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Mandelbulb3DReadme PDF
Mandelbulb3DReadme PDF
Mandelbulb3DReadme PDF
Contents:
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Installation
Zooming and navigating
3D Navigator
Formulas
Lighting
OPTION TABS:
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Calculation
Coloring -> Volumetric light
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Internal
Cutting
Julia on,off
Infos
Camera
Stereo
POSTPROCESSING:
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Recalculate a Selection
Normals on Z-Buffer
Hard Shadows
Ambient Shadows
Reflections and transparency
Depth of Field
Drawing on the image
Saving and loading
Animation maker
UTILITIES:
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Big renders
M.C. renderer
Warning and changelog
Installation:
The easiest way is to use the 3d navigator that i recommend and will
explain
in an extra topic later on.
The other way for navigating is to use the 2D mouse functions to step
and zoom
via 2D slices to different positions. You can select on the bottom left
side
of the programs window three options by clicking on these buttons:
1. Button is for zooming, a double click in the image will zoom in the
clicked
position by a factor of 1.4 . Left-click for zooming in, Right-click for
zooming out. You can also mark an area in the image to zoom into it.
These zoomings are performed at the Zmid slice, the other Z values are
changed relative to it and does not care about the object itself. That
means that a 3d calculation could slice the object or sending
parameters to
the navigator can make problems like with all other 2d functions.
2. Button to shift the image in horizontal and vertical directions.
3. Button to navigate the slice in Z direction, seen from the viewport of
the
beholder. This is useful to get a better imagination of the location or to
back in front of the object.
And you can rotate the bulb around the point that is given by the Xmid,
Ymid
and Zmid values by clicking on the arrow buttons below the main image
window.
In the 'Position' menu:
The Zstart position defines the start of rays to be calculated, Zend
defines
where calculation ends, if no object until then has been found.
These values are relative to the Zmid and the actual view direction, so
Zstart is always lower than Zend.
Hints:
Increase the Zend value, if parts in the background are missing, but do
not choose larger values than needed.
It is more recommended to use the 'farplane' value in the navigator for
this purpose (use F1 and F2 for de/increasing the value).
With high Zend values, use the 24bit or the DEAO ambient shadow
functions
to avoid banding artifacts.
'get midpoint':
The midpoint can be taken directly from the object in the rendered
image by
clicking on this button and afterwards on the image part.
'reset':
To reset the position, rotation and zoom to default start values.
If the R bailout value is bigger than 500, it will be more zoomed out, so
push this button after selecting the 'amazing box', for example.
Hint:
The zoom value is not really intended for large changes by the user, use
the navigator instead to zoom into the object, the value is adjusted automatically.
In the 'Rotation' menu:
You can change the rotation angles by hand, but you must press 'apply
to
image' to insert them to the parameters. A rotation matrix is generated
from them (the internal format of rotation) and afterwards the euler
angles
are calculated again from this matrix and will be shown. These can differ
from the original ones! On Y rotation near to 90 or -90 degrees, the
euler
angles can't be calculated at all from the matrix!
Calc-:
Calculates a 8x8 blocky image, for example to roughly locate structures
to preview with a selective recalculation in the postprocessing formular.
Calculate 3D:
Main rendering of the current parameters.
Choose the options for hard and ambient shadows in the
postprocessing
formular before if you want them to be calculated automatically or to
disable the automatic calculation.
Formulas, Postprocess and Lighting:
Brings up the specific formulars for making changes.
Rightclick on these buttons to choose from the sticky options.
Note: The image size is limited because a 32 bit program can use only
about
2 to 3 GB of memory, dependend on the operating system and its
settings.
Some postprocessings need also additional memory (SSAO15, DoF),
so the
absolute limit would be 100 megapixel, but to use postprocessings and
not run into any trouble, i suggest to go no much higher than 50 MPixel.
For huge renderings the new 'Big renders' tool is available in the
'Utilities' tab on the top-left corner of the program.
3D NAVIGATOR
This feature is useful for an intuitive navigation through the fractal, like
in
first person games.
First started, it uses the actual settings from the main program, later on
you
can use the 'Parameter' button to insert all main settings or 'Formula' to
insert only the actual formula settings.
You can also change only the light by choosing one of the user defined
lightings
'1' to '3' or press 'Light' to insert the current light settings. Anyways, the
navigator uses a simpler lighting, so the actual light in the navigator
image
differs from the main programs image.
In the navi the actual zoom is calculated from the local DE value, this is
the
reason why sometimes the object will appear more tiny when stepping
forward,
because the local DE became smaller while passing a nearby structure
and the
programs nearplane (not a pointlike camera) becomes smaller.
If you use the keyboard to navigate, all movings can be performed with
the left
hand and all rotations with the right hand. Use the keys that are shown
beside
the belonging buttons.
