Tips&Tricks in AVS

[Tuggummi]

As i have made avs for 2 years now, i really don't know much about how to do things differently.

Confused?
Read more.

As Advanced Visualization Studio is a highly customizable visualization plugin/component there are usually many ways to do simple things. And when it comes to coding your own superscopes and dynamic movements there are several different ways to make things, like in the dynamic movement using rectangular coordinates rather than polar coordinates to create the exactly same effect.

Sometimes if you do things differently you may gain some priviledges, like better frame rates or the benefits of using a different coordinate system. Also when you use the built-in functions differently you may get faster&better results than doing the same thing with different effects.


EXAMPLE
Creating a rotoblitter effect in movement with both polar- & rectangular coordinates.


Polar
r=r+0.1

BENEFITS:
Simple, easy and a fast way.


Rectangular
x=x+y*0.1 ;
y=y-x*0.1

BENEFITS:
You can shift it around the screen which can't be done in polar coordinates.


These helpful speed up tricks and better quality tips are scattered all over the forum, so what im asking here is to collect all those helpful notes into a single forum post, this post.

So feel free to post your ideas and comments how something that is frequently used can be done faster&better, this is all for the common good and will surely help us all as we are always searching a alternative way to make presets.

And please remember that, althought the most tips consider coding there is still many different ways to use the built-in effects differently and still get the same effect. If you have discovered a clever way of using example: Trans / Water , you can post it here so it will help other avs artists as well.

Hope you all understanded the point of this post and hope that you all contribute as much as you can

[dirkdeftly]

Rotoblitter in polar:
r=r+spin;
d=d*(zoom+1);

Rotoblitter in rectangular:
x1=x; zoom2=zoom+1;
x=x*zoom2+y*spin;
y=y*zoom2+x1*spin;

Just a bit of a fix by your friendly local anal retentive AVSer...

[Jaheckelsafar]

2 ways of shifting values, not sure which is executed faster:

value = value * (1-speed) + target * speed;

or

value = value + (taget - value) * speed;

[Zevensoft]

No order targeting:
value = target

First order targeting:
value = (value + target * speed) / (speed + 1)

Linear Interpolation:
value = value1 * position + value2 * (1-position)

Bilinear Interpolation:
value12 = value1 * posx + value2 * (1-posx)
value34 = value3 * posx + value4 * (1-posx)
value = value12 * posy + value34 * (1-posy)

Trilinear Interpolation:
value12 = value1 * posx + value2 * (1-posx)
value34 = value3 * posx + value4 * (1-posx)
value56 = value5 * posx + value6 * (1-posx)
value78 = value7 * posx + value8 * (1-posx)
value1234 = value12 * posy + value34 * (1-posy)
value5678 = value56 * posy + value78 * (1-posy)
value = value1234 * posz + value5678 * (1-posz)

[mikm]

Two questions...

First order targeting is increasing a value by increments (speed), until it reaches target, right?

What is (bi/tri)linear interpolation?

[UnConeD]

Bilinear is interpolation linearly in 2D... like zooming on a picture, but instead of blocky pixels you get a blurry, smooth texture.

Trilinear is interpolation linearly in 3D. It's commonly used to interpolate bilinearly between textures and linearly between an MIP-maps on a 3D card.

[Tuggummi]

What i would like to know is: What is the fastest way to create a fullscreen gradient? I have used this method:

1 single ssc line

INIT: n=2
PER POINT: x=i*2-1 ; y=1

1 movement with rect coords (bilinear filtering on)
y=y-0.0x

It could also be done by using a gradient line and then using a movement with x=0.

Which way is faster? Or is there even a faster way to do it?

Thanks

[uNDefineD]

Tug: in his HiRes pack that came with J7, jheriko used a vertical line, and a static movement with r=0. Looks awesome.

[Tuggummi]

uNDefineD, it creates a conical gradient, right?

Different gradients:

Linear:


1 SuperScope

Init:
n=100 (the more numpoints the more accurate gradient)

Per Point:
x=i*2-1 ;
y=0 ;
col=i ;
blue=col ; red=col ; green=col


1 Movement

Rect Coords ON

Bilinear Filtering ON/OFF (not absolutly necessary, it looks ok even without it)

Code:
y=0



Radial:


1 SuperScope

Same as in Linear


1 Movement

Rect Coords ON

Bilinear Filtering ON

Code:
y=0 ;
x=d



Im not sure how the conical gradient is done, but i guess it's just using the r=0 movement and then using a color code in a superscope like col=sin(i*pi). I don't have avs right now so i can't check did i get those other two right, so ill edit this post tomorrow (at 8:XXam gmt +2).

