Introduction
As a forward, I am not a professional by any means. I have experimented some and read a few tutorials, and if I have any useful information, I would like to pass it on. Apophysis is a fractal flame editor for Windows. The file size is approximately 2.58 MB.

The Layout
When you first load the program, you will see a list of 100 preloaded scripts on the left and a picture viewer on the right. These 100 scripts are generated each time you start the program; hence they should be different every time. Seeing as this program is only math, it is possible for a script to repeat, but unlikely. The default image in the image viewer is a poor render of the first script. Click scripts until you find one that you like.

Mutation
Once you find open that suits your tastes, you can change it. The easiest way to do so is to open the Mutation window. The icon for it contains nine boxes and looks slightly like a negative of a tic-tac-toe board. Click it. Nine boxes will appear, each with a different variation of this image. The eight images around the edge are mutations of the current script while the center image is a small display of the current script. If you like the way one of the mutations looks, click it. It will become the center image (for it is now the script) and new mutations will appear. If you don't like the current mutation options, click the center image to generate a new selection of mutations without fear of changing your original script. You can adjust what kind of mutations are generated by selecting a different trend or change the strength of the mutation by adjusting the speed slider. When you are satisfied and have clicked to your heart's content, close the Mutation window by the X at the top.

Editor
If you deeply understand the mathematics of the program, you can manually adjust the properties of your script using the Editor window (the icon is a black square with red and yellow triangles in it). Unless you are a seasoned professional and could write this tutorial in your sleep, skip it. It isn't necessary.

Color Present
The next step is to adjust the color scheme. Open up the Gradient control panel by clicking the icon that fades horizontally from blue to white to orange. The first step is to choose a present. Open up the present drop down menu and select a color scheme that fits your personal preference as well as the image. Once you have one picked out, you can adjust what part of the scheme goes where in the image by using the Rotate feature. Make sure you can see the main window of Apophysis while adjusting this, otherwise you won't be able to tell what is an improvement and what is a step backwards. Again, when you are satisfied, close the window.

Adjust
The final step before the rendering process will be found in the Adjust window. The icon for this control panel looks like a mini window with two blue crosses in it. The top three controls are all pretty self-explanatory except for the gamma. If you find that your images are too grainy or don't plan on rendering for a super long time, I recommend bringing this slider to the left. The other two should be checked for personal tweaking, but usually serious revisions are not required. Beneath this you will find the Background color option. If you want to, you can change the background from black to a different color, but it is risky. Chances are extremely high that the colors of the flame will clash with the background, and even if they don't, the switch is rarely an improvement. Black is safe, but if you feel the need to experiment and manage to pull something off, let me know! Below this are the camera settings. You can zoom in or out and also adjust the camera position. If your image has a noticeable center, I recommend positioning that to the middle or to a corner or edge for framing reasons. If it is almost in the middle but not quite, it looks careless and cheap. For the first time, you have direct control over making the image become what you envision in your mind, even if that is only the camera position.

Final Touches
You have now completed your flame. This is not a required step, but if you would like, you can view your image using your full screen by pressing Crtl+F on your keyboard. This will present you with a large version of your flame created with better render settings. If you can think of any changes that you would like to make employing any of the features that you learned earlier, now is the time.

Rendering Options
There are three ways to render an image created in Apophysis. If you choose the Render to Disk option (Ctrl+R), it uses the Apophysis rendering program. It is the slowest way to finish your image and it doesn't have the best control setup. I would personally not use this unless I was planning to make good use of the pause feature. There is a ored way to export the flame into visual form that is faster than the rest, but I have heard that it leaves you with nearly no control over the render. Also, there is no progress meter, which I would find unbearable. I would recommend the Export Flame option (Ctrl+X). Before you do anything, I would recommend changing the place where it will now store your rendered images. Under Destination, click Browse and select a place where you would like to store all future renders. Creating a folder titled "Apophysis Images" and placing it under My Pictures would be ideal.

