"stbenge" <myu### [at] hotmailcom> wrote in message 
news:4c915220@news.povray.org...
> Hi,
>
> I'm always trying to speed up cellular automata simulations, and to that
> end have recently been investigating GLSL hardware shaders. My first
> experience with using shaders was a few month back when I came across
> Milkdrop for Winamp, which lets you write shader code for
> visualizations, among other things. It was very deficient in many
> regards, and in the name of Maximum Speed and Idiot Proofing, provided
> only very limited functionality and a lot of grief.
>
> Just when I thought I was going to have to code everything in C,
> Processing showed up in the scope. I learned there was an OpenGL library
> for it called GLGraphics which supports GLSL operations. Combined with
> Processing's easy-going language and core graphics functions, GLGraphics
> has made certain things a lot easier, not to mention /faster/.
>
> The attached render uses 16-bit data from a CA rule I discovered a while
> back, but am now able to render quickly (roughly 55 fps @ 1024x1024).
> Height values with 16-bit precision were used to make a height_field,
> and a regular color image was used for its pigment.
>
> The translucent effect is an old trick involving two objects:
>
>   * Object 1 has a pigment, diffuse reflection, zero brilliance,
> no_shadow, and is double_illuminating.
>
>   * Object 2 is slightly offset from object 2. It is transparent,
> hollow, and has absorbing media.
>
> Well anyway, Processing and GLGraphics can obviously be used for more
> than CA. Check it out, it's pretty cool.
>
> http://www.processing.org/
> http://codeanticode.wordpress.com/2010/08/22/glgraphics-0-9-4/
>
> Sam
>

Absoutely amazing as per usual!

I'm very interested in trying out your translucent effect too, added to my 
list of things to mess with :)

Cheers Dre

Post a reply to this message