Archive for the 'Flam4' Category

This is my own unofficial installation tips list for Flam4.

The list was compiled for WinXP Pro 32bit but it should be valid also for the other Win 32bit versions.
I know that the 64bit ones has some more quirks but I wasn’t able to directly test them at now.

1. You need an Nvidia CUDA compatible GPU (gfx-card).
   The whole list of CUDA GPUs is available here:
   http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_learn_products.html
   —
2. If your GPU is present in the previous then you have to download and install the last Nvidia driver here:
   http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
   Flam4 v.0.72 and newer ones needs a CUDA 2.3 driver; these ones are quite recent so you better have to download the last one from Nvidia (or directly from your manufacturer’s drivers page).
   —
3. Download and install the CUDA Toolkit here:
   CUDA Toolkit
   —
4. Download and install Microsoft .Net 3.5 here:
   Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
   .Net 3.5 is needed to is needed to properly execute Flam4.
   —
5. Download and install the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable here:
   Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package
   Visual C++ 2008 SP1 is needed to properly execute Flam4.
   —
6. Reboot your machine (if needed).
   —
7. Run Flam4

These steps has provided me with a fully usable Flam4.

Some new interesting features. Thank you Keldor!

Home: http://sourceforge.net/projects/flam4/
Direct Download: Version 0.75

Changelog
v.0.75
-Replaced the random number generater with a Combined Tausworthe generator. This improves image quality for flames with large use of the various blur vars.
-Added opacity setting to xforms.
-Various changes to the render library.

v.0.74
-Massive performance increase, nearly doubling previous performance for iterations.
–Broke 1 BILLION iterations/sec!
-Fiddled with the threading code some more – flam4 no longer slows down the entire system while running.

v.0.72
-Updated to CUDA 2.3 – you’ll probably have to update your drivers.
–Cuda 2.3 now supports multi-gpu with SLI enabled at the same time – no more twiddling settings!
-Fixed issue with frames becoming darker over the course of a long animation.
-Moved the flam3 XML loader to Flam4CudaX.dll, so it’s now accessible to third parties.

Some new interesting features was added recently.

Home:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/flam4/
Direct Download: Version 0.71

Changelog
v.0.71
-Added transparency option for PNG sequences.
-Fixed issue with the PNG sequence folder browser – you can now save to any folder, not just folders in My Pictures.
v.0.70
-Added support for rendering animations to PNG sequences.
v.0.69
-Fixed bug in loading flames with the hue parameter used which was introduced when I switched the palettes to floating point (v.0.63)
-Added support for png transparency
-Greatly improved saturation correction, most noticable in bright red and orange areas
-Set *.flam3 to the default file option, at least until *.flam4 is implemented
-More performance tweaks for multi-GPU

A lot of interesting development was done during the last month.

Home:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/flam4/
Direct Download: Version 0.66

Changelog
v.0.66
-Major performance improvements for multi-GPU systems
–These also will likely speed up single-GPU systems a bit
-Important:
–This version contians a partial loader for *.flam4 files, but these WILL NOT RENDER at this time.
–Make sure you set *.flame (apophysis flame files) in the load menu, as *.flam4 WILL NOT WORK AT THIS TIME.

v.0.64
-Interpolation is now rotational
-Fixed problem interpolating between flames with differing numbers of xforms

v.0.63
-Added interpolation for rendering sheep edges.
-Changed palette to floating point – you can now do some wild things, like negative colors and full HDR.

v.0.61
-Multi-GPU now performs as fast as it should. Threads now yield the CPU when the next dispatch isn’t ready, or when the worker threads are busy, rather than spinning. This makes for a very big performance increase.
-Added hue correction for overbright areas. Bright places no longer distort color.
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GPU Flame Fractal Renderer – new version available

Developed using CUDA; it needs “GeForce 8″ or newer nVidia cards, it also supports Quadro and Tesla cards.
Take a look here about CUDA supported cards: nVidia CUDA-Enabled GPU Products

Changelog
Flam4 0.08 – 2008-10-24 15:31
Now with density estimation!

Flam4CUDA v0.06 – 2008-10-12 08:23
The first release of Flam4 running with CUDA has been released!

This is very new and really interesting port of Flam3 to GPU via DirectX 10.

GPU Flame Fractal Renderer
Renderer for Flam3 cosmic recursive fractal flames implemented on GPU.
Requires DirectX 10 graphics card and Windows Vista.

Home: http://sourceforge.net/projects/flam4/