Resolution
Now to get into the grit. First, choose your image size. Common dimensions use the 4:3 aspect ratio, but you can render at any shape. The larger the dimensions, the greater detail the image has, but also the longer it will take to render. If you don't mind the wait, render larger than you will need just for buffer room in the future. I render all my images at 1600 by 1200 pixels, as that is the exact size that I upload. The quality level could be described as the number of times that the computer thinks about each pixel. The higher this level, the computer will be increasingly certain that lines in the script should be rendered as lines instead of random dots. Increasing this level gives smoothness to high quality renders that can't be achieved elsewhere. 100 is good for a test render, and anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 for common renders. I am a perfectionist who likes his computer to work all day and night whether being sued or not, so I regularly render between 10,000 and 25,000.

Filter Radius
Next is the Filter Radius. This is not one of those controls that "Higher = Better". In reality, all it does is blur your image in an effort to disguise distortion. If you are rendering at high enough levels to bog down the CIA Headquarters for a weekend, I wouldn't recommend using this at all, but otherwise it is healthy. 0.4 is pretty standard. If your images have obvious noise that shouldn't be due to powerful renders, increasing this a little should solve your problems. On the other hand, if your images commonly appear soft, even after a nice render, perhaps you should lower this setting.

Oversample
Next is the Oversample. If you have the Oversample set at 1, then it does nothing but render your image as normal. If you set it to 2, it renders your image at twice the necessary size and then sizes down to make it look better. If you set it to 4, you are rendering at four times the output size. Think of it like this: You are painting a design on a football field that is meant to be viewed from the air by a helicopter. At the viewer's height, only one splotch of paint per yard will be visible. If you place one splotch of paint per foot instead, it will appear better from the helicopter camera even if it can't distinguish each individual splotch due to the massive height. The image is now more detailed than the absolute minimum, even if it is the same size. The render at an Oversample of 3 essentially takes the same amount of time assuming that you have the spare Ram, for the Ram now required is triple the original amount. Let’s say you don't. Now one person has to paint the splotches equivalent to a three person job; it will take her at least three times as long to do it. The Oversample is definitely useful if you have the spare Ram, but if not, the render time will skyrocket. 2 is considered the default. Change it with your tactful knowledge of how much Ram you have, how much you need the computer to be responsive in the near future, and finally how excellent you need the picture to look.

Strips and Batches
For the life of me, I am having a hard time determining (much less describing) the difference between Strips and Batches. From some information gleaned from Apophysis, what seem to be ill-informed professionals, and my gut feeling, I have concluded the following. 1 strip is the equivalent of 1 image. If you render with 2 strips, it will render the entire image twice and average the results. If you render with 8 strips, your image is all that much more normal; it just takes a lot longer to do. Rendering with more strips seems to erase random, floating pixels that were meant to be part of a barely noticeable line. If the image is rendered 8 times and then averaged, different selections of that slight line will be rendered as the line instead of broken segments. Strips are completely left out of "The Fractal Flame Algorithm" provided by Apophysis. Just as useful, their description of Batches is practically in Greek. They seem to indicate that more Batches are worse off than less. A tutorial that I read described them as something that can really whack out the color values, and should therefore be kept at a minimum. I would recommend rendering at 2-3 Strips and 1 Batch. Just keep the Buffer Depth at its maximum.

Opening .flame Files
If you happen to decide that you have blotched the rendering job of a great flame, all hope is not lost. Unless you managed to find some way to disable this feature, Apophysis will automatically catalogue a .flame file with the same name as the corresponding .jpg. I had always assumed that these would open up with Apophysis allowing you to re-render, but I thought that I had a bad version or bad files because they never would. With an unintentional nudge from a friend, I discovered that these weren't designed to open up in Apophysis at all, but I find that they open in Notepad quite well. Open the folder into which you save your Apophysis image and right-click any random .flame file. Click "Open" and wait for the error message to appear. Mark the "Select the program from a list" option and press "OK". Scroll down until you find "Notepad" and click it once. Make sure that box marked "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is checked and press "OK". Now, when you double click a .flame file, it will open up as a long string of text. Highlight all the text (note, this sometimes does not work when Ctrl+A is used) and press Ctrl+C. Back in Apophysis, press Ctrl+D to open the Edit window. In the bottom box that looks like you can type in it, click the box to activate it, and press Ctrl+V. Nothing will change, but the numbers below the image on the main Apophysis window will start to change. In a few seconds, it will reload an even worse version of the image that you rendered poorly. Fret not, for it is now back in script form and can be re-rendered.

