This tutorial will make extensive use of plugins for both the fractal formula and for the coloring formulas. All of the examples have more than one layer.
The first example is called Boxes, and the upr is on the forum website. It uses the Julia form of the Gopalsamy Switch fractal and uses 'smallest|imag(z)|' for the basic height. In Lighting with Textures the 'Soften edges' parameter checked which provides some transparency through to the next layer. The user can see the areas of transparency by clicking off the bottom layer. A Worley Colors plugin is used. The user should examine the setting in detail, as there is an additional plugin that is used called DefaultColorMergeModes. With the selection of a Colors plugin a new parameter called 'Tiling method' is available. The user might want to try changing the tiling options and the color merge options to see the effects on the image. Note that the gradient used for lighting is not a standard lighting gradient.
The second example is called Carvings, and the upr is on the forum website. It also uses the Julia form of the Gopalsamy Switch fractal. The 'Height value' has been replaced with the Cardiod Trap Shape in mt.ulb. In Lighting with Textures the 'Soften edges' parameter is checked which provides some transparency through to the next layer. The user can see the areas of transparency by clicking off the bottom layer. The Colors plugin is ColorTrapShapeBlock which is a wrapper containing additional plugins. These include Monnier's S.F.B.M. II Texture, a 'direct color array' plugin called Alhambra Color Array for coloring the texture, and the DefaultColorMergeModes plugin. The 'Tiling method' is used and is set to 'Fixed Iteration'. The user might want to experiment with changing the options. As was the case with the previous example the gradient used for lighting is not a standard lighting gradient.
The third example is called CayleyButterfly, and the upr is on the forum website. It uses the Julia form of the Cayley Switch formula. It is also a convergent fractal. The top layer does not use a Lighting formula for coloring but uses Exponential Smoothing instead. The next layer is a mask which uses Lighting with Textures. The Outside tab 'Solid Color' is set to transparent. 'Use Trap by Height' is checked, and the 'Trap Limits' are set to (0,0.97). This creates the mask. The next two layers use traditional Lighting settings and a traditional Lighting gradient. The fifth layer is the background, which uses Worley Textures. The bottom layer is another mask, actually a reverse mask. Look at the settings to see what was done. The user should also check the 'Height Pre-Scale' and 'Height Post-Scale' parameters in the fractal formula (ufm) for all the layers where the slope formula is used.
The last example, DeepFibersDirect, comes the closest to a ray-traced image without using a ray tracer. It is a moderately deep zoom (40,000x) into the Mandelbrot set using the Mandelbrot Julia Switch formula. The top layer is straight-forward coloring using Fibers and Things. The bottom layer is the Lighting layer and uses Direct Color Slope, which is in reb.ufm. It is not an object formula.
This tutorial will make extensive use of plugins for both the fractal formula and for the coloring formulas. All of the examples have more than one layer.
The first example is called **Boxes**, and the upr is on the forum website. It uses the Julia form of the **Gopalsamy Switch** fractal and uses '_smallest|imag(z)|_' for the basic height. In** Lighting with Textures** the '_Soften edges_' parameter checked which provides some transparency through to the next layer. The user can see the areas of transparency by clicking off the bottom layer. A **Worley Colors** plugin is used. The user should examine the setting in detail, as there is an additional plugin that is used called **DefaultColorMergeModes**. With the selection of a **Colors** plugin a new parameter called '_Tiling method_' is available. The user might want to try changing the tiling options and the color merge options to see the effects on the image. Note that the gradient used for lighting is not a standard lighting gradient.
The second example is called** Carvings**, and the upr is on the forum website. It also uses the Julia form of the **Gopalsamy Switch** fractal. The '_Height value_' has been replaced with the **Cardiod Trap Shape** in mt.ulb. In **Lighting with Textures** the '_Soften edges_' parameter is checked which provides some transparency through to the next layer. The user can see the areas of transparency by clicking off the bottom layer. The **Colors** plugin is **ColorTrapShapeBlock** which is a wrapper containing additional plugins. These include **Monnier's S.F.B.M. II Texture**, a '_direct color array_' plugin called **Alhambra Color Array** for coloring the texture, and the **DefaultColorMergeModes** plugin. The '_Tiling method_' is used and is set to '_Fixed Iteration_'. The user might want to experiment with changing the options. As was the case with the previous example the gradient used for lighting is not a standard lighting gradient.
The third example is called** CayleyButterfly**, and the upr is on the forum website. It uses the Julia form of the **Cayley Switch** formula. It is also a convergent fractal. The top layer does not use a Lighting formula for coloring but uses **Exponential Smoothing** instead. The next layer is a mask which uses Lighting with Textures. The Outside tab _'Solid Color_' is set to transparent. '_Use Trap by Height_' is checked, and the '_Trap Limits_' are set to (0,0.97). This creates the mask. The next two layers use traditional Lighting settings and a traditional Lighting gradient. The fifth layer is the background, which uses **Worley Textures**. The bottom layer is another mask, actually a reverse mask. Look at the settings to see what was done. The user should also check the '_Height Pre-Scale_' and '_Height Post-Scale_' parameters in the fractal formula (ufm) for all the layers where the slope formula is used.
The last example, **DeepFibersDirect**, comes the closest to a ray-traced image without using a ray tracer. It is a moderately deep zoom (40,000x) into the Mandelbrot set using the **Mandelbrot Julia Switch** formula. The top layer is straight-forward coloring using **Fibers and Things**. The bottom layer is the Lighting layer and uses **Direct Color Slope**, which is in reb.ufm. It is not an object formula.
