Combined all visualizations into a single plug-in. Previously these components had been split between five separate plug-ins (Visualizations 1 - 5).
Visualizations with transparency now render more correctly when viewed in static preview windows and thumbnails.
Due to changes in location for stock images used by the visualizations, certain uses of visualizations in previous display properties or slide shows may break with this new version of the plug-in. The visualizations in particular that may be effected are Fireworks, Physix, and Panorama.

06/2007

Internal modifications.

05/2006

Internal modifications.

10/2005

Internal modifications.

08/2005

Original release of Visualizations 5.
A number of properties have been changed or renamed.
The default presets for Color Motion are now generally slower and calmer.
The Starfield visualizations has been improved.
Presets were added to the Spheres and Starfield visualizations.
A number of properties have been changed or renamed.
Cloud appearance has been improved including a new Blur option.
An additional preset was added to Clouds.
Snowfall is now less CPU intensive.
New presets added to Aurora.
Note that due to changes of some user adjustable properties, any background that you built using the earlier version may no longer look the same.
Note, due to a change in the panorama file format and location, previous display properties settings that use the fireworks may not work correctly with this updated version of the ProModule. It is a simple matter to adjust the display properties to use the new file format.

07/2004

Original release of Visualizations 4.

06/2004

Original release of Visualizations 3.

09/2003

Original release of Visualizations 1 and 2.

Note: Fire/Preview Window/nVidia Card issue: If you use the Fire Visualizations and are using the preview windows and are using an nVidia video card, you will likely notice a stutter with the visualization in the display window. This is due to a characteristic of nVidia cards. There is no workaround presently available.

Using Color Motion

Colors gradually fade out toward the edges of a tunnel. The center is a morphed image that is user selectable. This effect can create everything from a slow ambience to a blazing sun to a colorful haze. The presets barely begin to explore the possibilities!

Properties:

Source Image
Here you can select the image that will be seen in the center of the tunnel. Only a portion of this image is seen at a time, and its orientation changes over time to create an ever-changing look and feel.

Source Image Quality: Range [1, 4]
The source image is loaded to memory before being displayed. A higher quality means more video memory is dedicated to keeping that image true to the original. If lower values are used, the result is scaled appropriately.

Source Movement: Range [1, 100] percent.
The image seen at the end of the tunnel is moved around according to this setting. Very low values will give an almost static tunnel, while high values give incredible variety.

Visible Source: Range [1, 50] percent.
Amount of the source image that can be seen at the end of the tunnel.

Source Rotation: Range [-100, 100] percent.
Not only can the source image be moved, but it can also be rotated, this control changes the speed of the rotation.

Tunnel Fade: Range [0, 100] percent.
As colors fade from the center to the edges of the tunnel, they can also fade away (or not) based on this control.

Tunnel Quality: Range [1, 4]
As colors fade toward the edges, this also uses video memory. Lower quality means results are scaled (but use less memory). Results of lower quality are often more blocky, though this may be an interesting and desirable effect even if you can afford to use the higher settings.

Tunnel Speed: Range [1, 100] percent.
This measures how large the distance is that colors move out toward the edges each frame. Large values give a "fun-house" appearance, while small values take longer to change, but are very fluid.

Swirl Quality: Range [1, 20]
The end of the tunnel is vaguely circular. This controls how many division are used to make it a circle. 1 is a square. 2 is an octogon. 3 has 12 sides. 20 has 80 sides (very circular).

Swirl Morph: Range [-10, 10]
Inside the circle, the image is swirled either clockwise or counter-clockwise based on this control. A value of 0 means no swirl.

Swirl Size: Range [1, 100] percent.
The end of the tunnel size. Large values fill most of the screen, while really small values are a small point.

Animation: [Slow, Fast]
This motion background runs on a thread to provide a consistent look independent of your framerate. This control changes the speed of that thread.

Using Spheres

This is a fun extension to the old 2D screen saver bouncing ball. Instead of bouncing left/right and up/down only, these balls can bounce in any direction, and even bounce off of each other! As they hit the sides (or each other), they light up briefly.

Properties:

Quantity: Range [1, 100]
The number of spheres rolling around.

Speed: Range [1, 100] percent.
Measure of how fast the spheres roll.

Size: Range [1, 100] percent.
Size of the spheres. Warning: visually it is more appealing to use less spheres when you use many. If too many spheres are used that are too large, the screen looks very cluttered.

Flash Duration: Range [1, 100] percent.
When spheres strike the walls (or each other), they light up. This value controls how long they stay lit.

Background [Transparent, Black]
If transparent, the spheres will draw over whatever background is underneath. If black, then this effect is opaque.

Using Starfield

This original has undergone incredible revision! Stars can now be selected from two amazing varieties, and are much more CPU friendly.