The Clincher
When using Apophysis, a little of experimenting is necessary. These are the basic steps for producing an image, but don't demand stellar results. Photographers for National Geographic travel into exotic parts of the world for a week and take thousands of pictures, but how many of them make the magazine? Those are professionals, and chances are that you are not. Just keep trying to eventually get a few good ones. The most hindering and bothersome aspect of this program is that you can't envision something and then create it, but you need to realize that approving or disapproving of each step in Apophysis is just as important as any vision would be while painting a picture. Just remember that Ctrl+Z is your friend; it will erase all your problems. Use this Undo feature anytime the last step was grander than the current. Also, even if your image is really good looking, it may be a typical Apophysis image and rather cliché. Upload original work that could not be reproduced by measure, for even if they are good, if 2/3rds of caedes.net is devoted to similar fractals made in Apophysis, they can tend to get old.

If this tutorial helped at all, please say so or message me via PM. If you have anything to add, please do below.

Very well done. I can see that you have put alot of time into this.
One little thing: the lower your over sample is, the lower your filter radius should be. For example, an image with an oversample of 1 would look too blurry with a filter radius of .4, while it would be perfect for an image with an oversample of 2.

Thanks for the input. I would assume that this is in effect because it applies the oversample after the render but before the product is set to pixel size. Assuming we used an Oversample of 2 as the standard, would that mean that mean that a .4 on a 2 would become a .8 on a one? Most of this is just guesses anyways. :-)

A few more things I forgot to say:
About the editor- you don't need to be a mathmatician to use the editor. Sometimes you need to move the triangles around to get the positioning right. A little experimentation never hurts.
Also, you did not mention anything about the scripts and script editor (such as "spiralize", "scale up", etc.).
One last thing. More people would see this if you made it an image and put it in tutorials. I think it would help alot of people.

ummm i dont agree with you about what you wrote in the "Editor" part of the tutorial... you dont really need mathematics to use that.. and it is a major part of apophysis, this is how you get different images.... I use the editor all the time, and no numbers inputted by me... to get different images all you do is move the triangles around and tug the corners.. eg.. click on the letter "A" of the triangle and move it around... doing this you will make some amazing images, by moving the right triangle will make the image clearer.. its all trial and error.. what i do is i move one step at a time.. eg.. move a triangle point.. if it doesnt look right i undo it and try something else.. it takes a bit of time.. but its worth it... TRY IT..

Oh, believe me, I have experimented with it before too, but there are no solid rules regarding what you can do. I did hear a few people complaining on another site apparently because Apophysis could only be used if you understood its math and the math of all fractals, and a very select few are that dedicated. I have moved triangles before, but I found it a little tricky to get any results that I liked. I wrote about ways to use Apophysis that are user-friendly and can be desribed. If I were to tell you how to use an Australian-made Piggy Light Tech board, even if I was an expert, there would be no way to put it into words. It is something that classes wouldn't help. Even the manual is surprisingly unclear in certain areas, and that is a book! The point is that some things can only be taught through personal experimentation, and for me, I think that the Editor window is one of those things.

