Number 1, The Newsletter for Image Enthusiasts, February 1994
Wild Graphics are coming. No, they're not the kind of graphics that are hard-rock or large graffiti filling the screen, but rather seemingly chaotic graphics that are actually subtly organized. Does William Latham remind you of someone? Remember those irregular 3D shapes animated and based on feedback: what is obtained at level n depends on the previous result and so on for all generations. Fractals, among others, use this principle in their process. In the past, the artist infused their work with their inspiration and talent. Today, one can give their work a new dimension by substituting some of the manual work with an automated drawing process, the internal mechanics of which are created by the author through a mathematical model. A new form of art? Why not. This is why Wild Graphics exist. The automation of drawing creation will be favored within the project, but the manual creation of a work will obviously not be forgotten. The two forms of creation complement each other a bit like Yin and Yang.
Nicolas Mougel
This first newsletter mainly contains the presentation of everyone involved. It allows you to know all those who have expressed their interest in the project and will be very useful when you need certain skills. Presentations come either directly from the person's own writing or indirectly from information that I had received before.
Wild Graphics is composed in alphabetical order of:
Stéphane Anquetil, Jean-Sébastien Breuer, Noel Butterlin, Vaiyip Cheng, Arnaud Danassié, Jacques Demare, François Gutherz, Régis Hervagault, Michel Masset, Nicolas Mougel, Yann de Thieulloy.
Here is the presentation of each member:
Currently in the military, I studied computer graphics. Interested in image synthesis and fractals, I am a fan of M.C. Escher (Author's note: "So discourage kaleidoscopes!"). I am also a big fan of DPs and tend to be talkative. I hosted the "Public Domain" section in some issues of Amiga Dreams. My current setup is an Amiga 1200 with a hard drive. Finally, I'm looking for anyone to finalize a project of fractal and other image slideshow at the code and music level...
I am 20 years old and studying in the first year of BTS Industrial Computer Science. I'm starting to program in C and have an Amiga 500 (for now) with DKBTrace, MandelTour, Mand2000D (demo version), LyapTour as software. I also have a 486 DX2/50 PC with a 250 MB hard drive for industrial computer science studies, but I take advantage of it to calculate images with POV (faster than on Amiga 500), Cloé (demo version - a new raytracing software on PC and Atari) and Fractint. I'm looking for the full version of DKB and Cloé. (Author's note: if the software is well designed, encourage the author by registering with him). I like demos and Amiga music. I collect images of all genres in Amiga or PC 256-color format: I have over 200. Finally, in the summer, I sail. I am currently working on an animation with POV and am having problems with DKB textures. I have already created an animation for a "Zictro" demo from Belier Production. My favorite area is raytracing: that's where I really get into it
I have an Amiga 4000 68030 and mainly work with Real3D and POV software. Still images and animations with POV are my specialty. Regarding this, the POV Anim program is of great help to me. I program in C when necessary. I recently set up a server at 88.XXX.XXX. It allows those who connect to download (Note from the author: by the way, Noel, take advantage of this to provide details in the next newsletter). Algorithms related to image synthesis particularly interest me, so any additional documentation at this level would be of great interest to me.
I am 19 years old and passionate about raytracing images. I am mainly interested in creating images with POV software. My setup consists of an Amiga 500 and a PC 486 DX with a 16 million color video card. I am also looking for POV 2 on PC, and why not LuxArt. Finally, if someone has the modeling of an object like a fleur de lys for POV, I'm interested.
I am a freelance writer for the DomPub&Co disk magazine (which takes up a lot of my time) and I program small things in Amos Pro and E (a superb language). I am currently working on a puzzle game in Amos and on a small explorer of Mandelbrot/Julia/etc. (just for fun, not to do better than MandelTour or others). When I have a little time left, I like to create small characters in the geometric fables style with POV, and I am incidentally interested in textures. I also like to have fun with DPaint, whether it's creating icons, logos or other things. My setup consists of an Amiga 500+ with 2 MB of Chip RAM.
I am 25 years old and a recent graduate of ESIGELEC (Higher School of Electrical Engineering in Mont Saint Aignan - 76), and I have been an Amiga enthusiast for almost seven years. I have an Amiga 2000 under Workbench 2.1 equipped with a GVP Combo 340 card (68030 + 68882 + 12 MB of RAM), a 240 MB hard drive, a Commodore flicker fixer, a Picasso card and a 1960 monitor. I am particularly interested in everything related to computer graphics and in particular static or animated computer-generated images. In fact, the only thing that bothers me a little in this area is the time it takes to calculate... I work more specifically on Imagine 2.9, ADPro and TVPaint 2.0. Finally, my interest in the Amiga also extends to programming in C and hardware development. Among the projects that I have in mind is an I/O board for the Amiga for controlling an "airbrush drawing board" and a ship's alarm by the Amiga. So I encourage anyone with information to contact me.
François is one of the type 4 humanoid robots released in 1974. As with all models in the GUZ series, he has some difficulty understanding the manifestations of light. Equipped with a retrograde 1 MB Amiga 500, he strives to recreate a futuristic and animated universe using the tools inherent in Real 3D's bugs and his low configuration. In such cases, he expresses his despair on DPaint by creating 2D images, textures, and programming Recursive Trees and Light-Sources Landscape of the type z=f(x,y) in Amos. He is also filled with intense joy at the thought of discovering the southern landscapes of the Mecca of Raytracing, where he makes a pilgrimage in February during Imagina.