Properties:

Quantity: Range [1, 100] percent.
This is a measure of how full the universe is of stars (within a certain threshold).

Warp Speed: Range [1, 100] percent.
Though it would make more sense to use 1-10, this setting gives the user a great deal of control over how fast you move through the starfield.

Size: Range [1, 100] percent.
Size of the stars. Note that very large values are highly unrealistic, but may provide a very interesting alternative appearance.

Background: [Transparent, Black]
If transparent, the starfield will draw over whatever background is underneath. If black, then this effect is opaque.

Star Type: [Image, Lightspeed]
Image - Stars have been pre-drawn providing a very colorful starfield where each star is quite detailed.
Lightspeed - Imagine cruising through space so fast that stars appear only as a line of light that is your eye's memory of where you thought you saw it, and you have light speed stars.

Using Clouds

These clouds can be customized to give the perfect look and feel for the sky you want!

Properties:

Blur Clouds: [Yes, No]
This is an added "Softness" that can be applied to clouds to make them fluffier. For NVidia 6000 line or ATI X000 line, this is a great option. For lower end cards, if clouds are running slowly, disabling this option will improve performance without too much quality loss.

Draw Sky: [Yes, No]
If yes, a sky is simulated. If no, draws clouds on top of whatever backgroup has been specified.

Sky Color: Range [1, 32]
The cloud colors and the sky colors were hand drawn and placed in a special texture to provide maximum realism. Unfortunately, the controls do not allow this to be previewed easily. Experimentation is useful.

Color Image: [User, Default]
If Default, uses the image drawn by the author. Feel free to experiment with a "User" texture that you draw yourself.

Color Image Filename: [User selectable image file]
Contains image data that can be used for coloring clouds and skies. Feel free to experiment!

Lower Cumulus, Upper Cumulus, and Stratus clouds all have the following controls:

Show Layer: [Yes, No]
Allows you to turn a cloud layer on and off.

Color: Range [1, 32]
The cloud colors and the sky colors were hand drawn and placed in a special texture to provide maximum realism. Unfortunately, the controls do not allow this to be previewed easily. Experimentation is useful.

E/W Wind Speed: Range [-10, 10]
How fast the wind moves and which direction horizontally (negative is left).

N/W Wind Speed: Range [-10, 10]
How fast the wind moves and which direction vertically (negative is down).

Overcast: Range [1, 100] percent.
Measure of how much of the sky is filled with clouds.
Know bug: Really low overcast values are not very realistic. This is due to the way clouds are created, but you may still find low overcast useful in some settings.

Using Color Waves

Water droplets or a pulsing mechanism create waves in a specially colored pool. These waves can bounce off the sides of the pool and interact with new waves for a very visually appealing look. For variety, the camera looking down at the pool spins slightly over time.

Properties:

Random Colors: [Yes, No]
If yes, then each time Color Waves launches, it chooses a new color scheme; otherwise it uses the value selected by "Motion Color"

Motion Color: Range [1, 64]
Unfortunately there is now way to say what each of the preset colored waves will look like. Each of the 64 colors stem from a hand colored texture, so experimentation is the best bet.

Quality: Range [1, 3]
Higher values use more video memory to produce a higher-quality result. If video memory is an issue, or to produce an alternate look, choose lower values.

Wave Damper: [0, 100] percent.
This is a measure of how fast waves disapate after being created (by a drop or pulser). 100% doesn't mean they disappear immediately, that is just the highest setting. The most interesting interactions occur when the damper is small.

Waves: Range [1, 100] percent.
This is a measure of how close Water Drops are to each other *if* the Drop "Wave Type" is selected. 1% produces very few water drops while 100% is almost constant.

Wave Rebound: Range [0, 100] percent.
When waves hit the edges of the pool, if this value is 0%, they are absorbed, while at 100% they are completely reflected. Higher rebound makes for interesting wave interaction.

Smooth Frequency: Range [1, 100] percent.
Very similar to wave damper, to keep waves from getting out of control, every so often the height (depth) of all the waves is smoothed out. This is a new feature that allows Color Waves to run for an unlimited time without being reset. Large values tend to promote very calm color pools.

Wave Type: [Pulse, Drop]
Pulse waves are simulated by a vibrating pulse in the center of the pool that causes the water to surge in that spot. Drops are simulated as though we had a leaky faucet. Each drop type gives a different look and feel - give both a try!

Pulse Speed: Range [1, 100] percent.
This is a measure of how fast the pulser vibrates. Low values cause the central wave to change slowly while higher values cause quite a disturbance. This control is only active if the Pulse "Wave Type" is selected.

Pulse Damper: Range [1, 100] percent.
Higher values tend to slow down the pulse vibrations for small amounts of time to allow a break between waves. This control is only active if the Pulse "Wave Type" is selected.