The majority of this tutorial was aimed towards those first setting eyes on the program. I wrote the rendering section for the experienced people as well, because it seems that nobody knows what any of it means and all of it is personal preference. I don't have to explain to you which icon is the button for the mutation window or what adjusting the speed does, you already do it in your sleep. There are plenty of tutorials across the web telling you how to do that. The trouble is that when people start out, they start out with absoltely no knowledge of what they can't see. Trial and error only works when you can immediately see your error. How long would it take for average Joes to become photography experts with no outside help if they only used film? Digital lets you see your mistakes immediately so you can learn from them and produce better results. Taking a crash crouse in photography and starting out on film would not be so bad, butnot everybody can do that.

If you find it tactful and unplageristic (ooo, a new word) to edit the tutorial, then I will glady rephrase that section. As for making a tutorial image, I thought about that, but it isn't plausible with this much information. "Basic DSLR Workflow" works because it only describes three steps. This?

*Sigh... why is it people get aggressive when your only trying to point out something to help them... Your tutorial is good... all i was saying is that its not that hard to use the Editor... You dont need to use the mathematics side of it.. you dont need to use numbers... put it this way... the Editor is an important part of apophysis.. this is where you can create different images than what is up on the mutation screen... I didnt learn by tutorials on the net.. I learnt the hard way.. MYSELF.. I experimented with it and I took the time to work out what was what and how the editor worked... to me this is how you create images... if you dont experiment and practice and take the time to mess with it.. you are going to get bored and boring with the same old style of flames... I wasnt having a go at what you wrote in the tutorial.. I just wanted others who are using it to be aware that YOU CAN use Editor and that is HOW you get different flames and you DONT have to use numbers... just your creativity and patience... from what you wrote it seems like you dont have the patience to sit and experiment with that part of apophysis... so hence you think its a waste of time using it... i find it a major part of the program.. but thats my opinion...

Um...I don't see how he was being aggressive. I think he was just trying to point something out. You both have valid points, but it will never do you any harm to use the editor.

I always use it... its there so you can create something different than what is in the mutant screen... the flames that are on the mutant screen first is just a basis flame.. its meant to be changed either using the editor, or even variations and scripts... otherwise its just a "snapshot" ...
but thats not what this discussion is about... its a good tutorial.. i just felt that people who are new with the program wouldnt attempt using it because it said that "you need to be mathematically minded"

I am sorry. Both of you are right, and by that, I mean that it was a mix of both of us having valid points as well as me being agressive. I was proud of this tutorial and felt defensive. Maybe working for nearly 10 hours straight didn't help. Will you forgive me?

As for the mathematical part, that is what I find odd about this prorgam. All other fractal programs that I have experimented with are 71% math while this was hovering at about 4%. It bothered me that someone said it was too complex a program to use because I thought it was so easy. I didn't want to get too complex and get shunned for it. I would be willing to change the section about the Editor window if you would, but I think it would be best if you wrote it. I barely understand it! Let me know what you decide.

Luke... you have nothing to be sorry for... you had every right to feel like that... When I get a chance later.. i'll send you a PM about the Editor...

I applaud anybody that takes the time to write a tutorial (*claps*)

but ... what would it take to get you two mad at each other again? ... I've got a kingsize tub of popcorn here ... and there's nothing on TV

and ... nope ... no math required if'n you don't want to get into the twiddly bits .. and take it from me, the abacus from my school days only has four beads compared to the eighteen bead jobbers they have these days .. (ie ... math has changed ... it's more tougher) ... apparently english has changed too ;)

I serve only as an example to others

Typical.... =PP always wanting a fight....

hmmm only 4 beads on your abacus... wow are you THAT old... =PP

I am fairly certain I know what an abacus looks like...never having used one...

