From 91c0003b158e5f0ed9d0677fb136ae8bb6f86ec5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "N.N." Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:10:15 +0000 Subject: this is an old gridflow, and there's already a svn repository at http://gridflow.ca/svn/trunk svn path=/trunk/; revision=9739 --- externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html | 125 ------------------------------- 1 file changed, 125 deletions(-) delete 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 deleted file mode 100644 index 8adf4ead..00000000 --- a/externals/gridflow/doc/introduction.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,125 +0,0 @@ - - -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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