Use up to 400 holons
V1.6 can use up to 200 holons. In v2 you can create even more complex
models with up to 400 holons.
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Preview grid |
You can overlay a grid on the Preview to help with alignment.
Preferences include color or grayscale options, aspect ratios and
grid resolution. Gridline colors are matched to the choice of background
color.
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Show/hide Holon window and Preview
These toolbar buttons let the Holon window or Preview display full
size.
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Solo Holon button to show only the active
holon
When working with many holons, showing only the active holon makes
it faster and easier to edit.
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12 history levels for Undo/Redo
Explore at full speed knowing you can get back if you need to.
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Save and open Shape Memory Spots to
a set of files
While exploring or working on a project, you may often store a variety
of interesting objects. It can be convenient to save your shape memory
data in one step. You can load the set back to the shape spots or
open individual shapes as parameter files.
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Export to UltraFractal
Objects with up to 31 holons and no metamorphs can be exported as
a UPR for UltraFractal 4, using Dave Makin's formulas. Free holons
and hidden holons are also supported. Coloring and lighting are not
exported.
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48 new metamorphs
V2.1 added 23 new metamorphs: cyclic constructors; cyclic tiles;
flat, circular and spherical mazes; cylindrical and spherical patterns
of holes; randomized cellular blocks and organic warps and more. Here
are some examples.
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V2.2 adds 25 more metamorphs. They include a rounded cube constructor;
tiles for steps, spirals and cubic symmetries; warps to add prickles,
lobes or horns; cylindrical curl or radial modulation; fractal metamorphs
for Apollonian, Julia and quaternion structures. Here are some examples.
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Custom gradient editor: import,
sample, smooth, simplify, adjust gradients |
V2.1 improved randomizing and added options to equalize node spacing
and set default gradients.
V2.2 can import gradients from .ugr (UltraFractal gradient) files,
so you can use gradients from UltraFractal or Apophysis. Create gradients
by sampling pictures; smooth, simplify and adjust the hue, saturation
and brightness of any gradient.
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New camera controls and switchable
views |
Redesigned camera controls are easy to learn and use.
Switch between the camera and six fixed direction views for convenient
design. Each view can be panned and zoomed.
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Animation controls to create batches
for rendering |
Create animation sequences with up to 30 keyframes. Camera, shape
and some coloring are interpolated with up to 800 steps between keyframes,
with choice of linear or spline interpolation. Preview all or part
of the sequence before creating the batch. You can save all the keyframes
and settings in a single animation project file.
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Batch rendering is also available in v1.6. Now v2.2 adds more options:
apply Pic Textures, apply DOF filter, save depth maps, control renders
by time or rate.
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Stereo mode post processing
Stereo mode automates production of stereograms, which are rendered
for cross-eyed viewing. The v2 additions let you add a black border
around the stereo images, swap left and right images for parallel
viewing, and convert to anaglyphs for any of four standard colored
glasses (red-blue, red-green, red-cyan, ochre-blue). Anaglyphs are
produced with one image in monochrome and another in color so you
can choose the one that works best for your picture.
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Pic Texture filter |
Create a wide variety of backgrounds with this powerful texture editor.
Combine up to six layers of 2D texture, with perspective and bump
options for 3D effects.
Each layer has spatial, contour, noise, turbulence and gradient controls.
The contour controls provide adjustable shapes to drive the gradient.
Noise controls add random or geometric patterns. Turbulence lets you
warp the layer. Gradient controls adjust the coloring and opacity.
Memory spots provide temporary storage for layers or whole textures.
You can save textures as presets for future use.
Over 160 presets are provided, ranging from simple gradients to tiles,
rocks, seascapes and different kinds of skies.
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Depth of Field filter |
The Depth of Field filter creates the effect of a camera lens, varying
the focus with distance from the camera.
You can control the focal distance, depth of focus and amount of
blurring. You can also choose from 10 aperture shapes, adjust spherical
aberration and boost highlights.
This is a post-processing effect that can be applied to the picture
after lighting, or used in other creative ways.
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Fill background with cellular
automata |
The Fill Holes option has 127 cellular automata variations. Some
of them fill the background solidly, while others leave intricate
patterns of holes.
These two examples began with a striped torus and filled the rest
of the picture.
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Mesh Export: increased maximum
size, smoothing filter |
In XenoDream 2 the grid size limit is increased to 1500, so the only
limit on mesh resolution is the physical memory (up to 2GB). Improved
memory management allows bigger meshes to be produced (up to 17 million
triangles before simplifying.)
You can use a mesh smoothing filter as much as you like, with controls
for the amount, number of times and width.
This example was generated with grid size 300, producing 1.1M triangles,
then simplified to 50k triangles. The copy on the right had moderate
smoothing applied before saving the mesh.
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In v2.2, meshes are always 2-manifold (not only watertight, but no
more than two triangles can share an edge). This is needed for compatibility
with some applications, such as 3D printing at Shapeways.com.
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Other improvements
Parameter files include holon selection and selection memory spots.
In v2.2 they remember render size.
There is a toolbar field showing how many holons are selected.
The Color Picker includes HSV numeric controls.
Lighting is multithreaded for improved responsiveness and reliability.
In v2.2 the maximum number of light sources has increased to 30.
In v2.2 the Picture window has a status bar to show the render time
and rate, and picture size and magnification.
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