Anyone care to take a stab at unraveling this effect?

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Recently I saw this dynamic and procedural painting site. I cannot unravel the effect for the life of me.

Here is the link:
http://www.sanbase.com/

[rain_storm]

Could this be a spoof? I didn't see any exe for download just lotsa pictures. But if its the real deal I would use this to learn how to reverse engineer. If I could get my hands on the exe that is lol.

[Paul]

Could this be a spoof? I didn't see any exe for download just lotsa pictures.

Look here: http://www.sanbase.com/download.html
It's not as good as the demos, but still cool.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Well you can see the "Demo" button on your left on the link I gave you. You hit that then can watch the pictures happen in your browser. I just can't figure this one out.

[taj]

OK heres how I think it works.

The whole thing is constructed like the old visualisation systems like AVS, apE etc. That is, functions take images and output images so they can be chained. Inputs can be split, treated as layers, processed seperately then recombined in a sort of directed graph of image processing functions. I can clearly see edge detect, blur, bumpmap, colorize of some sort and threshold and some function that makes the thing flow (gradient?). Each function is a pixel shader. Each function has its own unique set of inputs which can be varied over time (more flow, less flow) and most probably tied to some basic timers.

Its not real time I guess - which may be why you dont get an exe to try only movies. Its close enough to real time to allow him to play with input parameters AS IT WORKS. This explains how in the movie, we see one effect swirl in one direction then 30 seconds later (as he moves a slider) another part of the picture begins to move.

Taj

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Aww that is kind of disappointing. He could in theory animate those sliders and such right?

[taj]

Aww that is kind of disappointing. He could in theory animate those sliders and such right?

Dont get me wrong, I think its "near" real-time. Just not quite real-time. Too much processing I think, but its just a guess. He might not be putting up exes because hes afraid someone will steal all his shaders.

Theres an article over at Toms hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/09/san_base_computer_graphics_avant-garde/ which is long but gives more techie details.