Custom Palette: [User selectable file - bmp, jpg, etc]
All the colors were hand drawn in an image to give an appealing look. Other images may be used. The motion color is n, then the colors from the image will be the row 1/nth of the way down the image. Colors on the left are the wave "valleys", colors in the middle are the "calm surface", and colors to the right are the wave "peaks." Experiment!

Animation: [Slow, Fast]
This motion background runs on a thread to provide a consistent look independent of your framerate. This control changes the speed of that thread.

Start Calm: [Yes, No]
New to this version, the motion can start with either a calm pool, or as if it had been running for a while. This pre-simulation ignores your settings, but allows things to get started quickly.

Using Snowfall

Snow falls lazily from the sky in this completely configurable moving background.

Properties:

Density: Range [5, 100] percent.
A measure of how heavy the snowfall is - from a few flakes to a veritable snowstorm! Note: snowflakes are very CPU intensive, and large numbers of snowflakes WILL slow things down.

Gravity: Range [1, 10]
Measures the pull of gravity.

Wind: Range [-10, 10]
Measures how fast the wind is moving, as well as its direction (negative is left). Big Warning: High density, low gravity, and no wind will bring any system to its knees!

Wind Gusts: Range [1, 100] percent.
Measures how likely the wind is to occasionally gust a different direction (than specified in the wind control). This effect is usually subtle, and provides a small "swirl" effect on flakes.

Size: Range [1, 100] percent.
Visual size of snowflakes.
Known bug: due to quality settings, flakes are not depth-sorted. Small anomalies may appear when using large quantities of large numbers of flakes as a result.

Background: [Transparent, Image]
If transparent, the snowfall will draw over whatever background is underneath. If Image, then a nice nature background is used.

Using Aurora

You can visualize Aurora being created by tiny gas lights. As the gas moves in the air, it mixes with other gases/colors, creating a northern lights type of display. With some creative settings, relaxing effects such as smoke, waterfalls, and small flames can be achieved.

Properties:

Colors: [Custom, Random, Pastel]
If set to Custom, then the Custom Color will be used as the theme. Otherwise, colors will either be bright (Random) or Easter (Pastel).

Custom Color
This "color picker" allows any color to be selected for the Aurora. If black, white, or gray are selected, then the entire visualization will be grayscale. This color is ignored unless "Custom" is chosen from the colors list.

Direction: [Up, Down, Left, Right]
The colors flow in the direction specified.

Source Count: Range [1, 100]
This is the number of different "gas emitters" for the aurora. Smaller values create large clouds of a single color, while large values create a more dynamic display.

Source Variance: Range [1, 100] percent.
The "gas emitters" change color over time. This value specified how quickly they change colors. Typically values of 1-20 are ideal.

Color Falloff: Range [1, 100] percent.
The gases decay over time. This value specifies how quickly the colors fade after emission.

Vertical Speed: Range [1, 5]
This is how fast the gases move through the air. If a different direction was specified than "Up," then the movement is in that direction.

Image Quality: Range [1, 4]
This is essentially the size of the grid used to generate the Aurora. Smaller grids are faster, but not as detailed. Larger grids are more demanding of the system, but allow for much higher detail. Different effects can be generated by altering the image quality, and often a lower quality is required for a desirable effect.

Animation Speed: [Slow, Fast]
The visualization runs in one of two speeds. Fast is twice the speed of slow.

Quality Blending: [On, Off]
If low Image Quality is selected, a small grid with large blocks is used to generate the Aurora. Hardware blending removes this "blocky" look by default. Some interesting effects can be achieved by turning this blending off.

Digital Rays

Random digital rays streak across the screen in a very gradually changing way.

Properties:

Color One
Color Two
The rays are composed of two main theme colors (and slight blends of the two).

Ray Width: Range [1, 100]
This is the width of the lines. The smaller the number, the more appear on the screen at a time.

Variance: Range [1, 100] percent.
This is how much the rays change over time. Low values give very gradual changes.

Rotation Angle: Range [-180, 180] degrees.
The scene can be rotated one direction or the other. This setting is the starting rotation angle. If Rotation Velocity is zero, it will stay at this angle.

Rotation Velocity: Range [-50, 50]
This is the speed that the scene rotates. If Rotation Angle is zero, the rotation starts vertical, and then proceeds in the direction indicated (negative is counter clockwise while positive is clockwise).

Using Fire

From a roaring forest fire to a warm winter's hearth - to the wildly bizarre, there are many available options to "light your fire".

Properties:

Fire Color
Although any color may be selected from the "color picker," the fire only uses that color as a guide. Only the hue of the color is used, while the lighting and saturation depend largely on other fire settings.

Vertical Speed: Range [1, 20]
How fast the fire rises into the air.

Fuel Variance: Range [1, 100] percent.
From left to right, this measures how much the heat changes. This can be visualized as the "fuel" to the fire.

