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flam3: a history

erik reckase

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discussion topics

ifs basics
history
future
animation demo

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about me

Dual B.S. Math-Electrical Engineering from New Mexico Tech, 1995
1995 ~ 2013 : Aerospace defense contractor

Hughes ⧫ Scitor ⧫ Sandia National Labs ⧫ Lockheed Martin ⧫ Northrop Grumman
Remote sensing projects, sensor calibration, target tracking and prediction

2006 - 2008 : Red Shift Company LLC

Novel signal processing concept breaking speech into individual glottal pulses

2013 - Now : Archer DX

Chemistry plus custom software for precise cancerous tumor characterization
Accurate tumor ID -> in vitro diagnostic tests for drug trials
Individualized treatment

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ifs basics & vocabulary

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ifs basics

Consider points A,B,C
Choose a random starting point within the triangle
Roll a die.
1 or 2: Make a new dot halfway between the old dot and A
3 or 4: between old dot and B
5 or 6: between old dot and C
Repeat until you get tired

Sierpinski triangle!

‘Chaos Game’, Michael Barnsley, 1988

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barnsley’s fern

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flam3: non-linear ifs

This ‘chaos game’ was specifically generalized to selecting a random affine transformation from a weighted set
flam3 added a non-linear component to this game:

Apply a set of weighted functions to the output of the affine transform to map into a new coordinate system
In flam3 parlance, these functions are called ‘variations’ (V_j below), and the combined set of weighted variants and the affine are called ‘xforms’ (F_i below)
Built-in variations can be simple, parametric, or dependent

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simple variation - sinusoidal

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dependent variation - popcorn

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parametric variation - blob

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the electric sheep screensaver

An exercise in distributed computing, inspired by SETI@Home
Render frames of flam3 animation using a ‘robot army’ of volunteer machines
Server sends out render jobs, in XML, to machines that are running the screensaver
Clients return the results of the render as image files
In return for their work, the clients receive short pieces of video that play while the machine is idle
Note: excess computing power is used to render higher resolution content for galleries and museums, and sales pay for bandwidth�(theoretically)�

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the electric sheep screensaver

Free screensaver clips are approximately 7 seconds @ 800x600
Gold (subscription) sheep are 14 seconds @ 1280x720
Two types of clips: loops and edges

Loops animate a single flame by rotating the affine transformations about their origins 360 degrees over the course of the animation
Edges connect loops together, interpolating between the two endpoints while they rotate
Iterations are distributed across a time range to provide motion blur

Animations are designed to be C1 continuous - no gaps, with random path�

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dreams in high fidelity

Dreams clips are 30 seconds @ 720p
Playback on a mini-PC with HD display
60GB/100GB of video clips

200 loops, 800 edges

Two limited editions of 4, a few remain
Dreams 1 (2005) $20,000
Dreams 2 (2006) $30,000

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development history

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flam3 origins

Scott Draves invented the core algorithm in 1991
Released as GPL in 1992
Incorporated into many free/commercial software products (After Effects, GIMP, Kai’s Power Tools)
One of the original UNIX screensavers (flame)
The Electric Sheep screensaver started in 1999

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early history: 1999-2002

Security clearance did not transition properly when starting at SNL in 1999, took 18 months to resolve with little work assigned
Found both flam3/electricsheep and UltraFractal while searching for interesting background wallpapers
Started converting hundreds of old Fractint formulas into UF format to achieve true layer transparency and increase rendering speed through algebraic simplification
UltraFractal built for escape time fractals, while flam3 is a modified IFS

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