Transcendence graphics

[george moromisato]

As you may or may not know, the explosions in Transcendence were created with a simple program (which I call 'Luminous') that I wrote a long time ago.

I've spent some time recently enhancing this graphics program because I needed some galaxy images for Transcendence (for the title screen).

Well, I've enhanced the program to the point where it is probably worth sharing with everyone. So if any 3D artist is interested, you can find the program at:

http://www.neurohack.com/luminous/index.html

Of course, there aren't many instructions, and of course, there are many bugs, but maybe you'll find it interesting. I'm particularly happy with how some of the galaxy images came out.

As always, let me know if you have comments, questions, complaints.

[Yugi]

Ooh, a galaxy generator. Pretty.

I'll probably test it out when I get back to a Windows computer.

[Sponge]

This is really cool! I haven't played around with the cubes or the explosions, but the galaxy generator does some amazing stuff. I was a bit disappointed at first that it didn't do stars, but soon found out that rendering on high quality not only increased the quality of the image, but also added in stars.

Here's an example of High vs. Low quality. 100 x 100 pixels.

[Lord Trogg]

So this is where the luminous in the late game get their name from.

[george moromisato]

So this is where the luminous in the late game get their name from.

Actually I got the name Luminous from an obscure short story by Greg Egan. In the story, Luminous is an optical supercomputer that can be reconfigured infinitely.

Both the Transcendence enemy and the graphics program are named from that.

[Sponge]

Is that what you use for your planet graphics? Some of the new ringed planets are very cool. I was also wondering if it would be possible to write a config file to create ship facings.

[Yugi]

So, since there's no Luminous forum (hint), I'll post my thoughts and ideas here.

It's an amazing program - I found the explosion renderer a little confusing, but I've made plenty of galaxies Some of them are in my opinion very good, some not so good.

I think you should put some specific instructions on the Luminous site. There's a lot of idiots out there, and that includes me.
In the instructions, it says:

Download these configurations and open them in Luminous to generate various kinds of images.

, which is exactly what I did. I downloaded the configurations (after getting Luminous and putting it in a folder) - I put the configurations in the same folder. I then right-clicked on the configuration file, and went to Open..., chose to open it in the Luminous as the instructions stated, then got an error message.
Trying this several times to no avail, I was about to post that the program wasn't working here, when I decided to try doing the reverse - opening Luminous then somehow loading the configuration. Yay! It worked.
Please write some better instructions

Another thing - I'm making my galaxies in 1024x1024. However, I have a crappy monitor (CRT, too ), which has a max of 1192xsomething. Anyway, I can't see the whole galaxy unless I increase the view distance a bit. What I'm asking is for the toolbar on the left with all the numbers and such to be moveable and/or collapsible, like making windows on Windows bigger and smaller by dragging from the edges.

Also, a question - I myself will probably never do this, but will there be functionality to create our own configurations so we can use the program to make other things? Don't know exactly what we'd make, though

Finally, a zoom function would be handy, for example if we don't want to have a whole galaxy but an arm instead, we could zoom into an arm.
Though I suppose a configuration could be made to do that.

Finally again, to save time on the user's part, make us able to save the galaxy/explosion/whatnot as a png image (or jpg, or tiff, or.... etc.). Much easier than taking a screenshot, cutting off the bits you don't want/need then saving.

Finally again again (I keep adding in more paragraphs to this post), what would be the best way to speed up rendering times? It's my birthday soon, and I was gonna upgrade my comp with something - can't decide what, though. Now I have something to base my decision on. Would more RAM, better processor, or better graphics card benefit most?
Would closing things like IM clients free up processing power for Luminous to speed up rendering times?

Finally again etc., as Sponge stated, there are differences between low and high quality:

I was a bit disappointed at first that it didn't do stars, but soon found out that rendering on high quality not only increased the quality of the image, but also added in stars.

