Edit 23 June 2008
Last version available on my Scripts page.

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A couple of minor code updates make the new version blazing faster when used on big flame-packs.

This script Export the current selected flame to file compatible for ES (ElectricSheep) server submission.

ExportSheep has a very simple usage: it exports the currently selected flame to a new file that is compatible to ES server submission.
Using ExportSheep you don’t have to modify the flame you want upload to by hand anymore; simply upload the generated file.

The script deals with the whole creation process by its own; it also checks for proper Variations and “kills” the unsupported ones.
It displays the preview of the generated file so you can check the current selected flame against the generated one.

It’s available in two versions:
Export Sheep s2.6 for the current server
and
Export Sheep s2.7 for the upcoming 2.7 server

The 2.7 version uses three parameters located end of the main comment: render width, height and quality. They’re value is equal to the actual beta server one but they can be changed when the server will switch to the final stage.

The script is actually in testing-stage; it works ok, as far as I can see, but there’d still be some minor faults in it. Use it at your own risk.

Download here (Right click - Save As)
Export Sheep s2.6 or Export Sheep s2.7

Released under GPL License - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
see the file COPYING for the license covering this software.

Credits or donations are not mandatory but very appreciated especially when using “Export Sheep” in commercial production. Contact me via email.

Changelog
v 0.7 - 17 June 2008
Blazing faster when used on big flame-packs

v 0.6 - 15 June 2008
Minor code clean up

v 0.5 - 14 June 2008
Resolved a couple of minor bugs

v 0.4 - 13 June 2008
Resolved a minor bug regarding FinalXForm handling
Minor code optimization and clean up

v 0.3 - 12 June 2008
Faster browsing for big Flame files
Code clean up

v 0.2 - 11 June 2008
Code optimization

v 0.1 - 10 June 2008
First internal implementation adapting RenderFlam3 script
Useless code removed

Edit 23 June 2008
Last version available on my Scripts page.

---

Edit 15 June 2008
Uploaded the last version today.
Previous versions had some minor problems that let the created sheeps not completely compatible with ES servers. Please replace the old version using this one!

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This script Export the current selected flame to file compatible for ES (ElectricSheep) server submission.

ExportSheep has a very simple usage: it exports the currently selected flame to a new file that is compatible to ES server submission.
Using ExportSheep you don’t have to modify the flame you want upload to by hand anymore; simply upload the generated file.

The script deals with the whole creation process by its own; it also checks for proper Variations and “kills” the unsupported ones.
It displays the preview of the generated file so you can check the current selected flame against the generated one.

It’s available in two versions:
Export Sheep s2.6 for the current server
and
Export Sheep s2.7 for the upcoming 2.7 server

The 2.7 version uses three parameters located end of the main comment: render width, height and quality. They’re value is equal to the actual beta server one but they can be changed when the server will switch to the final stage.

The script is actually in testing-stage; it works ok, as far as I can see, but there’d still be some minor faults in it. Use it at your own risk.

Download here (Right click - Save As)
Export Sheep s2.6 or Export Sheep s2.7

Released under GPL License - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
see the file COPYING for the license covering this software.

Credits or donations are not mandatory but very appreciated especially when using “Export Sheep” in commercial production. Contact me via email.

I’ve recently updated my WordPress install form an old unsupported development branch to the new one and found that the Category listing is now printed in Alphabetical order instead of the old ID based old method.

I have to say that I personally prefer the old ID sorting mode, it’s better suited to my own blog needing, so I browsed the codex and the forum to find a solution to put it back to the previous mode.
I found a couple of plugins that can do the trick but they’re not the way I was looking for.
Then I found this a very simple method by MichaelH; it only needs a small change editing one of the WordPress files and it works like a charm on every versions, as far as I can say.

Here it is:
open the “category-template.php” file
change
usort($categories, '_usort_terms_by_name');
to
usort($categories, '_usort_terms_by_ID');

The complete article is available here: the_category sort by ID

You can find that your own Blog is suffering some Feeds problems after updating to a newer WordPress version.
I’ve been able to resolve them, as far as I know, using this simple procedure.

