Plug-in Tutorial: Image Traps Part I

Image Traps is based upon Damien Jones' Orbit Traps Gradient but with many additional enhancements. It has image import capabilities. Image examples will be taken from from my website. The link is

www.hiddendimension.com/zip/imagezip.zip

Download and unzip to a convenient place. This tutorial assumes the images are in a folder titled TutImage which is in the Ultrafractal folder titled Formulas.

Like Orbit Traps, Image Traps is a coloring formula for use with almost any fractal formula and can be applied to both the inside and outside tabs. To start this tutorial we will use Object Formula Switch Lite and the Mandelbrot Julia Switch plug-in. Open the upr titled StartingPoint.

StartingPoint {
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}

Open the outside tab, which should show Image Traps. Starting at the top we will examine most of the plug-ins.

Trap Iteration. In the Trap Parameters section the first plug-in is the Trap Iteration plug-in which is filled with the default plug-in Trap Select (which is in dmj5.ulb). Click the arrow next to Trap Iteration to show the parameters for the plug-in. All of the various Trap Iteration plug-ins have a selection criterion and returns a value of one if the point is to be trapped and zero if not. For Trap Select click the drop down menu and choose 'some iterations'. You will see several parameters that determine whether a point is trapped. Try varying them to see the effects on the image. Return the setting to 'all iterations'.

Trap Position. Functionally Trap Position is a transform and so a browse for plug-ins will show all transforms including ones that are not appropriate for Trap Position. Trap Position has all of the parameters on the Location tab plus a fewe more. The appropriate plug-ins for this slot are

• Trap Position (common.ulb)
• Trap Position Mod (reb.ulb)

Trap Position Mod (the default for Image Traps) is an enhanced verion of Trap Position. It implements aspect steps analogous to steps for rototation and skew. All step parameters including trap drift can be randomized. Try varying them to see the effects on the image. Reload the upr to return to the original settings.

Trap Shape. This is the key plug-in for Orbit Traps and Image Traps. There are over 100 Trap Shapes available written by many authors. The default for Image Traps is Bifolium. Textures also plug in the the Trap Shape slot but work best with the Trap Texture slot. A number of wrappers (plug-in designed to hold multiple plug-ins) which also work in the Trap Shape slot. Several of these will be exolored in the tutorial.

• Formula + Gradient Coloring Trap (common.ulb)
• TrapShapeBlock (common.ulb)
• TrapShapeMerge (common.ulb)
• ConvolutionShapeWrapper (reb.ulb)
• RangeColoringWrapper (reb.ulb)
• TrapShape/TextureMerge (reb.ulb)
• TextureBlock (mt.ulb)
• Transform (mt.ulb)
• Assorted advanced plug-ins (rkb.ulb)

Trap Transfer. This plug-in provides options to transform the distance that is returned by the trap shape plug-in.

• TrapTransfer (common.ulb)
• TrapDiameter (dmj.ulb)
• TrapTransferBias (reb.ulb)
• DistanceVariants(reb.ulb)
• MMFTtransferMerge (mmf.ulb)
• TrapGradientTransfer (mmf.ulb)

Trap Mode. Image Traps (and Orbit Traps) works by examining the value of Z (as calculated by the fractal formula) for each iteration. It tests how close Z is to a fixed shape as defined by the Trap Shape (the orbit trap). The pixel is colored according to the selected Trap Mode. The Trap Modes available are

• Alternating Average
• Alternating Average 2
• Average
• Change Average
• Closest
• Exponential Average
• Farthest
• First
• Geometric Mean
• Harmonic Mean
• Harmonic Sum
• Inverted Sum
• Largest
• Last
• Product
• Second Closest
• Second Farthest
• Sign Average
• Smallest
• Stacked
• Sum
• Trap Only
• Two Closest
• Two Farthest

Trap Modes with these names and functions are also mostly available for Orbit Traps. They are not equivalent however, and are not interchangeable. The Trap Mode plug-ins for Image Traps have some changes related to image use and other enhancements. The Trap Modes for Orbit Traps descend from the parent TrapModeWithThreshold or TrapMode which are in common.ulb. The Trap Modes for Image Traps descend from ImageTrapModeWithThreshold or ImageTrapMode which are in reb.ulb. The default is Closest. Make sure the parameters for Closest are visible. The first parameter is a checkbox for Image edge fade. This will be functional only if an image or a Colors plug-in are in place (to be covered later). The next parameter is also a checkbox named Transform smooth iteration, and is functional only if the Trap Color Mode is Iteration. The next parameter, Edge only, is an interesting one in that when checked only the edges of the trap are displayed. The last upr in Part I of the tutorial, will illustrate this function.

Trap Texture. The plug-ins for this slot are also a Trap Shape type. Using a Trap Texture is a relatively advanced topic and will be covered in one of the later parts of the tutorial.

Trap Color Mode. These plug-ins take the results of a Trap Mode and returns both a value to use as a color index and a color.

• Angle to Origin
• Angle to Origin 2
• Angle to Trap
• Distance
• Imaginary
• Iteration
• Magnitude
• Real

The Distance Trap Color Mode has parameters for autoscaling and scaling by iteration. The Iteration Trap Color Mode has an option for discrete colors, called Mod Coloring and for smooth iteration. The Edge upr at the end of Part I will use the smooth iteration option.

Plug-ins for Images and Coloring will be covered in one of the later parts of the tutorial.

Edges {
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}

Thank you for this tutorial, Ron. I have used Image Traps quite a bit and learned a lot both through your website tutorial on the subject and my own explorations. However, I suspect there may be much more to this plugin and type of fractal work than I am currently aware of so I shall look forward to reading the rest of this tutorial. I'm sure there are still quite a few new things for me to learn and understand.

This can be a tricky subject - I have tried to coach other users but don't have your technical knowledge so my explanations are usually inadequate. You have a clear and succinct style that will hopefully help users who have yet to explore these techniques more fully. I will probably point them to these articles in future, they will be a great resource!

Thanks again!