Rage Factor: Range [1, 100] percent.
Over time, this measures how the "fuel" changes. A consistant fuel provides a fairly monochromatic color, while a large value makes the fire "rage."

Haze Amount: Range [1, 100] percent.
When the fire is quite hot, it heats the air and thus appears hazy to the viewer. The higher this value, the hotter the fire.

Haze Quality: Range [1, 10]
Higher values provide greater haze quality at a higher system resource cost.

Cooling: Range [1, 100] percent.
Temperature of the air. Low values allow the flicker and heat haze from the fire to rise into the air. Higher values constrict the flicker and heat haze, often sharpening the flicker outline.

Flicker Sharpness: Range [1, 100] percent.
The higher this value, the more "tongues" of flame appear. Very low values almost give a wave or blob effect.

Flicker Variance: Range [1, 100] percent.
This specifies how much one tongue of flame will differ from it's neighbor.

Flicker Height: Range [1, 100] percent.
The larger the value, the higher the individual tongues of flame can be.

Backdrop: [Black, None]
If black, the fire is portrayed on a black background. Otherwise, the current background is used, and the fire is semi-transparent.

Fire Transparency: Range [0, 100] percent.
If a background is used, transparency can make it seem alight. Higher values emphasize the background more than the fire.

Image Quality: Range [1, 5]
Larger resources mean higher system requirements, but usually higher quality.

Animation Speed: [Slow, Fast]
The animation can run in one of two speed settings. Fast is twice the speed of slow.

Using Gradient Motion

This visualization creates a gradient that changes colors over time. Center points can be put in motion if desired. Colors for all corners and the center may be selected to provide a perfect background theme.

Properties:

Gradient Type
Gradients can be horizontal, diagonal or vertical. If theme is chosen, then upper left, upper right, or center colors are used to keep the outer colors the same with a single central color. If one or more centers are selected, they may be stationary, bouncy (the moving color follows straight lines and bounces off imaginary boundaries), or random. Movement controls are only valid if bouncy or random centers are selected.

Color Change Time: Range [0.25, 10] seconds.
Each corner (or center) color is constantly changing over time. This value indicates how long it takes to change to a completely new color (within the variance allowed if Colors Variation is set to Theme). Short time values flash colors wildly, while longer values create a slower, more gradual change.

Colors Variation
Random: colors are completely randomized, and the "Theme" controls are ignored. Theme: colors for corners and centers can be explicitly set, as well as the degree to which they are allowed to vary over time. Theme colors vary according to hue, light, and saturation.

Hue is the color we see - whether it be blue, green, yellow, orange, and so forth.
Light is how bright a color is.
Saturation is the intensity of the color. Low saturation is grayscale, while high saturation is the purest, deepest value of the hue.
The "color" white has a high light value and zero saturation. Hue is irrelevant to white since saturation is zero.
To obtain fairly random colors, it is easiest to select an initial color other than white (or grayscale to black). Rainbow colors have high light and saturation.
Colors may vary randomly if "Theme" is selected according to the degree to which hue, light, and saturation are allowed to change.

Theme Hue Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Theme Light Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Theme Saturation Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Allows the colors to vary by the given percent if "Theme" is selected in the Colors Variation control. For a fairly consistent theme, values of 20% work pretty well.

Upper Left Theme:
Upper Right Theme:
Bottom Left Theme:
Bottom Right Theme:
Center Theme:
Colors for the corners and center may be selected if the Colors Variation control is set to "Theme." If multiple centers were selected by Gradient Type, they all have the same thematic color as specified in Center Theme. The corners and center will vary over time according to the hue, light, and saturation variance allowed.

Movement Speed: Range [1, 10]
If a bouncy or random center is selected in the Gradient Type control, then the center moves. This control determines how fast the center point moves around.

Movement Allowed: Range [10, 100] percent.
If the center is moving, this value indicates how much of the screen it is allowed to move in. It there are multiple centers, they each stay in their respective corners.

Movement Randomness: Range [1, 10]
Degree of randomness to the path if random centers are chosen in the Gradient Type control.

Using Fireworks

Fireworks are launched into the sky and explode in a myriad of colors and formations. To enhance the experience, a panorama may be selected as a background, and a configurable camera rotates around the outskirts of the launch area.

Properties:

Gravity: Range [15, 100]
Downward force exerted on fireworks. Make sure to give fireworks sufficient velocity so that they don't explode on the ground.

Horizontal Wind: Range [-100, 100]
Measure of wind from left to right (or right to left) of screen if camera is not rotating. Due to perspective, if the camera rotates, the wind direction is no longer meaningful.

Sheer Wind (depth): Range [-100, 100]
Measure of wind from front to back (or back to front) of screen if camera is not rotating. Due to perspective, if the camera rotates, the wind direction is no longer meaningful.

