QScripting Fragmentarium

[3dickulus]

all network rendering does not fail, I have done a few animations using 3 different machines with nV GPUs 210 650 760 each with different driver versions and each with a different level of abilities, all sections looked right and fit together properly  they were all nVidia though
if other brands are inconsistent between versions for colour reproduction from the same data/calculations then I have another reason to like nVidia

the latest patch should let you compile and run your monster sized frags I did manage to get _Dirt_01 to compile but missing some textures

[Patryk Kizny]

I'll post an update on the raytracer work shortly. I was testing mostly on AMD and after moving to nVidia needed to tweak a lot to make it work.

I've been having lots of troubles with R9280x both under windows and OSX. Generally I think that the software and drivers side is very buggy. I think it relates to all AMD GPUs since they use the same
driver environment. Never had such issues with NVidia. I don't think I ever buy an AMD GPU again unless these things change. Too unreliable.

[ForestCat]

OK, continuing from the 1.0.20 release thread, can qscripting the same uniform at multiple points on the timeline be used interactively with the main program, in order to visualize (albeit at a lower rez/quality) that (and possibly other) qscripted uniforms, camera keyframes, etc. in the render window while the timeline runs in realtime?

If it can, then I've got to dig into scripting 

[3dickulus]

you can create any number of Range-nnn-nnn presets
they can each contain the same variable(s) but doing different things

the easing curve stuff is, as I said, simple and somewhat crude but so is a hammer, until it is wielded by a skilled carpenter, that is my analogy of easing curve settings controlled by fqScript,

they should work when applied in fqScript with setParameter(String) where String is an easing curve setting, so a fqScript might go something like this,

apply the initial starting preset
apply a range preset
render the frames in this range
set another one etc...

but, there's always one but fqScript control sort of negates the need for easing curves because you can also use math functions in fqScript like sin() and cos() in a loop and apply values to x and y to make a circular transition, in fact fqScript has the same basic stuff that java has including import so you could load any java library (in theory, I haven't actually tested this)

[3dickulus]

oh, pardon me, I got carried away there to answer your question, no this is not interactive, but still very powerful, you could just set render and not save images when you run the script, maybe with a image size = display, would render fast and give you a sort of preview... I think

[ForestCat]

That's OK, lol, enthusiasm is good. 
OK, this is hopefully related enuf to the topic to belong in this thread.

When working w/ the easing curves ui, I assume that Loops essentially sets the number of repeats of the selected curve cycle with the defined frame range?

If so, and the type is Linear AND Pong is selected, I'm not seeing the behavior I'd intuitively expect, and I haven't found any docs on this function.

Here's what I'd expect:

# of loops would set the # of times the entire cycle (ping/pong, +/-, yin-yang) would repeat within the frame range.  You could think of it as the frequency of a triangle wave in the above case.

But it doesn't seem to work that way at all.   With a 30sec timeline @ 30fps, if I select half that range (450 frames), I get a max of 1 loop, no pong option unless I select -1 Loops   

If I set the range to say 300 frames, I can set 3 Loops & Pong to 3, I get behavior that seem erratic.

I'll get parameter "sweeps", but they extend beyond 300 frames, & sometimes "jump around" at the loop points, sometimes not.

What am I doing wrong?   

My great hope here was to be able to simulate 'lfo's of sorts, and rhythmically modulate parameters across the timeline

[3dickulus]

ok I'll see if I can remember how I set that up  ...

total length of the animation is 300 frames @ 30fps = 10 seconds

you have to do a little math in your head for this but...

duration = Frame in 1 -> Frame out 100

ping is the same as one complete run through that is the duration, number of frames, set in the easing settings dialog, same as one loop, just one run

with Pong NOT checked

increment the Loops = 2

now it will run through 2 times and will take 200 frames, duration (Frame in -> Frame out) * 2
@ 100 frames this will restart the easing from the Value Start so 2 runs, both forward

with Pong checked

now it will run through 2 times and will take 200 frames but will run backwards from frame 100 -> 200
so...

Frame         Value
1                 0.0      start of loop 1 ping
100             1.0      end of loop 1 start of loop 2 pong
200             0.0      end of loop 2

increment the Loops = 3

Frame         Value
1                 0.0      start of loop 1 ping
100             1.0      end of loop 1 start of loop 2 pong
200             0.0      end of loop 2 start of loop 3 ping
300             1.0      end of loop 3

the ponging and looping may need some refinement ie: 0th index and integer math means some fiddling to get it to land where you want, I am watching it play 3 loops, as I type, with Pong checked so Ping->Pong->Ping and it seems to be doing exactly what it should but I do see that the total is 3 frames short (1 for each loop) of the full length, in my case 3 loops = 297 instead of 300, I think I did this so that you don't get 2 frames the same in the middle, 100 and 101 + 200 and 201 would be the same if each loop ran the full easing curve when ping ponging so it stops short to make it transition with out a bump (also stops short on the last loop making 3) it starts at frame 1, not at frame 0. so for now there is a few frames to fudge.

the animation in the Easing Curve Settings Dialog indicates the ping pong "motion" for the selected curve, you just have to play with it, get to know it, then apply it to suit your needs as best you can until this changes

under fqScript control you can apply values from your own transition any way you like to any frame you like so I guess the fancy GUI has this one small trade-off for the convenience of the ability to point and click over writing the required code in an fqScript.

hope that helps 

[ForestCat]

That makes sense.  I tried it as follows (just wanted to see many cycles...)

