Either a program request or advice...

[reactorman]

Hi Syntopia,

I just recently found out about this program and went to the Flickr site and was literally blown away by the images!  Incredible images!  I saw a few screenshots of the program itself and saw that there seem to be pull down menus on top, tabs and slider controls on the right side, and something that made me....well, frightened on the left side.  Basically, I know nothing about programming, unless you remember BASIC (Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code)....lol.  That's the only language I know.  I know...that's sad.  Anyway, I was going to make a request that's probably impossible.  Is there anyway you could make a version of Fragmentarium without the left side at all?  In other words, a version of the program without having the user to program as well.  Would that even be possible?  I had read somewhere that this program is not for everyone because it requires programming knowledge, but wouldn't it be nice to make a version that does not require that so more people would be able to enjoy your program?

Ok.  That's was my request for the program that I'm sure I already know the answer to.  So, I guess the only other thing I could ask for is advice.  Exactly what language is used for the left side?  Is it hard to learn?  Is there any free online resources to learn that programming language...specifically, "A Dummies" guide to it or something like that.

I really appreciate your time and any advice as far as how to learn that programming language...whatever it is.  Also, thanks for at least considering for at least a split-second on making a non-programming version of Fragmentarium.  Hey, a guy can dream...can't he?  LOL!


reactorman  -  Jim

[claude]

You don't have to write your own programs in left side if you don't want to - Fragmentarium comes with many examples that you can play around with using the GUI sliders etc on the right.  And I think you can drag the edge of the code pane all the way to the left so that it is invisible.

The language is GLSL (OpenGL Shader Language).  The syntax is similar to C, but without pointers and recursion, and with vector swizzles and function overloading.  Probably the best way to learn GLSL for fractals is to start reading and modifying examples in Fragmentarium - almost all the online resources are for more traditional 3D graphics, rather than fractals, and setting up an environment to play with GLSL isn't really trivial (requires lots of non-GLSL programming to even display a triangle in modern OpenGL, then if you want friendly editing without having to quit and rebuild your whole program each time that's another bunch of work).

Tip for when you do start modifying examples: save it to a different location first before making any changes, otherwise getting back to the original example code is a bit awkward.

[reactorman]

Hi Claude,

Thanks for that information!  I'll try modifying an existing "script" (is that what it's called?) on an example and see what it does.  Do you know offhand any GLSL for Dummies online by any chance?  Thanks again for your time and information!


reactorman  -  Jim

[SCORPION]

http://www.shaderific.com/glsl/

http://thndl.com/category/shaders.html

http://thndl.com/shader-recap.html



For fragmentariuma record syntax
will be:

Code:

#include "2D.frag"
vec3 resolution = vec3(1.0/pixelSize.x, 1.0/pixelSize.y, 1.0);
 
vec3 color(vec2 J) {
vec2 c = coord.xy / resolution.y;
return vec4(c.x,-c.y ,0.0, 1.0);					  
}

#preset default
Center = 76.7465,-31.3686
Zoom = 0.00228831
AntiAliasScale = 1
AntiAlias = 1
#endpreset

[reactorman]

Hi Scorpion,


Thanks for that information!  I'll check out those links and hopefully I'll begin to understand a least a little about how it all works.


reactorman  -  Jim