Background: [Sky Image, None]
If Sky Image is selected, then a panorama will be displayed

Panorama
Displays a list of installed panoramas. If Background is set to Sky Image, then this panorama will be displayed as the background - otherwise it is ignored. Dark sky panoramas look the best with fireworks.

Launch Pad Shape: [Circle, CircleOutline, Line, Point]
Fireworks are fired from an invisible launch pad. This pad has the overall shape indicated.

Launch Pad Size: Range [0, 100] percent.
Percent of the screen width that the (invisible) launch pad occupies when the camera is horizontal. At zero percent, all four options are equivalent to Point.

Launch Pad Vertical Position: Range [0, 50] percent.
Vertical height of the launch pad in percent distance from the bottom of the screen when the camera is horizontal and at 100% distance. 50% is in the center of the screen, while 0% is just off the bottom of the screen.

Camera Movement: [Clockwise, CounterClockwise, None]
The camera typically moves around the outskirts of the launch pad in a circular motion. You may specify which direction you prefer, or None to keep the camera stationary.

Camera Elevation Angle: Range [-90, 90] degrees.
The camera can be moved up or down, but will still point toward the general direction of the center of the launch pad. -90 is right under the launch pad while 90 is directly above the launch pad.

Camera Distance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Percent of the maximum distance from the action to place the camera. Even at 0% the camera is still a little ways away from the launch area.

Camera Speed: Range [0, 100] percent.
How fast the camera moves around the action. You can specify a non-moving camera with 0%.

Show Initial Launch: [Yes, No]
Specifies whether the show should start when the first firework is launched, or when the fireworks begin exploding. No means skip right to the action.

Firework Types: [Chrysanthemum, Peony, Palm, Ring, Three Ring, Patriotic Three Ring]
Each of these firework types have the same options as follows:

Quantity per Second: Range [0, 10]
For greater control, values less than 1 may also be selected. This is the average number of this type of firework that are launched every second. If the firework path takes a while to launch and explode and this value is high, there can be hundreds or fireworks on the screen simultaneously. It takes more system resources to display a large number of fireworks.

Explosion Duration: Range [0.1, 20] seconds.
This is the amount of time between when the fireworks explode, and the time they burn out. Longer durations require more system resources.

Spark Quantity: [Few, Average, Tons]
Number of particles in the explosion.

Air Resistance: Range [0, 100]
Once the firework explodes, this value determines how much the air slows the movement of the particles. The higher the value, the smaller (more tightly packed) the resulting explosion appears.

Spark Size: Range [0, 100] percent.
Percent of the maximum size for the firework particles. To create a flash firework, set this to zero and make sure that the flash is on.

Spark Color
Principle color for this firework. Some randomization on this color is done according to the next three settings.

*Hue, Light, Saturation Explanation*
Hue is the color we see - whether it be blue, green, yellow, orange, and so forth.
Light is how bright a color is.
Saturation is the intensity of the color. Low saturation is greyscale, while high saturation is the purest, deepest value of the hue.
The "color" white has a high light value and zero saturation. Hue is irrelevant to white since saturation is zero.
To obtain fairly random colors, it is easiest to select an initial color other than white (or greyscale to black). Rainbow colors have high light and saturation.

Spark Hue Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Spark Light Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Spark Saturation Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
For a fairly consistent color theme, values of 20% work pretty well. Setting all three to zero will only allow the color specified. To keep fairly bright fireworks, select an initial bright color, and don't let the light vary by much.

Explosion Velocity: Range [1, 100]
This is the explosion force for fireworks. Small values leave all sparks near the explosion point, while high values throw the sparks far from the explosion point.

Launch Velocity: Range [1, 100]
At launch time, this is the initial force. Smaller values will have explosions near the ground, while values that are too high will shoot out of view.

Launch Velocity Randomness: Range [0, 80] percent.
Not all of a given type of firework must launch to the same height. To vary this a bit, some amount of random slowdown is applied according to this setting. Since we can't have fireworks exploding on the ground, they are given at least 20% of the maximum launch velocity.

Shell Size: Range [0, 100] percent.
Fireworks are launched inside a shell. The size of the glow surrounding that shell may be manipulated by setting this value. You can make the shell invisible by setting this to 0.

Shell Color
All shells for a particular firework type will be this color.

Flash: [On, Off]
As soon as a firework explodes, there is a typically a brief flash. This setting allows this effect to be turned on or off.

Flash Duration: Range [0, 0.5] seconds.
As soon as a firework explodes, there is a typically a brief flash. This setting determines how long it lasts on screen.

Flash Color
As soon as a firework explodes, there is a typically a brief flash. This setting allows you to select the color.

Flash Size: Range [0, 100] percent.
As soon as a firework explodes, there is a typically a brief flash. This setting controls its size.

