Mandala by Miavir

beautiful! very nice idea, and perfectly executed.

Cool!

Looks good!

Reminds me of Mandala Painter..

If I have to comment on anything, its the surrounding gradient - it looks too synthetic linear - it would be cool if the star shape could be masked (i.e. transparent around..sigh why can't we set alpha in color inputs!)

Quote
Sphinxmorpher wrote: sigh why can't we set alpha in color inputs

hmm i never noticed that before, it's a good point.

i like the gradient. it could use a slight blur to take away the hard edge, but it gives the mandala a nice glow.

yup, that looks like the one. do notice that vlad added:

Quote
I added the Alpha issue to our plan. Probably this can be implemented using a checkbox 'Enable Alpha' in the Color Control which will be turned off by default. I'll discuss this with the programmers.

so, it may be turned back on at some point.

Pretty pretty!

Quote
Sphinxmorpher wrote: Reminds me of Mandala Painter..

Whut ? Do you have a reference for that ?

Quote
If I have to comment on anything, its the surrounding gradient - it looks too synthetic linear - it would be cool if the star shape could be masked (i.e. transparent around..sigh why can't we set alpha in color inputs!)

Well, I actually LIKE the gradient, it looks cool, kinda like energy radiating from it,... but a switch to make the background transparent is a good idea, I'll hack it into the next update. Expect it Monday.

As to setting alpha in color, yes, I've wished for that a few times myself. Interestingly, in *some* components that give you color inputs, you can, though in most you can't. Very inconsistent design there.

Quote
garbanzo wrote: i like the gradient. it could use a slight blur to take away the hard edge, but it gives the mandala a nice glow.

Do you mean a blur just over the outer gradient ? Or one on the edge between the outer band and the gradient ? That is supposed to be sharp, its the edge of the mandala itself.

Quote
Miavir wrote: Whut ? Do you have a reference for that ?

http://www.mandalapainter.com/

(developed with Graphics32 - a library I'm co-developing )

Quote
Miavir wrote: Well, I actually LIKE the gradient, it looks cool, kinda like energy radiating from it,... but a switch to make the background transparent is a good idea, I'll hack it into the next update. Expect it Monday.

Oh - don't get me wrong its not the gradient concept - its simply the linear streaks going to the corners.. if they where smoother somehow (maybe a masked gaussian, like proposed, or two multiplied mirror profile gradients will do the trick)

Quote
Miavir wrote: I don't get your idea with the mirror profiles, elucidate ?

Attached..

Skylight Gradient.ffxml

miavir,

i had a look inside this filter. quite a study, this one. i rearranged things to my tastes and found only one errant component. you've got one switch component which basically does nothing and is redundant. down in the lower leg of the filter you've got a kaleidoscope and a frame running into a refraction. right after that is the switch that doesnt need to be there. it does nothing. the apparency that it does do something comes from the 'sym pat select' control being plugged into both switches.

other than that, i had some inspirations from some of the way you used components. for instance, i loved that column of kaleidoscopes coming off that pavement component and the already mentioned frame and kaleidoscope going into the refraction. that was brilliant. i love when someone figures out that a blend component isnt the only way to 'blend'

i also like how you got the eight-pointed star effect. quite clever!

i've already been experimenting with a new filter somewhat based on a few of your ideas. i find i get more inspiration from looking at a filter in the editor than in the GUI

no, you dont need it, because when you switch to #1 position you're passing the black through from the earlier switch, position one. just bypass it and you'll see what i mean. it's no biggie, though. it wont add any time or anything either way you do it, nor lessen it any.

Quote
jffe wrote: I just grabbed the update, and I tried adding a blur of 0.02 just before the *Height*...

As you can see, I have added your suggestions since they seemed to offer some useful additional 'looks', though I have left it up to individual choice. Some presets seem to look better with some blur applied, some worse, so its up to you to decide

Thanks for the idea, and Enjoy,
Deon

Amazing!