Maybe you could make stars an option? I for one would like to see a high-quality image without the stars. Maybe it'd be better. I'd also like stars to be in the draft so I have a better idea as to what the full quality version will look like.
Perhaps something along the lines of another factor:
Stars; Yes/No
With, of course, no stars in either low or high quality. With this added you could also give parameters for the stars, with different sizes/colours/spacing/amounts available.
Expanding on that, phenomena such as supernovae could occasionally be added to increase variety. Maybe big, noticeably different (in size and/or colour) of nebulae could be added too. This could be done through a factor such as
Phenomena; Yes/No, expanding into similar options like the stars.

Some guides detailing what each factor does for each configuration would be very useful. Factors (I really don't know what else to call them) are usually obvious, such as No. of Major Arms and View Angle. However, I had never heard of Dark minor arms before, and while the name does give away a lot, I really don't know how they change the final product. A short guide with a small paragraph detailing the function and use of each factor would make using the program much easier. Putting them in the F1 for Help thing would be a fitting place.

I think there should be a Luminous forum. Just a handy place to post stuff like this.
You could even make a Neurohack forum to act as a hub, with sections for Transcendence, Anacreon, Luminous, Penumbra (I think that's yours), etc.

I noticed that you can't stop a render once you've started it. Kinda annoying when it's not turning out the way you want it - you have to close Luminous, start it again, load the configuration you want and reset the values. A 'Cancel' or 'Pause' option would be nice.

I'll probably have more thoughts once I get familiar with the explosions configuration.
I thought you might want to look at some of the stuff I've done, so:
My first galaxy

- Yami

[dvlenk6]

...Finally again again (I keep adding in more paragraphs to this post), what would be the best way to speed up rendering times? It's my birthday soon, and I was gonna upgrade my comp with something - can't decide what, though. Now I have something to base my decision on. Would more RAM, better processor, or better graphics card benefit most?
Would closing things like IM clients free up processing power for Luminous to speed up rendering times?...

It is a raytracer. Render times for raytracing are purely dependant on Processor speed. No way is RAM or Vid card a factor for Luminous rendering.
However if you plan on getting back into 3D, then you probably need RAM and at least passing good vid card. You only need killer vid cards for bleeding edge games and/or GPU (hardware assist, real time) rendering.

Any application or process that is taking up CPU resources will decrease the speed of the raytracer (take longer to render). Close as many as you can.
If it is an idle process that is just taking up some RAM, it won't hurt to let it open, only something that is actively using CPU.

[Yugi]

Finally again, to save time on the user's part, make us able to save the galaxy/explosion/whatnot as a png image (or jpg, or tiff, or.... etc.). Much easier than taking a screenshot, cutting off the bits you don't want/need then saving.

I see now that there is a 'Copy' function. I'm gonna let my current galaxy finish rendering and try it out.

It is a raytracer. Render times for raytracing are purely dependant on Processor speed. No way is RAM or Vid card a factor for Luminous rendering.
However if you plan on getting back into 3D, then you probably need RAM and at least passing good vid card. You only need killer vid cards for bleeding edge games and/or GPU (hardware assist, real time) rendering.

Any application or process that is taking up CPU resources will decrease the speed of the raytracer (take longer to render). Close as many as you can.
If it is an idle process that is just taking up some RAM, it won't hurt to let it open, only something that is actively using CPU.

Ah, right. I see now, thanks

[bimbel]

Finally found time to play with the programm =) And my first galaxy (which I like)

http://xelerus.unrealcrystal.com/images/galaxy1.png

As for rendering time that one took 1627seconds (~27minutes) on a C2D E6420 (2x2,13GHz)!

Nice to see that the programm supports multicore! Love it =)

[Yugi]

But why do all the galaxies looks like the Milky Way?

They don't - It's just that most people prefer making galaxies that look ours.

[dvlenk6]

It is raytracing procedurally generated volumetrics.
How fast do you think it should be?
Did you know that Monsters Inc.'s opening sequence took 72 hours per frame to render, on Pixar's render farm?
That was using 2,000 750Mhz processors.

[dvlenk6]

Luminous isn't 3ds max.
Luminous doesn't cost $3,500US.
There are, however, many commercial renderers that couldn't do a large volumetric raytrace render in that amount of time.
So it seems like a good deal to me.