Using Physix

Images appear and move around the screen influenced by wind, air resistance, initial velocities, and gravity. These images may be Bitmaps (.bmp), JPeg (.jpg), or Targa (.tga). The Targa format can contain alpha, allowing a greater freedom of translucency control. Note that higher resolution images use more system resources. Image resolutions of 64x64 with 32-bit color are distributed initially with this visualization. For simplicity, the numerous instances of these images on the screen are referred to as particles. In order to allow the greatest freedom, a small amount of care must be used when positioning the physix "fountain" to make certain particles will appear onscreen.

Properties:

Backdrop: [None, Gradient]
Gradient may be selected to provide an interesting animated gradient backdrop. All controls with the "gradient" description are only valid if Gradient is selected here. Clever use of the gradient can simulate sky, underwater, darkness, and other environments. If set to none, the backdrop is transparent.

Gradient Change Time: Range [0.25, 10] seconds.
The gradient colors constantly change over time according to the variance settings and the initial gradient colors. This value indicates how long it takes to change from one particular color to a completely new one. Short time values flash colors wildly, while longer values create a slower, gradual change.

*Hue, Light, Saturation Explanation*
Hue is the color we see - whether it be blue, green, yellow, orange, and so forth.
Light is how bright a color is.
Saturation is the intensity of the color. Low saturation is greyscale, while high saturation is the purest, deepest value of the hue.
The "color" white has a high light value and zero saturation. Hue is irrelevant to white since saturation is zero.
To obtain fairly random colors, it is easiest to select an initial color other than white (or greyscale to black). Rainbow colors have high light and saturation.

Gradient Hue Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Gradient Light Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Gradient Saturation Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
If Backdrop is set to Gradient then these values control the degree to which the colors are allowed to vary. For a fairly consistent theme, values of 20% work pretty well. Setting all three to zero will prevent the gradient from changing over time.

Gradient Top Color
Gradient Bottom Color
These values set the Top and Bottom priniciple colors (respectively) for the gradient if it is selected.
Movement Speed: Range [1, 10]
If a bouncy or random center is selected in the Gradient Type control, then the center moves. This control determines how fast the center point moves around.

Particle Hue Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Particle Light Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Particle Saturation Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Each particle is randomly colored based on the the three chosen Particle Colors, as well as the random variance allowed by these three values.

Particle Color 1, 2, and 3
These are the thematic colors for particles (chosen at random). Physix selects approximate colors to these depending on the variance allowed in the previous three variance settings.

Shape: [Circle, CircleOutline, Line, Point]
This selection controls the shape of the area where the particles originate. This shape exists in 3-Space and is initially oriented such that particles have an initial velocity that is principally upward.

Fountain Size: Range [0, 100] percent.
This setting only affects shapes of Circle, CircleOutline, or Line, and controls the size of the area of origin for particles. 0 percent will always give a single point of origin. 100 percent means that the length of the line or diameter of the circle should be slightly larger than the width of the screen. This screen width is readjusted according to the Depth Position specified.

Horizontal Position: Range [0, 100] percent.
0 percent will place the center of the originating shape slightly off the left of the screen. 100 percent will position the center slightly off the right side. This position is readjusted correctly for the Depth Position specified.

Vertical Position: Range [0, 100] percent.
0 percent will place the center of the originating shape slightly below the bottom of the screen. 100 percent will position the center slightly off the top side. This position is readjusted correctly for the Depth Position specified.

Depth Position: Range [0, 100] percent.
Distance from the camera to the physix fountain base. Depending on the initial direction of the particles, really low or really high values for Depth Position might cause no particles to be seen. 50% is sufficient most of the time.

X-Axis Rotation (Pitch): Range [-180, 180] degrees.
The initial fountain shape may be rotated as well as positioned. The rotations roll first, then pitch, then yaw. If you were in an airplane, the pitch is how high the nose is compared to the tail. A negative pitch would send you toward a landing, while you take off into the air with a positive pitch.

Y-Axis Rotation (Yaw): Range [-180, 180] degrees.
The initial fountain shape may be rotated as well as positioned. The rotations roll first, then pitch, then yaw. When you are driving and road is very slick, your car may begin to rotate in circles as you make a turn (with the wheels still on the road). This rotation is the yaw rotation.

Z-Axis Rotation (Roll): Range [-180, 180] degrees.
The initial fountain shape may be rotated as well as positioned. The rotations roll first, then pitch, then yaw. This rotation is the "barrel roll" that airplanes do as a stunt act.

Initial Speed: Range [0, 100]
Particles start with this initial speed. Unless there is air resistance or wind/gravity, the particle will continue moving this speed until it disappears.

Initial Speed Randomness: Range [0, 100] percent.
This is how much slower than the initial speed random particles are allowed to start moving. At 100%, particles can have any speed up to the initial speed. At 50%, the slowest particle's initial speed is 50% of the initial speed setting. At 0%, all particles start with exactly the same speed.

