From 31beef22c1f976ee0d0b7d10157e726f234cff4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "N.N." Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 02:09:43 +0000 Subject: adding documentation in xml and html svn path=/trunk/; revision=3650 --- externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html | 125 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 125 insertions(+) create mode 100644 externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html (limited to 'externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html') 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 @@ + + +GridFlow 0.7.7 - Introduction + + + + + +
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GridFlow 0.7.7 - introduction

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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. + +

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. + +

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. + +

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. + +

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. + +

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 Grids + (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. + +

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. + +

In short, GridFlow is a whole new world of possibilities for + the multimedia artist and programmer. + +

- matju

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Here is an example of how things work in GridFlow. (if you want more + information, consult the rest of this manual) + +

A picture is a three-dimensional Grid:
+ 0 : rows
+ 1 : columns
+ 2 : channels
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+ Pictures come in all sorts of heights and widths. The channels, however, + are more limited in number. Usually it's three: Red, Green, Blue. + +

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. + +

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 within the + PureData / GridFlow framework. You don't need to wait for me. +

 
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GridFlow 0.7.7 Documentation
+ by Mathieu Bouchard matju@sympatico.ca + and
+ Alexandre Castonguay acastonguay@artengine.ca

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