OK, I do have v1.0.20.160130.
I load the program, the default white mandelbulb is in the render window.
1. I set the timeline length to 30s
2. I select the Coloring tab
3. I set OrbitStrength to about .28
4. I hit F7
5. I move the upper Value limit to about .60
6. I set FrameIn to 1, FrameOut to 150
7. I set Loops to 6, Pong checked

I reset the timeline to start & run the animation.  The slider moves up to .60, then down to .28 and QUICKLY JUMPS TO .60 AND BACK.
It always does this at the Pong to Ping transition.

Yours doesn't do that?  What do you think could be wrong here?

[3dickulus]

yep, that's a bug, totally my fault,  it does work perfectly if you set (in preferences) fps to 25

25 fps is the value I had set while developing the ping pong loop feature I neglected to test it to use other fps set by user oops

hmmm... I seem to have gelato on my shoe

to review...

1. stepping for Q/E, Y/H, and T/G keys
2. mouse movement scale
3. easing curve ping pong loop

I will try to get these things addressed over this long weekend,
movable spline control points would be in the keyframe editor... eventually.

Thank you ForestCat, keep on hacking

[ForestCat]

Sorry I keep breaking sh!t, lol 

Listen, this is probably a stupid question, since it's such an obvious question, and the feature doesn't exist...

What are the technical obstacles/reasons not to have the ability to simply manually edit in various other param settings into the preset blocks created by F8 and tween between them?

That would be an enormous help if it were not a major PITA to implement...

There's a LOT of beer in it for you     

[3dickulus]

lol, I don't actually drink beer, or alcohol for that matter...
there are no really big obstacles, but you will find it very rare that there will be an occasion to morph all parameters in a preset, I find that in the majority of cases only a few are ever needed or used this way.

and please continue to break sh!t, it's the only way I will ever get the gelato cleaned up

[ForestCat]

Well, Pizza & coffee then, lol.

No I don't mean ALL the params.  I mean selectively, maybe just one or two that would be useful to have change smoothly between presets.  Say you've already created 10 camera presets w/ F8 in the main .frag file.  What I'm talking about is being able to selectively type in an additional parameter/value or two or three into some of these 10 Preset code blocks, and have your engine parse and tween them along w/ the camera settings.  WAY less overhead (and code space) than having to paste/parse/manage ALL the params into each preset.

It would extend this thing SO far.  (Wish I could get an Amen or two or three here...) 

Yes, I'm begging...

[3dickulus]

10 camera presets w/ F8

you mean keyframe presets? they are meant only for Eye,Target,Up and FOV and represent control points on the spline paths.
Easing Curves are meant to handle morphing parameters independently from camera/target, preset tweening might be an option for the future where you could add the parameters you want morphed to the keyframes like...

Code:

#preset KeyFrame.001
FOV = 0.62536
Eye = 1.65826,-1.22975,0.277736
Target = -5.2432,4.25801,-0.607125
Up = 0.401286,0.369883,-0.83588
RotAngle = 37.2563
#endpreset

#preset KeyFrame.002
FOV = 0.62536
Eye = 0.9121142,1.580827,1.004133
Target = -3.339892,-4.958482,-3.201402
Up = 0.2813924,0.3819138,-0.8783505
RotAngle = 77.8374
#endpreset

where RotAngle would transit from 001 -> 002 over the number of frames between them... or something, we'll see

[ForestCat]

That is EXACTLY what I'm asking for   

[3dickulus]

a couple of points though...

1. Easing Curves do this with 48 different types of mathematical functions and a few options, looping and ping pong etc.

2. fqScript control also does this in any way that you can think of and put into the code

3. using the time variable you can also do stuff like this in the fragment code

I have a hard time justifying putting the effort into a fourth method to do the same sort of thing but is limited to, say, a linear transition, especially when I have other things to fix and it's been done three times already with a great deal of flexibility, I have to say, the source code is available if you would like to write a key frame editor and transit controller.

The best way to proceed, in my mind at least, would be to spend some time exploring what's there already, fix up a few bugs and things familiarizing yourself with the source, then, if what's there is truly lacking the ability to do what you want/need and it's something that others want/need you can decide if it's something that might be worth writing the code for... just my 2 cents worth