Initial Angle (Z-Axis): Range [-180, 180] degrees.
This is the initial direction of the particles. Rotation is Z-axis first, then X-axis. If there is no X-axis rotation, then Z-axis rotation of 0 is up, 90 is left, 180 (or -180) is down, and -90 is right.

Initial Angle (X-Axis): Range [-180, 180] degrees.
This is the initial direction of the particles. Rotation is Z-axis first, then X-axis. If there is no Z-axis rotation, then X-axis rotation of 0 is up, 90 is away from the viewer, 180 (or -180) is down, and -90 is toward the viewer.

Initial Randomness Angle: Range [0, 90] degrees.
This is how far from the initial angle specified that particles are allowed to vary. If the initial angles are 0, a value of zero for randomness angle keeps them all going up, while an angle of 90 degrees allows them to vary in initial direction anywhere from straight up to horizontal.

Horizontal Wind: Range [-100, 100]
This wind blows from right to left (or vice versa) across the screen, sweeping the particles with it.

Sheer Wind (depth): Range [-100, 100]
This wind blows into the screen (or out), sweeping the particles with it.

Gravity: Range [-100, 100]
This force is equivalent to a vertical wind, and may blow either up or down. Intuitively this is similar to gravity.

Particle Image: [.bmp, .jpg, .tga]
This is the image for the particles. Though any size may be chosen, square images that are powers of 2 (ie 16x16 or 64x64) are ideal. Additionally, if the image is originally white, then the coloring of the particles is more pleasing to the eye.

Additive Blend: [Additive, Alpha]
Additive blending mimics what happens with light sources. All the colors are added to whatever is behind/in front. Most images can be used with Additive selected. In this case black isn't shown at all (since any color plus black doesn't change it's color), and white covers everything (white plus anything is white). Alpha blending will only work with .tga images with special alpha already encoded in the source image. With alpha of 255, the particle obscures objects underneath it, while an alpha of 0 only shows the image underneath; other values are some mix of the two.

Air Resistance Coefficient: Range [0, 100]
An arbitrary measurement of how much "friction" the particle has with the air around it. Given an initial speed and no wind or gravity, the higher the air resistance, the faster the particle comes to a complete stop.

Particles per Second: Range [1, 2400]
The number of particles created each second (approximately). The higher the value, the more system resources are required to display them.

Particle Duration: [0.10, 20] seconds.
How long the particles are visible before disappearing.

Over Time, Particles: [Shrink, Fade, Fade and Shrink, Suddenly Disappear]
This is what happens after a particle has been visible onscreen for its duration.

Particle Size: Range [1, 100] percent.
Overtall size of the particle. This is appropriately adjusted depending on depth. Particles at 100% are approximately 1/4 the width of the screen. Note that larger particles require more video processing power.

Using Kaleidoscope

In a kaleidoscope there are three rectangular mirrors. These are oriented such that they form a trianglular arrangement. In this visualization, the bottom mirror is always horizontal, and the center of the triangle is in the center of the projection screen. An image is visible through the mirrors, and reflected many times to form the dazzling array of colors for which kaleidoscopes are famous.

Properties:

Angle 1, Angle 2: Range [10, 160] degrees.
Angle 1 is the lower left angle of the triangular arrangement of the kaleidoscope, while Angle 2 is the lower right angle. The third (top) angle is calculated internally as 180 - (Angle 1 + Angle 2). Although invalid values may be specified (such as 160 for each), Angle 1 is given precedence, and the third angle is always at least 10 degrees (eg. if both are set to 160, Angle 1 is 160, Angle 2 is changed to 10 and Angle 3 is 10). Note that extreme angle values coupled with long mirrors result in long build times and higher resource usage.

Image Distance: Range [0, 10]
When looking through a kaleidoscope, you are generally looking at the world. For this visualization, we use an image to represent the world. This property specifies how far that image is from the end of the kaleidoscope mirrors. With a length of zero, all reflections are of the same triangular portion of the image. With a length of 10, there are three quite different reflections of the "world" (due to the distance and angle from the mirrors) that show up in the result.

Length: Range [1, 10]
This is the length of the kaleidoscope mirrors. Shorter mirrors mean fewer visible reflections and large triangular regions on screen. Longer mirrors mean a greater number of reflections and a much more varied final result. Note that longer mirrors require more hardware resources and a longer build time.

Image Rotation Speed: Range [-10, 10]
When looking through a kaleidoscope, often times we spin the kaleidoscope in circles to vary the image. In the visualization, we spin the "world" instead. Negative values spin the world counter clockwise, while positive values spin the world clockwise. A value of zero provides no spin.

