For the Slope Lighting tutorial open Object Formula Switch Lite and load the the Slope Switch plug-in. Virtually any Switch formula can be used to apply the slope plug-in, but for this tutorial we will stay with Mandelbrot Julia Switch. The slope formula requires a specific coloring formula, called Lighting. There are several of them available in the Ultrafractal database. We will use Lighting with Textures in reb5.ucl as it has the largest number of plug-ins and coloring options. For true slope coloring a specifically designed gradient is required. An example is lighting.ugr which is in standard.ugr. Other gradients will give artistic effects. The example uprs (Slope1, Slope2 and Slope3) are in the Parameters section of the Forum.
Example 1:
Open the upr titled Slope1 and make sure you are looking at the formula tab. The fractal formula is in the Julia mode. The Height value of Slope Basics has been replaced with Knot Curve Trap from kcc5.ulb. Click on the arrow next to Height Transfer to show the parameters. Height Post-Scale has been increased from 0.01 to 0.1. Note that the gradient is not a standard Lighting gradient. Open the Outside tab to look at the parameters for Lighting with Textures. The Light Type for the Slope1 upr is Infinite Light. Change the Light Rotation and Light Elevation settings to see the effects on the image. The default is Point Source. Change the Light Type and look at the effect on the image. Change the X, Y and Z values for Light Origin to see the effects on the image.
Example 2:
Open the upr titled Slope2 and make sure you are looking at the formula tab. The fractal formula is in the Julia mode. The Height value of Slope Basics has been replaced with Bicuspid Trap from reb.ulb. Click on the arrow next to Height Transfer to show the parameters. Height Post-Scale has been increased from 0.01 to 0.1. The gradient is a standard Lighting gradient but not the one from Standard.ugr. Open the Outside tab to look at the parameters for Lighting with Textures. The Light Type for the Slope1 upr is Infinite Light with the Light Rotation set to 0. In the Images and Coloring section click the arrow next to Colors to open up the parameters for the plug-in Monnier's SFBM II Coloring Texture. In the Coloring parameters and Flavors section note the two color bars for coloring. By clicking on a bar you can change to color and transparency. Look at the various parameters and change to see the effects. The coloring plug-in creates a second internal layer which is merged with the fractal formula layer using the Color Merge plug-in. Look at the settings and experiment with them. In the Special Effects section the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue have all been changed from the default values. Experiment with them to see the effects.
Example 3:
Open the upr titled Slope3 and make sure you are looking at the formula tab. This is the most complex of the uprs and has 5 layers. Two of the layers are grouped with a third layer used as a mask for the grouped layers. The lowest two layers comprise the background. Examine the Fractal Properties pane to see how everything is grouped and what merge modes are used betweeen layers. The Height value of Slope Basics for the three top layers has been replaced with the Capricornoid Trap with the Alternate formula box selected. This Shape Trap is in reb.ulb. As with the previous examples Height Post-Scale has been increased from 0.01 to 0.1. The formula parameters for the top three layers are identical. The bottom two layers use the pixel formula in jp.ufm.
Open the Outside tab and select the top layer in the Fractal Properties pane. This will show the parameters for Lighting with Textures. The Light type is set to Infinite Light with a Light Rotation of 0 and a Light Elevation of 45. The next two layers have the same settings. For the two layer all the remainings settings are the defaults. The second layer uses the ColorTrapShapeBlock plug-in in the Colors slot. Click the arrow next to Colors to show the parameters and additional plug-ins. For Trap Shape the Monnier's S.F.B.M. II Texture is used. In the Coloring parameters and Flavors section the Desert Array plug-in is used for the Direct color array slot. The third layer is the mask layer, and the mask is set up by clicking the Soften edges which creates the transparent regions. The mask is applied to a grouping of the top two layers (see the Fractal Properties pane).
The bottom layer is the pattern layer which uses the General Smoothing ucl in reb5.ucl to apply the pattern. The Convolution Color Wrapper plug-in is put in the colors slot. Click the arrow next to Colors to show the parameters and additional plug-ins. The Trap Shape slot is filled with Gnarl Textures. In the Coloring parameters and Flavors section the Desert Array plug-in is used for the Direct color array slot. The Convolution Filter slot is filled with the Average Blur Filter. The layer between the bottom layer and the mask is a filter layer which is controlled by a simple greyscale gradient. Rotating the gradient determines the darkness of the filter.