How to fix it

• don’t insert withe/empty lines at the start end of confing and functions files; functions is a Theme specific file; check if you have one in your own Theme folder.
• go to all plugins that have an option-page and update them saving again their own settings.
• go to Settings and save again every section.
• refresh Permalinks.

Hope it helps!

I’ve tested RenderFlam3 1.3.6 using the last Flam3 2.7.12 release.
The Script finds the new version correctly when it used in the “plain directory” installation.

I’ve got to address more about the “sub directory” mode but I think I’ll completely remove it during the 1.4 development cycle.
There’ll be some utilities script to configure the whole thing removing the main problem about Flam3 installation and keeping the general usage a lot simpler.

Last Flam3 updates!
Download here: Flam3 2.7.12

Release as 2.7.12 - 05/16/08
*Added man pages.
*Removed upper limit on particle coordinates.
*fixed FSF address in comments.
*update to automake 1.10.1.
*added eps to denom of perspective fraction to avoid infinities (thanks fred).
*Put contents of ‘id’ env var in png/jpg comment block.

Release as 2.7.11. - 04/05/08
*Added 16 bit per channel support to PNG via bpc envar.
*isaac.h is now installed with the flam3 headers. Strip indexing now done with size_t’s to fix bug in large images (thanks Paul).
*Progress callback now returns ETA, and per-thread verbose flag functionality fixed.
*Enumerated spatial filter types now used in flam3.h, taking the place of function pointers (simplifies the API).
*Fix bug by moving precalculation of variation variables to flam3_iterate (thanks david).

Release as 2.7.10 - 03/15/08
* fixed interpolation bug when magnitude of rotation/scaling component of affine transform is 0.
* replaced secant variation with more flame-friendly secant2 (eliminates gap in y direction, scales y-coordinate by weight).
* warning message now printed when unrecognized variation is present in an xform.
* fixed bad inequality when checking for -pi/pi discontinuity during complex interpolation.

Release as 2.7.9 - 02/08/08
* non-zero weights for final xforms no longer allowed, and now have no effect.
* recompiled windows exes with mingw gcc 4.1 to take advantage of scalability improvements in flam3 2.7.8 (was compiling with mingw gcc 3.4 until now).
* for fedora package compliance, flam3.pc.in patched by ian weller and moved use of config.h to c files only.

Release as 2.7.8 - 01/26/08
* better scalability across multiple CPUs by using compare and swap (from Tim Hockin).
* fix bug in large images (>2GB).
* add flam3_srandom and flam3_malloc/free to better support wrapping with python on windows, which links with a different C runtime.
* add –enable-shared option to configure script (from Bobby R Ward).

Release as 2.7.7 - 12/16/07
* fixed bug (rare random crash) identified by david burnett.
i*nitialize new xforms with better defaults for parametric variations (based on interpolated-against xforms).
add id envar, like nick/url.
* add clone_action envar. return to xform interpolation based on complex logs, but make consistent decisions about *counter/clockwise rotation across the sheep edges.
* interpolation_space attribute to flame element can be set to “linear” to go back to the simpler method, or “log” to use this new (default) method.

Release 2.7.6 - 10/20/07
* fixed action string overflow when many xforms are present.
*added ‘print_edit_depth’ env var to control how many levels of tags are saved when using flam3-genome.
*Fixed wrong placement of random improve_colors code in flam3-genome.
*go to five digit filenames.
*fixed bug in supershape variation.
*API cleanup, thanks to david bitseff.

Release 2.7.5 - 08/14/07
* various code updates to assist with compiling under msvc++.
*now can specify –disable-pthread or –enable-pthread to configure to better control compilation. fixed bug preventing *renders of flames with more than 128 xforms.

L-studio is Windows software for creating simulation models and performing virtual experiments using L-systems.

It consists of:
* two L-system–based simulators, cpfg and lpfg;
* a set of sample models, primarily of plants, each stored as an L-studio object;
* a graphical browser for organizing and accessing objects on local and remote machines;
* a series of editors and other modeling tools for creating and modifying objects; and
* a library of environmental programs which simulate environmental processes that affect plant development.

This version adds some more support to Flam3 new features.

It now supports the new Interpolation Space tag plus enable_jpeg_comments and enable_png_comments vars.
Updated Flam3 version checking scheme
Little changes to the bat file writing routine and some minor code clean-up.