Additional navigating with the mouse is possible in two modes:
you can move towards the object and back with the mousewheel, if you
place the
cursor over a part of the image, you also change to this direction when
stepping
forwards.
The second mode is activated by leftclicking on the image, leftclick
again or
press the Escape button to turn back from this mode.
In this mode the view direction is changed by moving the mouse, if you
hold the
right mousebutton down while moving, a rolling is performed instead.
The mousewheel option depends of whether the option 'Fixed zoom and
steps' is
set. If so, then you can change the zoom-factor, else you step forward
or back
like in the other mode.
You can rightclick in the navigator image to choose the option for
changing to
the second mode: by single or double click.
Click the button on the lower right side to open the option panel for
specifying
step sizes, rotating angles and some other options.
Popup hints should appear when the mouse cursor is over the edit
fields.
Fixed zoom and steps (F6):
To disable the automatic zoom changing, what leeds also to stepping
through
the bulb.
Note: Do not start the navigator or insert parameters, when inside a
bulb.
Or you could try to enable the 'fixed zoom and steps' option first.
Hint: If the view disappears because of local low DE values, look at the
zoom
value and step towards decreasing values, and/or increase the far plane
value.
Until version 1.7.0 you got some more key shortcuts, please look at the
extended option panel for the F-keys options.
Use the 'fixed zoom and steps' option for navigating if you are in an
'inside rendering'.
The right adjusting panel is accessible by clicking on the arrow button
on
the bottom right side. Adjustments should be intuitive to handle.
Beside the usage of sliders, you can also click on the values directly
and
input a new value.
Use the 'show coords' checkbox to get the orientation of the current
coordinate system in the middle of the navi image.
This is useful for getting the right cutting plane for example.
FORMULA TAB
Here you can specify the formulas you want to calculate, in case only a
few
are available, you have to set the formula directory in the 'Ini' tab of the
main window.
Choose a formula and calculate the 3D version to see the differences.
Formulas that have a '_' (underline) character in front its name are only
useful in alternating hybrids, they are not intended for standalone use.
The formulas have often additional option values that can be changed
too.
Please tryout.
You can choose several formulas that are calculated behind each other
to give an
alternating hybrid. Each formula is repeated n times by the option value
that is
given with 'iteration count'.
Set 'iteration count' to zero to deactivate the formula or select an empty
field
in the formula selecting menus to remove it.
Repeat from here:
When choosing several formulas that are calculated in a row, this
option
specifies where the next iteration starts after finishing the last formula in
the tabs. So you can make one or more iterations with the first
formula(s),
that is(are) never used again.
R bailout:
This gives the bailout value that indicates if the point belongs to the
mandelset (after n iterations) or not (when R becomes greater than R
stop).
To low values results in artifacts.
Minimum and maximum iteration counts:
The formula is repeated at least the minimum iteration count and then
iterated further until R becomes greater than the bailout value, or the
maximum iteration count is reached.
Inside rendering:
To show the inside of bulbs, this option is slow especially for larger
images. The stepsizes are very small and at full iteration count, reduce
the maximum iteration value to a value not very bigger than the
average
iteration count in the statistic tab to gain calculation speed.
The 'raystep multiplier' affects also the stepsizes and so the calculation
speed.
Note: Use the 'fixed zoom and steps' option in the extended navigator
panel.
3D: Formulas that have not a special analytically DE method, using the
4 point DE method.
3Da: Formulas with an analytic DE based on an additional value
(currently
the w variable, what can cause some interferences with 4d
formulas).
Calculation is commonly faster then the non analytically ones.
4D: Same as 3D but using also the w variable.
4Da: Like 3Da, but using another variable for the analytic calculation.
Adds: Formulas that are not intended for standalone usage.
Notes:
You can mix all formulas, but some combination may lead to
OPTION TABS
CALCULATION:
points and generates a kind of roughness value for a better anti aliasing.
This is useful when the coloring looks noisy in high detailed areas.
A value of 2 is mostly enough, higher values are not leading to much
changes.
Normals on DE:
If activated, the normals will be calculated from distance estimates.
This is a good option for bulbs, as long as no artifacts occur, try out.
On formulas and hybrids that uses own DE methods, the normals are
always
calculated from the DE's.
First step random:
This option multiplies the first raymarching step by a random number
to give overstepping artifacts a random character and it can also reduce
banding artifacts in the dynamic fog for example.
Raystep sub DEstop:
Subtracts an amount from the DEstop from the next raystep to avoid
overstepping with higher DEstop values. I recommend this with DEstop
values of about 2 and higher, but also on lower values this can be
helpful with dIFS.
'M' button:
You can change the parameters for the presets ('preview', 'video', 'mid',
'high'). When clicked, hit one of the preset buttons to save the current
values in the calculation tab plus the values for the image width and the
image scale. The image height is calculated automatically to preserve
the
aspect ratio. If you clicked by accident, click again to cancel.