For the Slope Lighting tutorial open Object Formula Switch Lite and load the the Slope Switch plug-in. Virtually any Switch formula can be used to apply the slope plug-in, but for this tutorial we will stay with Mandelbrot Julia Switch. The slope formula requires a specific coloring formula, called Lighting. There are several of them available in the Ultrafractal database. We will use Lighting with Textures in reb5.ucl as it has the largest number of plug-ins and coloring options. For true slope coloring a specifically designed gradient is required. An example is lighting.ugr which is in standard.ugr. Other gradients will give artistic effects. The example uprs (Slope1, Slope2 and Slope3) are in the Parameters section of the Forum.
**Example 1:**
Open the upr titled Slope1 and make sure you are looking at the formula tab. The fractal formula is in the Julia mode. The Height value of Slope Basics has been replaced with Knot Curve Trap from kcc5.ulb. Click on the arrow next to Height Transfer to show the parameters. Height Post-Scale has been increased from 0.01 to 0.1. Note that the gradient is not a standard Lighting gradient. Open the Outside tab to look at the parameters for Lighting with Textures. The Light Type for the Slope1 upr is Infinite Light. Change the Light Rotation and Light Elevation settings to see the effects on the image. The default is Point Source. Change the Light Type and look at the effect on the image. Change the X, Y and Z values for Light Origin to see the effects on the image.
**Example 2:**
Open the upr titled Slope2 and make sure you are looking at the formula tab. The fractal formula is in the Julia mode. The Height value of Slope Basics has been replaced with Bicuspid Trap from reb.ulb. Click on the arrow next to Height Transfer to show the parameters. Height Post-Scale has been increased from 0.01 to 0.1. The gradient is a standard Lighting gradient but not the one from Standard.ugr. Open the Outside tab to look at the parameters for Lighting with Textures. The Light Type for the Slope1 upr is Infinite Light with the Light Rotation set to 0. In the Images and Coloring section click the arrow next to Colors to open up the parameters for the plug-in Monnier's SFBM II Coloring Texture. In the Coloring parameters and Flavors section note the two color bars for coloring. By clicking on a bar you can change to color and transparency. Look at the various parameters and change to see the effects. The coloring plug-in creates a second internal layer which is merged with the fractal formula layer using the Color Merge plug-in. Look at the settings and experiment with them. In the Special Effects section the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Hue have all been changed from the default values. Experiment with them to see the effects.
**Example 3:**
Open the upr titled Slope3 and make sure you are looking at the formula tab. This is the most complex of the uprs and has 5 layers. Two of the layers are grouped with a third layer used as a mask for the grouped layers. The lowest two layers comprise the background. Examine the Fractal Properties pane to see how everything is grouped and what merge modes are used betweeen layers. The Height value of Slope Basics for the three top layers has been replaced with the Capricornoid Trap with the Alternate formula box selected. This Shape Trap is in reb.ulb. As with the previous examples Height Post-Scale has been increased from 0.01 to 0.1. The formula parameters for the top three layers are identical. The bottom two layers use the pixel formula in jp.ufm.
Open the Outside tab and select the top layer in the Fractal Properties pane. This will show the parameters for Lighting with Textures. The Light type is set to Infinite Light with a Light Rotation of 0 and a Light Elevation of 45. The next two layers have the same settings. For the two layer all the remainings settings are the defaults. The second layer uses the ColorTrapShapeBlock plug-in in the Colors slot. Click the arrow next to Colors to show the parameters and additional plug-ins. For Trap Shape the Monnier's S.F.B.M. II Texture is used. In the Coloring parameters and Flavors section the Desert Array plug-in is used for the Direct color array slot. The third layer is the mask layer, and the mask is set up by clicking the Soften edges which creates the transparent regions. The mask is applied to a grouping of the top two layers (see the Fractal Properties pane).
The bottom layer is the pattern layer which uses the General Smoothing ucl in reb5.ucl to apply the pattern. The Convolution Color Wrapper plug-in is put in the colors slot. Click the arrow next to Colors to show the parameters and additional plug-ins. The Trap Shape slot is filled with Gnarl Textures. In the Coloring parameters and Flavors section the Desert Array plug-in is used for the Direct color array slot. The Convolution Filter slot is filled with the Average Blur Filter. The layer between the bottom layer and the mask is a filter layer which is controlled by a simple greyscale gradient. Rotating the gradient determines the darkness of the filter.