Download here (right click / Save As): RenderFlam3_1.3.6.zip

Released under GPL License - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
Credits or donations are not mandatory but very appreciated especially when using “RenderFlam3″ in commercial production.

Complete Render Flam3 posts archive: Search about Render Flam3

RenderFlam3 main purpose is rendering a sequence of Flames using Flam3 to create animations.
It’s an Apophysis script which cycles through the flames in the Title Window,
sets their time field,
sets their advanced animation tags,
saves them all off to a single flame file,
and then creates a bat file (to the same output path).
Executing the bat file will launch flam3-animate and render the animation’s frames; Flam3 will interpolate all the flames.
RenderFlam3 can create Morph, Sheep or Edge animations.

Changelog
v 1.3.6 - 24 April 2008
+ Updated Flam3 version checking scheme
** corrected onr minor Flam3 README file browsing fault
+ Added support for Flam3 Interpolation Space tag
** needs Flam3 2.7.7 or newer
** default value is Log
+ Added support for Flam3 “enable_jpeg_comments” and “enable_png_comments” vars
** the proper var is written into the bat file
** enable_jpeg_comments set to 1 by default
** enable_png_comments set to 1 by default
+ Little changes to the bat file writing routine
+ Some minor code clean-up

v 1.3.5 - 19 April 2008
+ Implemented new Flam3 version checking scheme
** Needs Flam3 “README.txt” file
** Plain-folder install: automatic version check
** Sub-folder install: supported for 2.7.6 up to 2.7.11
+ Forcing Flam3 path via “flam3path” variable
** see at the end of the main comment
+ Dropped Flam3 2.7.5 support
** Supporting only Flam3 2.7.6 and newer
** Raw-support for Flam3 2.7.7 and newer
+ Secant to Secant2 variation conversion for Flam3 2.7.10 and 2.7.11

v 1.3.4 - 18 April 2008
+ Some small code clean-up

v 1.3.3 - 17 April 2008
+ Apophysis version-indipendent
+ SaveFile Dialog fully supported
+ Added raw support for Flam3 up to version 2.7.11

v 1.3.2 - 7 Nov. 2007
+ Added support for Apophysis 2.07

v 1.3.1 - 25 Oct. 2007
+ Added support for Apophysis 2.06c 3D hack
+ Added support for Flam3 2.7.6
+ Camera Zoom minor bugs fixed
+ Minor updates:
** Some code optimizations
** Better supersample/oversample check
** Bat file: end comment modified
** “LoopKF” named added back

v 1.3 - 19 Oct. 2007
+ Sheep and Edge animations types added.
+ Support for Camera Angle/Rotation property added (needs Apophysis 2.06c beta or newer).
+ Supporting only Flam3 2.7.5
+ Flam3 install check added.
+ Apo version-indipendented Variations check against Flam3 supported ones.
+ Bat files: more advanced options and more comments added.
+ Two different Script versions
** One for Apophysis 2.06c beta , Apophysis 2.06 beta and Apophysis 2.06 beta Z+
** and one for Apophysis 2.05 beta 2, Apophysis 2.05 Z+ beta 2 and Apophysis 2.05 Z+ beta 2 C++
+ Supporting Variation Varibales for: radial_blur, rings2, fan, blob, pdj, perspective, julian, juliascope, curl, move, ngon, disc2, rectangles, super_shape, flower, conic, parabola, pie and split variations.

v. 1.2 beta1 to beta12
+ RAW saving routine added.
+ Main/big updates on the whole script (too much to list).

v. 1.1
+ Saving scheme updated
** It’s now completely resolution indipendent.
** Use “Maintain Aspect Ratio” for perfect matching or Apo’s free scale: may have no perfect matching (depending on flames) but let you scale in no-proportional way.
+ “Maintain Aspect Ratio” added
+ “Animation Loop” added
+ “Copy first flame’s MasterScale/Zoom to each others” added
** This is an hard-coded testing option (no user-request displayed)
** Change the “szcopy” variable value.
+ Verbose messages in Script window.

v. 1.0
+ Initial release.

