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diff --git a/externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html b/externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8adf4ead --- /dev/null +++ b/externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +<html> +<head> +<title>GridFlow 0.7.7 - Introduction</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<link rel="stylesheet" href="gridflow.css" type="text/css"> +</head> + +<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"> +<br> +<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="5"> + <tr><td colspan="4" bgcolor="#082069"> + <img src="images/titre_gridflow.png" width="253" height="23"></td></tr> + + <tr><td> </td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="4" bgcolor="black"><img src="images/black.png" width="1" height="2"></td></tr> + + <tr><td colspan="3" height="16"> + <h4>GridFlow 0.7.7 - introduction</h4> + </td></tr> + + <tr> + <td width="12%" height="4"> </td> + <td width="80%" height="4"> </td> + <td width="12%" height="4"> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td width="13%"> </td> + <td width="82%"> + + <p> The philosophy that guides PureData is a simple but powerful one: + the software must first provide the user with generic tools + rather than imposing pre-cooked effects. In other words the user + should have total freedom. + + <p> GridFlow follows that philosophy: it first defines elementary + mathematical operations. Those can in turn be used as simple + visual effects or be combined to produce more complex effects. + + <p> The strategy followed by most video plugins for PureData, jMax, and MAX/MSP, is + to provide the user first with constructs for manipulating video + streams at a fairly high level. The strategy put forward by GridFlow + is different. + + <p> It can be said that in all those video plugins there are three layers: + the first, the low level, is not accessible to non-programmers (and fairly + difficult of access even to programmers); the second, mathematical, where + one needs not to be a C++ programmer, but still requires a good + understanding of how numbers and pixels and colours and geometry work; and + a third level that looks more like the software an artist would like to + use. + + <p> In other video plugins there is a fairly low emphasis on the second + layer. In GridFlow that layer is very strong and opens many possibilities. + Even though the third layer in GridFlow is not as developed as it could, + the second layer may be used to produce third-layer object classes much + more quickly. + + <p> GridFlow provides a unifying view of multimedia information. Several + kinds of data -- raster graphics in any number of channels, coordinate + transforms, matrices, vectors -- may all be represented by <b>Grids</b> + (also known as multi-dimensional arrays). Grids exist in several ways: they + are usually streamed from object to object, but they can also be stored in + memory, stored into a file, sent through the network. + + <p> The new GridFlow (0.6) also provides scripting, which inserts itself + between the first and second layer to provide additional functionality. The + language that has been chosen is Ruby, designed by Yukihiro Matsumoto + during the 90's. This new layer is used for portability between host + software (PureData vs jMax), for portability between platforms (Windows/Mac + versions do not exist but would be farther ahead if it wasn't for Ruby), + for independency from host software (GridFlow can be tested and used + independently of PureData/jMax), for quick extensibility (you can create + PureData/jMax object classes directly in GridFlow's configuration file), + and so on. + + <p> In short, GridFlow is a whole new world of possibilities for + the multimedia artist and programmer. + + <p>- matju</p> +</td></tr> + + <tr><td> </td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="4" bgcolor="black"><img src="images/black.png" width="1" height="2"></td></tr> + <tr> + <td width="13%"> </td> + <td width="82%"> + + <p> Here is an example of how things work in GridFlow. (if you want more + information, consult the rest of this manual) + + <p> A picture is a three-dimensional Grid:<br> + <b>0</b> : rows <br> + <b>1</b> : columns <br> + <b>2</b> : channels <br> + + <p> + Pictures come in all sorts of heights and widths. The channels, however, + are more limited in number. Usually it's three: Red, Green, Blue. + + <p> A coordinate transform, when specified pixel by pixel, may be a + three-dimensional Grid in which the two "channels" are Y and X, + representing row-and-column positions in a separate picture. + + <p> Other shapes of grids could be designed to represent various things; + for example, configuration for blur effects. Grids could be useful for + things not directly related to raster pictures (e.g. sound recordings). + Those are all kinds of things you could actually develop <i>within</i> the + PureData / GridFlow framework. You don't need to wait for me. +</td> + + <tr><td> </td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="4" bgcolor="black"><img src="images/black.png" width="1" height="2"></td></tr> + + <tr><td colspan="4"> + <p><font size="-1">GridFlow 0.7.7 Documentation<br> + by Mathieu Bouchard <a href="mailto:matju@sympatico.ca">matju@sympatico.ca</a> + and<br> + Alexandre Castonguay <a href="mailto:acastonguay@artengine.ca">acastonguay@artengine.ca</a></font></p> + </td> + </tr> + +</table> +</body> +</html> |