COLORING:
INTERNAL:
Threadcount in Calculations:
This value is set on program startup automatically, according to the
number of processor cores in the computer. If the program is too
fast ;-) or you need extra power for other programs, set it to a lower
value. Choosing more threads than you have cores, normally does not
increase the calculation speed, but can have a bad effect on stability,
so this should be avoided.
CUTTING:
JULIA MODE:
In this mode, the vector (C) that is added to x,y,z (and w in 4d formulas),
is kept the same and only the start parameters are changed.
Formulas like IFS are not affected by C, and won't differ in julia mode.
The shapes at the position from where the julia values are taken, will be
found in the julia version as common shape.
INFOS:
for changing.
Basic information to show:
- Average DE steps
- Average iterations
- Maximal iterations
- Main calculation time
- Hard shadow calculation time
- Reflections + transparency calculation time
CAMERA:
STEREO:
POSTPROCESSING
The blurring from the optic can be simulated. Choose the distance from
the beholder that should be sharp by clicking on the 'Get Z from image'
button and afterwards on the specific object detail in the image.
'ClipRadius' is limiting the maximal radius when calculation.
'Aperture' specifies the blur change at the Zsharp point. It is not
the aperture of the camera. You can multiply the value by a freely
choosen distance from the camera to the Zsharp point and divide it
by the cameras lense focal length to get the cameras aperture.
For example: if you would like to have a camera aperture of 1:4 with
a focal length of 100mm and the Zsharp point should be 1m in front
of the camera, the 'Aperture' value must be 1/4 * 100 / 1000 = 0.025.
The DoF function is also not stored in the main buffer, so all light
changes will reset this calculation.
Note: Because of the new 'Reflections' function, the effect will not be
automatically reset on a new calculation. You can reset it by
pressing the 'Reset now' button beside the 'Caution-message',
else the effect accumulates on each calculation.
Please look also at the popups that appear when the mouse is over the
edit
fields or buttons!
LIGHTING
The '*.m3i' files are including all calculated values from the image, also
the parameter and light settings. The reflections and the DoF effect will
also be stored if 'Img' is checked.
It is always stored with fullsize, no matter of the current view-scaling.
Animation, Voxelstack and Big-renders have own savings of their
special
be
automatically stored in here.
ANIMATION MAKER
I hope that most functions are self explaining, some hints are popping
up when
the cursor is over a button or an edit field.
The base function is to insert key frames from the actual parameters of
the main
programs window or from the navigator.
The images inbetween are calculated from the interpolated values. Here
you can
define a smoothing factor for each keyframe, 0 leads to a linear
interpolation
to and from this keyframe, higher values gives a rounded, bezier like
interpolation. In the newer program versions you can only choose
between linear
and bezier interpolation.
So with bezier, the original keyframe parameters must not be reached in
all
cases, instead the midpoint between two keyframes are passed over.
To still
start with the first keyframe, duplicate the first KF (insert it towards the
first and second KF) and set the first subframecount to zero. Same with
ending
on the last keyframe, setting the last KF's subframecount to zero.
With the preview you can get a good impression of the flight path, so
check this
before starting the main rendering.
If you want to change specific values of a single keyframe, insert the
parameters of the keyframe to the main program with the button above
the
keyframe, then change the parameters and insert them again with the
button
below the keyframe to it.
Mostly all values, including lighting can be changed and will be
interpolated.
The 'Start with index:' value is helpful, when a previous animation
rendering
was stopped. The rendering starts with this image index, so look what
the
last image index was. The 'File index:' values have to be left as they
were.
Hint: The length of the Output Folder name should not exceed 255
characters,
any more than that will not be saved in the '.m3a' file.
BIG RENDERS
M.C. RENDERER
This is a more realistic renderer but it may take up to 100 times longer
to
render the same image as by default!
Some hints on speeding up calculations in the default rendering as
preview:
- Render in 1:1 view, a special antialiasing is usually not needed
- Increase the raystep multiplier until the first oversteppings occur and
lower it only slightly. Little oversteppings are not that visible later
- Hard shadows will always be calculated, switch off all lights that would
give no big light amount or lies outside a room, use positional lights
to light a room inside. The only way to switch off the HS calc would be
to decrease the max length calcuation to 0.
- When using dIFS make sure the maximum iterations value is as low as
possible because it is aways calculated up to the maximum value.
- The ambient and reflects rays depth values influences rendering
speed
of course, to low values affects the realism.
To change parameters you can use the 'Send parameter to main'
button, modify
settings there and 'Import parameter' back then.
The parameter will also be changed when sending, so the output of the
main renderer
comes closer to the MC result.
