This is a really amazing piece of software, especially when you couple it with Sunflow rendering. You can get absolutely stunning 3D visuals whether or not you're at all artistic. All you need to do is define a few short rules, and you often end up with amazing emergent structures based on those rules.
Sometimes you'll find that a 3-6 line eisenscript gives you the most amazing structure. Recursive structures are often the best. You can find lots of great stuff on the flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/structuresynth/
I hope you can help me. I don't know anything about Sunflow or Structure Synth. I messed around with something called POV-Ray a long time ago (8 years I think).
What would be the best way to get started with these programs? Should I start with Synth? Something else? And where can I read about how to use them?
3. Use the built-in renderer till you're comfortable with the grammar. The SS website + Syntopia's blog is very helpful. Also you'll find good Flickr images with exact SS script in them.
4. Download and extract Sunflow (requires Java)
5. In SS, Render > Template Export to Sunflow-Colored
6. Open the output.sc file in Sunflow (may have to click Build Scene)
7. Click IPR for quick preview, Render for hi-res.
8. Camera view in SS and Sunflow is a pain initially. Press Shift and Control when you drag our mouse to change axes of rotation and zoom.
9. The best part of the SS grammar is that you can define the same rule {} multiple times and each one could contain a slightly different command. When you call the rule repeatedly, any of the matching rules are randomly executed. That's how I got the spikes in the virtue.png to look so organic.
11. To really make all of this work, learn a bit about 3D graphics / transformations. You don't need to be able to make the Quake engine but knowing what happens when you apply an RX over an RY can help. Of course, you can play around with the code in the IDE and keep hitting F5 to see what effect each change has on the final object. However, due to the nested nature of the grammar, you might get the wrong impression. The one tip I can give is to think in the rule's local coordinates. Each rule is called with its own 3D coordinates, inherent from the parent rule. Anything you do in that rule is only for that rule and child-rules. The global coordinates aren't affected. Rotation inside a rule is only for rules & objects called within the rule.
About step 11), any recommendations about learning 3D graphics? I'm just doing this for a little fun, so I don't want anything too heavy... just a kind "Graphics 4 dummies" if it exists.
Well, all you really need to know is how coordinates work, and how rotation about the x, y and z axes work, which corresponds to the rx, ry and rz parameters. You also need to be able to follow the control flow of the rules, which can sometimes be tough if you make them deeply recursive, referencing each other everywhere.
There are packages for Ubuntu 10.04 and for the upcoming 10.10, yes - the last SS version is from 2009 - now spankin new, but not outdated, and the packages are always kept fresh.
Thanks, I figured it out the installation in Ubuntu (it has both SS and Sunflow packages, I only had to give Sunflow parameter to use more memory in the launcher/Java heap)
the shots on your flickr pool link are reminiscent of demoscene releases. Kind of makes sense though, since I presume much of the more abstract features of a compo are stored/drawn in the same [similar] way.
Pretty pictures are great! For those of you who want to learn a bit more about what is going on behind the scenes, you might want to research L-Systems. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-system The authors who brings it home the best are Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz and Aristid Lindenmayer (notice last name of second author ;-)) Lots of L-System software out there as well...
Very cool, I'm finding this much more enjoyable than my last run with Povray about 7 years ago. Previous comments about pairing it with Sunflow were really helpful too.
My only complaint so far is what was repeated a year ago on their sourceforge page:
"There should be an x,y,z axis indicator on screen,that would greatly improve designing coordination,but it's still a really cool program though!; )"
Sometimes you'll find that a 3-6 line eisenscript gives you the most amazing structure. Recursive structures are often the best. You can find lots of great stuff on the flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/structuresynth/
Even I can make cool/beautiful stuff, so can you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehsanul_g3/