the flux collection





the flux collection


Welcome to the flux collection. These plugins are compatible with all paint
applications conforming to the Adobe Photoshop 3.0 plugin specification. We
have developed and tested these plugins with the Adobe Photoshop 3.0.5 SDK under
Windows NT 3.51 and Windows 95.


Getting started


To install, unpack your download into your

\temp

directory, then run

SETUP.EXE

from there. If you have Photoshop,

SETUP

will locate the Photoshop plugins directory and install the flux collection
automatically. If you want to use the flux collection with another application,

SETUP

asks you where to install the collection. One system file, msvcrt40.dll, is
installed in your system directory if you do not have this file or a later version
of it.


Plugin Description








Cassini


Cassini generates looping patterns around center points you define. You
specify the thickness of the rings, the number of centers and the general
color balance.


To set center locations click "Randomize Centers" to set all centers or
chose a center from the "Center Selection" drop down list, then click
in the blank box left of the "Cancel" and "OK" buttons to set its position.
To adjust the color balance use the red, green and blue sliders.









Electrosphere


ElectroSphere generates soft smooth background images intended for multimedia.
Four sliders, Current, Voltage, Heat and Frequency, define the appearance
of the image. Adjusting hue allows you to generate drastically different
shapes or patterns.


Because of the large number of floating point calculations Electrosphere's
interactive preview can be somewhat slow on older machines.









Isotope


Isotope generates colorful and highly saturated background images for
multimedia use. The colors created by Isotope are mostly outside the CMYK
color gamut and are thus not suitable for printing. On computer or video
monitors they look spectacular. Because of the smooth nature of these
backgrounds they are well suited for web usage.


You set the Tension, Attraction, Radiation and Distance. When you're satisfied
with the general appearance use the hue slider to alter not only the image
hue but also its apparent three dimensional depth. Because of the large
number of floating point calculations performed Isotope's interactive
preview can be somewhat slow on older machines.









Blast


The Blast plugin "blasts" across an image mixing original color and blasted
color along the way. You define the direction, left, right, up or down
and overall amount of blast as a percentage or absolute in pixels.


The Blast plugin randomizes individual blasts within these limits, mixing
colors as it proceeds.









Bright Noise


This plugin sprinkles an image with noise depending on the brightness.
You can darken or lighten the image or mix noise into the image. You specify
the noise intensity and the direction.









Bubbles


The bubbles plugin speckles your image with a grid of bubbles. You manipulate
the number of bubbles, their density and frequency, using tune to make
slight variations.









Center Mirror


Places a number of double sided mirrors in the center of an image and
reflects. You set the number of mirrors - we used four - and the rotation.









Gears


Shapes an image into gears from its center. You control the number of
gears and the strength.









Mirror


Mirrors an image along a horizontal or vertical axis. You specify the
location of the mirror, its direction - horizontal or vertical - and the
amount of blending between the original and the mirrored image. We placed
the mirror in the center of the image and used a blend of 50%.









Linear Transmission


Cuts an image into horizontal or vertical strips, offsetting alternating
strips and blending these with the original. You set direction, horizontal
or vertical, the offset and blend factor.


Blend factors from 0 to -100 increase contrast between the strips, peaking
in a pattern of black and white lines. Blend factors from 0 to 100 blend
the offset strips with the underlying image.









Mosaic Ripple


Cuts an image into tiles and ripples each tile individually. You specify
the number of mosaic tiles and the amount of ripple pull.









Psychedelic


Modifies colors in an image without geometric distortion. You control
the amount of red, green and blue psychedelic generation, plus overall
frequency and intensity.









Radial Mosaic


Arranges an images into a radial mosaic preserving some of the original
texture. You define angle and mosaic size.









Radial Noise


Creates a noisy version of your original image, which is scaled, rotated
and blended with the original.


You vary the size, rotation, noise threshold and intensity.









Radial Smox


Distorts an image using "smox" arranged in a radial fashion. You control
scale, density and frequency of the "smox.









Radial Transmission


Cuts an image into circular rings, rotates these into opposite directions
and blends rings with the original image.


You specify ring size, rotation and blend factor. Blend factors from -100
to 0 increase contrast peaking at -100 in black and white circular rings.
Blend factors above 0 blend the rotated rings with the underlying image.









Radial Warp


Warps an image using radial motion. You use six sliders to control the
distortion.









Radical Warp


Warps an image using a more radical variation of the radial engines used
in "Radial Warp". You use the same six sliders to control the distortion.









Spider Web


Puts an image behind a spider web. You control the number of rays [an
absolute value] and rings [relative] plus how much spider web darkens
the image.









Tiler


Takes part of an image and tiles it repeatedly. You specify the horizontal
and vertical dimension of the tile [in percent of the image size] and
its horizontal and vertical origin.





Known Problems:


Inverted preview


Some plugins display an inverted preview when working with a single channel
of a transparent layer. We have been assured this problem will be fixed in a
later version of the development kit used.


Incorrect result of filter operation


Many of the plugins in the flux collection require access to the complete image.
We found a few applications where the Photoshop plugin compatibility is implemented
on the assumption that images are filtered row by row.


These applications display the preview correctly but later seem to copy the
preview snapshot into the top left corner of the image. Those filters in the
flux collection which filter only a row at a time work correctly with these
applications.


Bug Reports


Although the core of the flux collection is in use on Unix systems, including
our web server, and although we have tested the flux collection on many hardware
platforms in several countries on both NT 3.51 and Windows 95 before public
release, it's always possible that you find a bug no one else stumbled across.


The fast track to get this fixed is by

reporting

it on our web site.


License


You have bought a license to use the flux collection on one computer system
of your choice. You will use it to create spectacular art. You would dislike
it if your artwork would be used by others without due compensation. We agree.
We therefore ask you to ensure nobody but you has access to the distribution
media to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution to others.



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Last updated: Nov. 4, 1996
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