Flame Fractals! (For all you nebula lovers out there)

Message

leiavoia · #1 Post by **leiavoia** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 6:58 pm

I discovered a very cool GIMP plugin (and also standalone software) called "flame". It's not what you think. It can be used to create fractal based images that have some real ethereal qualities. Anyways, after playing with it for a few hours, i've discovered it makes some great nebulae. They can be rendered onto transparent layers and used as OpenGL textures for many spacey things (probably good for space battles and the main map, possibly still renders)

If you find the standalone program, you can even create 100-image 3D animations! Haven't tried that yet, but here's a few examples of "nebula" looking flames:

utilae · #2 Post by **utilae** » Wed Jun 09, 2004 8:28 pm

Nice!!!

Zed · #3 Post by **Zed** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 12:26 am

I was playing with making starfields, and now I think this would make an awesome addition! I've played with flames before, but never thought to use them as nebulae.

Awesome! I'll see how they look with starfields added

leiavoia · #4 Post by **leiavoia** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:40 am

It's no nebula, but this one i thought was of exceptional coolness.

Zed · #5 Post by **Zed** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:16 am

Quick 15-minutes of gimping :

http://s88946514.onlinehome.us/images/f ... e-star.png

drek · #6 Post by **drek** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:22 am

Looks like the results from the old Kai's power tool FraxFlame.

leiavoia · #7 Post by **leiavoia** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:38 am

So far, SPHERICAL and to some extent, HORSESHOE seem to work out the best for spacy fx. SWIRL works for creating galaxies (don't forget you can tilt and shift the final image later).

Someone please verify: when i try to render large images, the contrast freaks out. For an experiment, please create a 1600x1200 image and render a flame to it. Render the same flame on an 800x600 and you'll get a large color shift (the large image is very dull). Then (if you CPU can hack it), try rendering a 3200x2400 image and you'll get virtually no contrast at all. Weird. I'd like to make some 1600x1200 desktop images but i can't figure out why the color changes.

leiavoia · #8 Post by **leiavoia** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:44 am

drek wrote:Looks like the results from the old Kai's power tool FraxFlame.

It is FraxFlame. Same basecode. http://flam3.com/index.cgi?&menu=children

guiguibaah · #9 Post by **guiguibaah** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:44 pm

That image you just posted, Leiavoia, the one at

http://www.orionsector.com/qstuph/flameexample5.jpg

I think it would be really cool to use images like that to construct a non-corporeal race, or single entity, or heck, a space monster.

nice![/url]

leiavoia · #10 Post by **leiavoia** » Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:04 pm

Actually, it looks like something you'd see in an Aliens movie. I was actually thinking of using it for my game.

Yoghurt · #11 Post by **Yoghurt** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:46 pm

As GIMP is also GPL, it should be no problem integrating flame into FO.

Let's hope its not too much code, otherwise it would be overkill IMHO

pd · #12 Post by pd » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:58 pm

hey this would be fun. we just need to find some parameters which result in nice nebulas, define a parameter range based on this and then we could have random generated nebulas.

Zed · #13 Post by **Zed** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:36 pm

Eh... I dunno about that. The flames don't render that quickly.

hadrian_27 · #14 Post by **hadrian_27** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 5:17 pm

Mua ha ha

.

"Loading............"
(5 minutes later)
"Loading............"

Perhaps the loading screen will be engaging eye-candy?

FreeOrion

Flame Fractals! (For all you nebula lovers out there)

Flame Fractals! (For all you nebula lovers out there)

Hey, wouldn't that be interesting....