Nutcracker Effects Builder released

[smeighan]

There are 4 parts to the nutcracker

1) Build a target model
2) Create effects and add them into your user library
3) Pick a target model and an effect and create an animated sequence. Produce this as an animated GIF
4) Create this sequence as an xml file for lsp,lor or vixen

I have 1-3 working now. It is pretty cool. There are lots of moving parts on this. Error checking,navigations is still rough. All of the forms are built dynamically so i have to load up the effect_class table, i have to join the effect generators to the user models.

This is an alpha release. Things can and will break. Things that were working, may now become broken.
 I will be releasing new code every single day for the next 1-2 weeks. Play with it and give me some feedback on usability, features and bugs.

So some caveats:
I dont have all of the color working like i want. If you select 3 spirals, i will override your color choice and make each spiral red, white and blue. If you pick more than 4 spirals then i will use your color selections. I think i need to prompt for each spiral for color.

navigation and error checking are pretty rough right now, i am releasing it so you can start to play.

Login in to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and then select effects builder.




I think you will enjoy playing with it.

I have spirals done. I will probably next do text and then pictures, bands, meteors and points. It will probably take a week to get all the code connected to the effects class generators.

Here is one example:



PS: Thanks RJ for creating this separate forum area for the Nutcracker

thanks

[smeighan]

Maybe start with something simple.
2 spirals, 2 pixels thick.

[username] => smeighan
    [user_target] => AA
    [effect_class] => spirals
    [effect_name] => sean31
    [number_spirals] => 2
    [number_rotations] => 2
    [spiral_thickness] => 2
    [start_color] => #42D3FF
    [end_color] => #FF4FE8
    [frame_delay] => 22
    [direction] => cw
    [submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)

[smeighan]

If you are having problems, you can use my test account
login "f"
password "f"

use target model ZZ_ZZ

here is another run

(
    [username] => f
    [user_target] => ZZ_ZZ
    [effect_class] => spirals
    [effect_name] => sean6
    [number_spirals] => 7
    [number_rotations] => 2
    [spiral_thickness] => 2
    [start_color] => #40FF40
    [end_color] => #FF59DE
    [frame_delay] => 22
    [direction] => 2
    [submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)




you can go ahead and save some effects under this user if you have any issues with your own models.

thanks

[smeighan]

I tried some of your effects. I noticed that some of you have put embedded spaces into your effect name. The web page was putting %20 in place of this and caused the database search to fail.

I have fixed this. What this means is that now you can select an old effect by clicking its name and it will load the form for you so u can then modify parameters and try it again.

Oops, i see some of you have created user names with embedded spaces. I will fix this now also.
Ok, fixed now. "Steve Gase", "Tallahassee Dreamer" your models and effects should work now.



thanks

[taybrynn]

Looking great ... registered ... thanks so much for doing this !!

[Rod R]

Sean,

Nice job as always, will you be adding the Zig Zag (up-down-up-down and vice versa) option on "How Will you build your tree" section.  Just looking to add my mini trees to the library.  Thanks again for your work on this this tool.

[smeighan]

Sean,

Nice job as always, will you be adding the Zig Zag (up-down-up-down and vice versa) option on "How Will you build your tree" section.  Just looking to add my mini trees to the library.  Thanks again for your work on this this tool.

yes, just need to find the time. eventually it will all be done, probably by june.

the immediate next steps , i think, are getting all of the effect classes connected to the database.
Then i will start making a vixen output xml file.

for now, i would suggest you build an UP/DOWn tree that is close to the same dimensions of your final mini tree.

Just adjust the number of pixels and # of strings so that you get the same dimensions. Now this target model can be used to visualize the effects.

when i get the UP/DOWN NEXT3 and UP/DOWN NEXT4 finished, you just select the new target model and reuse the effects from your library.

The effects work on all rgb devices i plan so far.


thanks

[smeighan]

New option on spiral class added.

sparkles is a number form 0-100. This indicates what percentage of teh pixels being drawn should have their color overwritten and instad be set to white.

I did this as a test, to verify i can add options to the class without needing to touch the html forms.

it works and is now another option for you to choose.