My encounter with the computer world began in the early 80s with an ORIC Atmos, then a C64. Next came an Amiga 500, and for almost a year now, an Amiga 1200 with a 60 MB hard drive and 6 MB of RAM. I am 20 years old and currently a third-year student at IUT Léonard de Vinci in Reims, studying Image-Infography-Communication. I am passionate about images. Apart from that, I am a guitarist in a Trash-Death band, so I also use the Amiga as a drum machine. Lastly, I was a POV section editor for a few issues of AmigaNews.
I am 35 years old, self-taught, and work as a "maintenance manager" in a post-production video company equipped with large shooting and editing equipment, etc. I dabble a bit in creating synthetic images on PC and Amiga using POV, LuxArt on PC, and Caligari as well as Sculpt Animate 4D on Amiga. I have personal video equipment, a professional tri-tube camera, a director, etc., as well as a VCR that allows me to record in image-by-image (tedious but convincing). My Amiga is equipped with a video card that allows for outputting images in 16 million colors as well as capturing images and overlays. Unfortunately, I have little time to devote to these hobbies, but I still try to dedicate as much time as possible. I am fluent in translating from English to French and have translated quite a few DP program manuals for my personal use.
I am a first-year computer science student at IUT de Paris. I am 19 years old and passionate about all kinds of images, especially those created by the raytracing technique. The areas that interest me the most include the automatic creation of real or unusual objects, as well as their animation under POV. Tessellations, lithographs by M.C. Escher, mathematical tools and curiosities, and fractals are all added to my list of interests. I primarily program in C. Ideas for programs are not lacking, but time is the limiting factor. During the week, I relax by practicing bodybuilding and occasionally volleyball, which is important to me. My configuration is an Amiga 1200, equipped with an 80 MB hard drive, a 4 MB 32-bit memory card with a math coprocessor, a second floppy drive, and an HP DeskJet 500 printer. I also have access to a PC 386 DX and have some software related to POV. My current projects include a new version of the Pyramid program to allow for the creation of more complex and varied objects, as well as implementation of parameterization in PovAnim. For PovAnim, I think that future information will be provided to clarify its role.
Hello everyone. Let me introduce myself: Yann de Thieulloy, 34 years old, married and soon to be a father. I have a degree in electronics and have worked in various electronics and computer companies. For the past 5 years, I have left Paris to return to my home in Normandy and practice the art of bonsai. That's my personal background.
Now, my computer history: in 1978, when I was a student, I assembled my first kit: an SC/MP with 128 bytes of RAM, binary programming, and an 8-LED display, in other words, prehistoric stuff... Then a 6800 kit, a Superboard, a D81, an Apple IIe and a PC. One fine day in 1986, I discovered the Amiga 1000, and it was a revelation!! We must remember that at that time, PCs were 8/16-bit with 4 colors in 320x200 and a small speaker that went beep-beep... Then came the race for power with a 3000 quickly equipped with a 24-bit card and a 68040, and then the purchase of a 4000. And what do I do with all this? (when my work and family life allow me) 3D with Imagine, DTP with ProPage, and a bit of programming in C. I was interested in DKB-Trace (the ancestor of POV-RAY) and had started a beginner's section in the ATACOM journal. Well, that's it, oh and I use the pseudonym Vanupieds on AMIGATEL.
Starting with newsletter issue 2, the following sections will appear according to the overall monthly participation direction. This is where you need to make your presence known:
If you have ongoing projects, i.e., if you are in the process of creating a program, a scene, or anything else, you can indicate it here. This will allow people interested in the same topics to exchange ideas with you and, why not, to collaborate on the project.
Do you have ideas to share following a project that's been on your mind or after reading interesting articles? An algorithm, a rendering effect, or a modeling idea? Share it in this "Ideas" section.
Here you will find a concise description of the latest developments related to computer-generated imagery, fractals, and their parallel fields: new programs from Amiga or PC, and books on the subject.
Are you looking for specific skills to finalize a project? Use this section to submit your request.
Do you have a question that puzzles you? Are you wondering if it's possible to do this or that? Don't hesitate to refer to the Questions & Answers section to share your questions or solutions to a particular problem.
Anything that doesn't fit into the previous sections. Various topics, therefore. Given the size of the newsletter, the sections will not be presented every month, but there will be fluctuations based on total participation. Individual monthly participation is not required, but rather overall monthly participation. No worries, there will surely be months when the newsletter is a bit lean, but let's bet on enough momentum for the other newsletters. Sharpen your pencils and see you in the next issue!
Those of you who have forgotten to send stamps to receive future newsletters should provide them as soon as possible to the indicated address. Since future newsletters will only reach them when the stamps are available, if at the beginning of the month you find that Wild Graphics is not in your mailbox, it's because you haven't sent the necessary stamps.
After deciding to provide an AmigaNews reader with the AmigaDos manual and the Arexx guide in exchange for a photocopy of an invoice, Commodore now offers the kit in question to all users eager to fully utilize their machine for the modest sum of 175 F1!
It's no wonder that average users who own an Amiga 1200 without a hard drive, without documentation, and especially without programming language have little desire to explore other areas beyond gaming, given how determinedly Commodore encourages users.
That's why a beginners' section has appeared in AmigaNews for several months. Good luck to the new users.
Minitel : 3614chez*WG2
Wild Graphics No 1