Use 'MaxL' in the postprocess DEAO settings to change the maximum
calculated ambient
ray length, same for 'max length calc' of hard shadows in its tab.
You can always stop the calculations and start again for continuing
rendering.
Gamma, contrast and soft clipping can be changed at all time.
To use the automatic file storing option, you first have to save the M3C
file.
The dynamic fog can easily destroy realism, for example when light is
subtracted.
An intern gamma of 2 ('I2' in the lighting tab) is also recommended.
Not all caustics are implemented because it would take to much time to
render. Light behind transparent objects is not accurate for example.
WARNING:
This renderer shares maps with the main renderer, if you are using
maps for lights, diffuse color, background and/or calcuations, i
recommend to not touch the main renderer or you could loose maps
and the MC renderer would produce crap!
CAUTION!!
The usage of the program is at own risk, I cannot give warranties of any
kind.
There are no restrictions in the useage of the program, but feel free to
give
CHANGE LOG
length of calculation.
- Reset button in the formula tab and more space for formula selection.
- Added formulas, plenty from Luca.
What was new in version 1.6.9:
- New parameter 'Stepwidth limiter' for reducing overstepping in worth
cases.
- Option to calculate a 'left-eye' image for stereo rendering, also in
animation rendering.
- Farplane in the navigator is set on parameters load, that's why 'Zend'
is
now bigger on program startup.
- New formulas 'CondItcountR' and 'Beth641'.
- Color range on negative scaled boxes changed to be more stable on
zooms.
- Current parameters are stored to clipboard on program end, so if
closed on
fault you can restore the parameters with the 'Open TXT' button.
- Some minor issues solved.
What was new in version 1.6.8:
- Increased formula options for supporting 4d analytic formulas.
- New formulas added, including the Amazing Box in 4d, a 4d rotation
and
a MengerIFS that harmonizes with other formulas in hybrids.
- An option to calculate a fast 8x8 blocky image ('Calc-' button).
- Some changes in the lighting: gamma range from 0.5 to 2, option for
the
background light curve, background image can be used also
nonspherical.
- More 2nd coloring options beside 'orbit trap', must be selected before
the
main calculation.
- Quick load of full light parameters plus option to not change the lights.
- Option for showing informations about selected formulas, if available.
- Sharpen parameter for downscaled output images.
What was new in version 1.6.7:
- Raymarching modified to speedup far distance stepping. The optimal
Raystep
multiplier for each formula can change in comparison to previous
program
versions. Please try out until the point where no overstepping occurs is
found.
- The DEAO ambient shadow function was modified and has 4 raycount
options.
- New calculation option 'First step random' to make overstepping and
some
banding artifacts more random and less obvious.
- Navigator option 'HiQual' to reduce overstepping artifacts.
- Solved a bug in the Navigator walking options, reduces wild stepping
inside.
- Tried to decrease the color shifting while zooming in the object, though
changing the maximum iteration count will still shift the colors.
Because of this change, the colors are calculated different when loading
older version parameters!
- The minimum and maximum iteration counts moved to the formula tab,
if
someone is missing them.
- Solved some issues with positional lights in combination with depth
color,
and with backward light visibility.
- 'Recalculate a selection' option in the post processings, so you may
reduce
some overstepping artifacts later on, or to test some parameters on
certain
image parts to get good settings.
- New extern formula 'TrafasselQuat' for some interesting quaternion
varis.
- Post processing option to calculate only a part of the image.
What was new in version 1.6.6:
- Bugfix of sudden animation rendering stopping when frames are equal.
- Hard shadow calculation faster because of issue with raystep
multiplier.
- New ambient shadow method based on distance estimates.
- New camera option rectilinear lense for straight lines.
- Benesi's formulas added for power bulb versions.
What was new in version 1.6.5:
- Removed issue of 'jittering' artifact at high zooms in animations.
- Possibility to save the Z buffer as BMP or PNG image. (beta)
- Addon for the light adjustments to scale the '2nd reflection' strength.
- A possible speed increment relative to the previous version.
What was new in version 1.6.4:
- Undo/Redo also for the light settings.
- Visible positional lights.
- Animation output also as PNG or JPG file format.
- Some minor issues fixed.
- New extern formula added, based on Tglads mandbox with variable
scale.
(Hint: Use small values for 'Scale vary' like +/- 0.02)
- 1.6.4.1 version fixes a bug with white pixels when smooth normals is
on.
What was new in version 1.6.3:
- Batch rendering of M3P parameter to M3I files.
- Ambient shadow calculation improved to reduce banding plus an
additional AO
function with 24 bit Z buffer usage and less memory comsumption on
demand
(still not final version).
- Basic PNG file support.
- Hard shadows are calculated to a longer maximum length, speed
improvements.
- Issue solved with TXT load from clipboard with more than 3 or 4
formulas.