[Zevensoft]

Look in my 3rd pack (desert sunset) to see how to do fullscreen gradients in 1 scope.

[Tuggummi]

Well yes you can use just one superscope, but to fill the entire screen with just one superscope requires a big numpoint number and the bigger the resolution the more numpoints and more slower it is. With the scope and the movement technique the numpoint number always stays the same and still the whole screen gets filled with the gradient.

There for the movement and ssc technique is a lot faster than using one BIG ssc.

[nixa]

the fastest way I know to make a gradient is:
scope:

n=w*detail; < whith deatil going from 2/w to 1 >

x=x*2-1;y=0;
red=blabla;green=blablabla;green=blabla;

movement:

x=0;

[Nic01]

GRADIENTS :

Note : "v" stands for variable (Replace with something), and it will be number-tagged. Red/green/blue is to be coded yourself.

Vertical, Horizontal, and Radial gradients already mentioned. Remember, you can always use another D/M to morph the gradient into one desired.

Fullscreen Gradients :

Horizontal gradient (Colors cycling left-right) :

x=-1+i*2;
v1=bnot(v1) OR v1=1-v1
y=v1*2-1;

Vertical : Exchange x and y.

Polar : You'll need dot-grid and colorcode it... Too slow.

-You can combine Hor. and Ver. Gradients to make combinations. Experiment with render modes.

Cheap fullscreen combo gradient :

Use 2 lines, perpendicular, use a good linewidth (30-50 should do it), then use a movement to fill the screen. (Technique from several of UnConeD's presets) (Is it copyrighted? )

Dot-Grid :

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....threadid=83695 - But I'll post the code here for convenience. The one here have edited variables to signify the new variables.

FRAME :

v1=w+1; v2=h+1; n=v1*v2; v3=0; v4=0; v5=1/ww; v6=1/hh;

POINT :

x=v3*v5*2-1; y=v4*v6*2-1;

v3=if(above(v3+1,v1),0,v3+1);
v4=if(v3,v4,v4+1);

--

But of course, that will be goddamn slow. You can always reduce the amount of points and manipulate the size to conform with the screen.
In colorcoding, use x and y, i won't work well. Additional tips are in the original page.

Examples : El-Vis - I Cannot Dance, Carry Me Home, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, and some others.

It's quite slow, but is the most versatile, providing you use the right effects. You can also use convolution filter to make the pixels bigger and make a pixel-doubled effect.

--

All I can think for now... I think there are more ways...

[Tuggummi]

DOH! I thought the edit time was 3 days (i don't remember where i heard that but it was somewhere around these forums, oh well...)

Ok Here we go again!

Gradients



Linear

Ssc

Init:
n=255

Per Point:
x=i*2-1 ;
y=0 ;
col=i ;
red=col ; green=col ; blue=col

Movement

Bilinear Filtering OFF
Rect Coords ON

Code:
y=0



Radial

Ssc

Same as in Linear

Movement

Bilinear Filtering OFF
Rect Coords ON

Code:
y=0 ;
x=-d*1.5+0.5



Rectangular

Ssc

Init:
n=255 ; pi=acos(-1)

Per Point:
x=i*2-1 ;
y=0 ;
col=sin(i*pi) ;
red=col ; green=col ; blue=col

2 Movements

1st
Bilinear Filtering OFF
Rect Coords ON

Code:
y=0


2nd
Bilinear Filtering OFF
Rect Coords ON

Code:
x=-if(above(y*y,x*x),y*y,x*x)*1.75+0.75 ;



Conical

Ssc

Same as in Rectangular


2 Movements

1st
Bilinear Filtering OFF
Rect Coords ON

Code:
y=0


2nd
Bilinear Filtering ON
Rect Coords OFF

Code:
r=((r-1.25)*1.25)*0.35 ;
d=r



This time i actually made them, so they now work right. If you have trouble understanding code, or are just lazy download these example presets i made. Includes all the 4 gradients and a "real" preset i made in about 10 minutes that uses a "Dynamic-Gradient-Utone"

[jheriko]

Here are some code tips for you.

Optimise everything. Higher FPS makes your presets a lot nicer. Here are some examples:


3D transformation

x=x1/z1;
y=y1/z1;

can be made faster by using:

z1=1/z1;
x=x1*z1;
y=y1*z1;

using trig in conjunction with a timer can be made faster too:

on beat:

drx=0.2*getosc(0.2,0.2,0);

per frame:

rx=rx+drx;crx=cos(rx);

per pixel:

x=crx;
y=0;

Using this sort of thing a lot can make your code faster.