Velocity: Range [1, 100]
Besides spinning the kaleidoscope, we often turn around, look up, look down, etc. The velocity accomplishes this task by moving the world (in a random direction and straight line) at the given velocity. 1 is very slow, while 100 is very fast.

Image Clip: Range [1, 24] percent.
An image has been specified that is seen through the kaleidoscope. For additional fun, that image may be scaled larger or smaller to provide a more (or less) detailed looking final image. The percent specified is the amount of the image that can be seen by directly looking though the kaleidoscope (center of the screen). A value of one usually gives kaleidoscopes that are monochromatic at any instance, but varied over time (depending on the image and other settings). A value of 24 shows almost 1/4 of the image in each reflection, giving a highly detailed result (again depending on the image).

Source Image: JPG or TGA or BMP.
This property allows you to select an image to use as the "world" that the kaleidoscope sees. A fairly monochromatic image is good for presentations, while a highly detailed and colorful image is more fun (in my opinion).

Maximum Build Time: [0.3, 20] seconds.
The kaleidoscope is created by "bouncing light rays" off the three mirrors. Depending on the angles and the length of the kaleidoscope, this process can take quite a while. For example, with Angle1=10, Angle2=10 and Length=10, the kaleidoscope takes many seconds to build even on a high end Pentium IV processor with 1GB of RAM. Once built, the same resources will be reused, and this process will not be repeated during display. However, a pause of 10 seconds during slide shows for highly detailed kaleidoscopes may be unacceptable. If tracing the reflections takes longer than the specified number of seconds in this property, the process will halt and an error will indicate that the kaleidoscope cannot be built within the required time period.

Using Panorama

This visualization allows the user to get a full 360 degree view of a special Panorama provided by the SongShow development team. Some of these environments are almost realistic (sunsets, mountains, ocean vistas), while others are quite fantastic (outer space, abstract art). These can be enjoyed either as a backdrop to another presentation, or in their own right as a calm moving thematic presentation.

Properties:

Panorama File
These are the panoramas provided by the development team for you to select for display.

Rpm: Range [-10, 10]
Revolutions per minute (eg. a value of 3 spins the panorama around 3 times per minute). A value of 0 gives a still shot (no animation). Very low values move the panorama very slowly. Positive values spin clockwise, while negative values spin counter clockwise.

Inclination: Range [-90, 90] degrees.
This allows you to look up (negative values) or down (positive values) to more flexibly view the panorama.

Zoom: Range [0, 100] percent.
Add binoculars to the mix for fun. Higher zoom values represent higher powered binoculars. (Of course you don't see the binoculars, just the zoomed effect).

Initial: Range [-180, 180] degrees.
Before the panorama begins spinning, start at this offset angle. This value may be used with an RPM of zero to position the view to a particular point in the panorama.

Using Sparkle

Sparkles appear over an existing image. Sparkles are uniquely generated each time the visualization is run, and fairly frequently while running. Color, brightness, size, duration, and quantity can all be adjusted.

Properties:

Color:
This is the principle color of the sparkles. Since sparkles are light, the color adds to what is already on screen. Colors may be specified in many different ways. To provide some degree of random colors, we use hue, saturation, and light to specify the color (explained in more detail below). This process is vastly simplified with an easy color picker control.

Hue is the color we see - whether it be blue, green, yellow, orange, and so forth.
Light is how bright a color is.
Saturation is the intensity of the color. Low saturation is greyscale, while high saturation is the purest, deepest value of the hue.
The "color" white has a high light value and zero saturation. Hue is irrelevant since saturation is zero.
To obtain fairly random colors, it is easiest to select an initial color other than white (or greyscale to black). Rainbow colors have high light and saturation.
Sparkles may have random colors depending on how much hue, light, and saturation are allowed to change.

Hue Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Light Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Saturation Variance: Range [0, 100] percent.
Allows the color specified to vary by the given percent.

Intensity: Range [1, 100] percent.
Sparkles contain a certain amount of light. Change this value to make the sparkle sharper (by adding more light), or more indistinct (by removing light).

Corona: On, Off, Random
The corona is a circular glow around the center of the sparkle. This may be turned on, off, or displayed at random. I think the corona makes the sparkle resemble a headlight a bit.

Corona Brightness: Range [0, 100] percent.
If the corona is enabled, this value specifies how bright it will be. Zero is the same as turning the corona off.

Size: Range [1, 100]
This is the overall maximum size of the sparkles. A value of 100 is approximately 1/4 to 1/2 the radius of the screen.

Approx. Quantity: Range [1, 100]
Since sparkles appear randomly, it is impossible to specify an exact number of sparkles at any given time and maintain that randomness, but this is approximately the number of sparkles that will be seen on the screen at any given time.

Duration: Range [0.5, 10] seconds.
This is how long at maximum a sparkle will stay on the screen. There is a small amount of randomness involved as well.

Visualizations Collection