Ray of Light Script [link]

Here are some setup guides for the Ray of Light Script in case anyone was having trouble getting decent results.
I've added a section on "transforms" since the last journal entry

Before you start ... you do need at least Apophysis 2.03a because the number of transforms used has changed.
The old versions of apophysis work but the flames come out weak.

There are three scripts in the .zip files:

Ray_of_Light_Batch.asc
This one will probably be the most popular of the three. it works only on new batches. It does save a temporary copy of the flames to a file called RoL.flame which is over written every time the script is run. The batch script WILL NOT run two times in a row, it likes fresh batches to run with.

Ray_of_Light_Single.asc
This is for working on individual flames....including flames within your Mutation Window. More flexible!

Ray_of_Light_Batch_w_Orig.asc
Set the "Batch Size" to a lower number. This script doubles the amount of flames because it saves a copy of the original as well as the revised version. It does save a temporary copy of the flames to a file called RoL.flame which is over written every time the script is run. The batch script WILL NOT run two times in a row, it likes fresh batches to run with.

Something I've found since the time of writing the script is that the "Smoothness Value" is alright but if you want to really pump up the Ray of Light effect then you should use a larger number. The default value is 0.00075 and I would recommend something like 0.0075 or 0.005 but play around with it!! By making the value smaller you will of course get less effect.


***Options Setup***

General Tab:
No changes

Display Tab:
Gamma=2.5 (reduces some of the cosmic debris)
Brightness=4-5

Gradient Tab:
Randomize (creates smoother gradients)

Random Tab:
Number of Transforms
min=2 max=3
Mutation Transforms
min=2 max=12
Forced Symmetry - None
Batch Size 50 and lower (I set mine to 10)

Variations Tab:
**A NOTE ABOUT TRANSFORMS**
I've gone through all the transforms in Apo 2.04 beta and there are several that consistantly do not help the initial flame and leave the window dark or seemingly empty so you may want to UNcheck them to get better results.

They are: (*** indicates that there may be some use for these)
Linear
Swirl
Horseshoe
Handkercief
Heart
EX
Bent ***
Waves
Popcorn
Exponential ***
Cosine ***
Fan
Noise
Blur
Cylinder ***
Fan2
Rings2

READ THIS:
IF however you are using the MUTATION window to choose flames, all of the transform have good value once you are past the intial window.

***The real key to success for your flames is to have fewer transforms before you run the script and let the script add them.

When you click the play button, the script will asked to input a "Smoothness Value" and a "Number of Transitions" value:

**The Smoothness Value actually determines how close together the added transforms will be.
The smaller the number the smoother the effect ..........(but there is such a thing as too smooth!!)

**The Number of Transitions is how many tranforms will you be adding to your flame. This changes the "Intensity" of the Ray of Light effect. The higher the number the more Intense the effect will be.

The "Number ot Transitions" variables allowed are 1 to 98. Going lower than 1 (0 or into negative numbers) has no effect
***WARNING*** going beyond 98 may freeze Apophysis!!

Keep your Mutation window open, There are good flames to be had in there!!!!!!

Make sure that you play with your Gradients!!! (what a HUGE difference this can make!!)

The script does save the entire batch to a file called 'RoL.flame' in your Apophysis folder but it will be overwritten the next time you run the script so if you want to keep the entire batch you need to do so before running the script again.

I hope this helps!!

Enjoy!

Member of:

Apophysis

Devious Fractals

MacroPhoto

Inner-Space