Here is an example, notice sparkles is now one ofthe options. BTW, i think something like 10% looks better. go ahead and play

(
    [username] => Tallahassee Dreamer
    [user_target] => MEGA1
    [effect_class] => spirals
    [effect_name] => sean4
    [number_spirals] => 7
    [number_rotations] => 2
    [spiral_thickness] => 3
    [start_color] => #1812BD
    [end_color] => #0F0C6B
    [frame_delay] => 22
    [direction] => 1
    [sparkles] => 10
    [submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)

[taybrynn]

I apologize if someone already asked this, but how many strings does your model (shown) use ?  and how many nodes up and down is it showing?

[smeighan]

I apologize if someone already asked this, but how many strings does your model (shown) use ?  and how many nodes up and down is it showing?

No prob. the model is from user "Tallahassee Dreamer". i was using his account to test users who have embedded spaces in their user name.


his tree model had 32 strings with 85 pixels each. It was built BOT_TOP

[smeighan]

Ok, another release

I fixed the color problem i was having. No one noticed, but i did.

When you pick a start and end color it is supposed to go between those two colors in a chromatic fashion. What it did was wrap around the hue table.

Here is an example of the fixed code


_POST
username   f
user_target   ZZ_ZZ
effect_class   spirals
effect_name   sean6
number_spirals   4
number_rotations   2
spiral_thickness   2
start_color   #0DFF05
end_color   #1C14FF
frame_delay   22
direction   ccw
sparkles   5
submit   Submit Form to create your target model




What it did before is wrap through the reds/oranges/yellows until it reached the ending color. It now works as expected.

Here is a link  of how the HUE, SATURATION, VALUE works. basically for hue , when u pick two colors i want to only show the colors on the shortest distance path.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login




thanks

[smeighan]

New release. Added new option on spiral effect class, window_degrees. Value 0-360 degres
this is how much of your tree will be displayed.

This release is for you Steve Gase.

Here is window-degrees=180 on the babrer pole, so front half of tree will display
_POST
username   f
user_target   ZZ_ZZ
effect_class   spirals
effect_name   barberpole_180
number_spirals   2
number_rotations   2
spiral_thickness   16
window_degrees   180
start_color   #0DFF05
end_color   #1C14FF
frame_delay   22
direction   ccw
sparkles   0
submit   Submit Form to create your target model




Here is with window_degrees set to 360, so this will do entire tree
username   f
user_target   ZZ_ZZ
effect_class   spirals
effect_name   barberpole
number_spirals   2
number_rotations   2
spiral_thickness   16
window_degrees   360
start_color   #0DFF05
end_color   #1C14FF
frame_delay   22
direction   ccw
sparkles   0
submit   Submit Form to create your target model



Here it is set to 90 degrees, only 1/4 of tree will display

username   f
user_target   ZZ_ZZ
effect_class   spirals
effect_name   barberpole_90
number_spirals   2
number_rotations   2
spiral_thickness   16
window_degrees   90
start_color   #0DFF05
end_color   #1C14FF
frame_delay   22
direction   ccw
sparkles   0
submit   Submit Form to create your target model


thanks

[Steve Gase]

thanks! they look great.

i sent you a message about my difficulties in creating the animation myself.

[smeighan]

thanks! they look great.

i sent you a message about my difficulties in creating the animation myself.

Hi steve, maybe do a shift reload.

Everyones passwords are encrypted, but i have a password that allows me to login to anyones account. This super password basically bypasses the password check.

I use this to login as a user to see what errors they are seeing. So i just logged in as "Steve Gase" and i was able to create the following


_POST
username   Steve Gase
user_target   SGMEG40
effect_class   spirals
effect_name   barberpole
number_spirals   2
number_rotations   2
spiral_thickness   16
window_degrees   180
start_color   #4AFF6E
end_color   #C21CFF
frame_delay   22
direction   ccw
sparkles   0
submit   Submit Form to create your target model





MODEL: SGMEG40.dat
target_name   SGMEG40
total_strings   48
pixel_count   85
pixel_length   252.00
unit_of_measure   in
topography   BOT_TOP


Please try again, it all worked as expected.

[Steve Gase]

better!
then i tried the following, and got the error...

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in /users/meighan.net/htdocs/nutcracker/effects/read_file.php on line 503


Maybe a more complex image needs more time...?

_POST
username Steve Gase
user_target SGMEG48W
effect_class spirals
effect_name barber2
number_spirals 9
number_rotations 4
spiral_thickness 7
window_degrees 225
start_color #1241FF
end_color #FF6F3B
frame_delay 50
direction ccw
sparkles 20
submit Submit Form to create your target model