Upcoming RenderFlam3 1.3.6 example.

Rendered in low quality (Samples=50) using Flam3 just to give a preview of the Apophysis Script’s results.

Complete Render Flam3 posts archive: Search about Render Flam3

Last version available here: RenderFlam3 1.3.6

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Complete new Flam3 checking version scheme.
Plain-folder install: automatic version check; it could be able to automatically check for new Flam3 versions (it needs the README file)
Sub-folder install: supported for 2.7.6 up to 2.7.11 (by directory name)

Flam3 2.7.6 is the older supported version, 2.7.5 was dropped.

Secant to Secant2 variation conversion for Flam3 2.7.10 and 2.7.11

Download here (right click / Save As): RenderFlam3_1.3.5.zip

Released under GPL License - http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
Credits or donations are not mandatory but very appreciated especially when using “RenderFlam3″ in commercial production.

Complete Render Flam3 posts archive: Search about Render Flam3

RenderFlam3 main purpose is rendering a sequence of Flames using Flam3 to create animations.
It’s an Apophysis script which cycles through the flames in the Title Window,
sets their time field,
sets their advanced animation tags,
saves them all off to a single flame file,
and then creates a bat file (to the same output path).
Executing the bat file will launch flam3-animate and render the animation’s frames; Flam3 will interpolate all the flames.
RenderFlam3 can create Morph, Sheep or Edge animations.

Changelog
v 1.3.5 - 19 April 2008
+ Implemented new Flam3 version checking scheme
** Needs Flam3 “README.txt” file
** Plain-folder install: automatic version check
** Sub-folder install: supported for 2.7.6 up to 2.7.11
+ Forcing Flam3 path via “flam3path” variable
** see at the end of the main comment
+ Dropped Flam3 2.7.5 support
** Supporting only Flam3 2.7.6 and newer
** Raw-support for Flam3 2.7.7 and newer
+ Secant to Secant2 variation conversion for Flam3 2.7.10 and 2.7.11

v 1.3.4 - 18 April 2008
+ Some small code clean-up

v 1.3.3 - 17 April 2008
+ Apophysis version-indipendent
+ SaveFile Dialog fully supported
+ Added raw support for Flam3 up to version 2.7.11

v 1.3.2 - 7 Nov. 2007
+ Added support for Apophysis 2.07

v 1.3.1 - 25 Oct. 2007
+ Added support for Apophysis 2.06c 3D hack
+ Added support for Flam3 2.7.6
+ Camera Zoom minor bugs fixed
+ Minor updates:
** Some code optimizations
** Better supersample/oversample check
** Bat file: end comment modified
** “LoopKF” named added back

v 1.3 - 19 Oct. 2007
+ Sheep and Edge animations types added.
+ Support for Camera Angle/Rotation property added (needs Apophysis 2.06c beta or newer).
+ Supporting only Flam3 2.7.5
+ Flam3 install check added.
+ Apo version-indipendented Variations check against Flam3 supported ones.
+ Bat files: more advanced options and more comments added.
+ Two different Script versions
** One for Apophysis 2.06c beta , Apophysis 2.06 beta and Apophysis 2.06 beta Z+
** and one for Apophysis 2.05 beta 2, Apophysis 2.05 Z+ beta 2 and Apophysis 2.05 Z+ beta 2 C++
+ Supporting Variation Varibales for: radial_blur, rings2, fan, blob, pdj, perspective, julian, juliascope, curl, move, ngon, disc2, rectangles, super_shape, flower, conic, parabola, pie and split variations.

v. 1.2 beta1 to beta12
+ RAW saving routine added.
+ Main/big updates on the whole script (too much to list).

v. 1.1
+ Saving scheme updated
** It’s now completely resolution indipendent.
** Use “Maintain Aspect Ratio” for perfect matching or Apo’s free scale: may have no perfect matching (depending on flames) but let you scale in no-proportional way.
+ “Maintain Aspect Ratio” added
+ “Animation Loop” added
+ “Copy first flame’s MasterScale/Zoom to each others” added
** This is an hard-coded testing option (no user-request displayed)
** Change the “szcopy” variable value.
+ Verbose messages in Script window.

v. 1.0
+ Initial release.