V), then click Run. This way, you don't end up with a load of stored scripts that won't be used again.

Morning shadows brush away the traces of last night's bloodshed

A surreal vision of a self-sweeping public space.

Curling

Abstract.