Apophysis has nothing to do with me getting mad. Occasionally, it is just something to argue about when I am super frustrated regarding friends. Hehe, I saw this online. :-D

hehehe .. thanks for the link .. I found that site a while back but didn't bookmark it and couldn't for the life of me remember the name accurately enough for google to find it

I was, therefore, the weakest link in that relationship .. eh, ... the google one

Don't mean to get too far off-topic, but I gave on of my friends a toaster-sized, framed version of this. He loves it. :-)

ROFL- i love those posters- the real ones piss me off. :)

how do you set the quality to render at 1000 and higher? i have tried, but mine always stays at 100. is there like some really stupid simple way to do this and i just haven't figured it out yet, or what?

you should be able to highlight it and change it.. I would change it 2000 quality, .4 radius and oversample 2.. render at 1600 x1200 or higher

Those are the numbers I use too, & they work beautifully for me too. I render at 1600, once in a while I render at 3200, but the last time I did that I was 28 hours into a render & it was eating my computer alive so I stopped it & re-rendered at 16.

tsk tsk tsk ... won't get ahead in life by taking the easy way out .. come back when you've spent 72 hours rendering something that took you a second to delete

then, and only then .. can you call yourself an Apophyser

Hehe, I have spent 4 days on a single render before, and that is on a computer we regularily use. My record is a bit over two weeks, but that compter was crippled by having practically no ram, and nobody ever used that computer, so I am not sure if it counts. :-)

Rendering it at 3200 by 2400 at oversample 1 is the same as rendering it at 1600 by 1200 at oversample 2 except that the latter has it already resized for uploading. If you have a lot of ram, render it small with a large oversample, because it will render in the same amount of time as if you had the oversample at 1. If you don't have a lot of ram, rendering it larger might help if you ever want to blow it into a poster some day.

Luke,
Trying some your helpful hints on a new flame now. Wish me luck and look for it to be uploaded soon ( I hope..lol).
>.< Leslie

Hello, Thanks this tutorial will help me alot. Just started with fractuals.........Steve.

Keep in mind .. the newest version of apophysis can be found at .. sourceforge.net

Just so everyone knows, this is a severely inadequate tutorial for the newest version. Once I get my own computer, I will see about polishing this one and writing a new version, but that could be more than a year.

go ahead and write APO v6 at the top .. that will save you a little time when you actually start

So, I read this tutorial, and have gotten fantastic results for a beginner with fractals. One problem I have is a lot of awesome fractals come out with lots of dots, or graininess around the edges of lines and curves. Is there anyway to make Apoph remove these during the render, or render them as lines or gradients? Alternately, is there an easy way to clean this up with Photoshop?

the best thing you could do .. is ... post one and ask for hardcore critique and help

you could also specify your settings here + on any post you make that you're asking for help ... render quality, filter-radius, oversample ... and whether you've messed with any gamma \ brightness doohickeys

I no longer consider myself well versed in the whys and wherefores ... and I don't want to upset the apo cart .. :o)

Ah, good idea. let's see... I took a lot of the graininess out of this one with some brushwork in Photoshop, but you can still see evidence of it in the bottom left corner and towards top dead center in this one. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y217/MayGodHaveMercy/Apophysis-061111-12682.jpg

Also, my settings on this one were 1280x1024, with oversampling at 2, quality at 500 (Though I still see graininess with quality up to and including 2500), Filter radius at 0.4, and the HQI settings at default. Batches & Strips set at 1, and buffer depth at 64 bits.

I recomend that you render at 2000 or better .. I've been as high as 10,000 .. but have settled back at 2000 ... and .. I render at 3200x2400 and resize using Photoshop .. this is, essentially the same as oversample 2 (oversample doubles the size of your render)

Some people have an extremely LOW tolerance for grain (they shall remain nameless) .. perhaps you are to be added to that list .. :o) .. Based on the sample you provided, I would NOT criticize it for grain .. but due to size I can not get a feel for it ... there are artists here that can help you make this fractal blossom into something to behold ... using the editor is KEY to accomplishing this .. move a few triangles around

I say .. jump in and post to the caedes galleries ... the water's fine ... ask questions to those artists whose works you admire .. and, little by little, like water through a rusty pipe .. you will get better

Welcome to Caedes

Yes, a quality level of 500 does seem a bit low, but I know how you feel when you wait extra long for a higher-quality render only to have it come out the same. It was standard for me (back in the day when I had a computer) to render all of my images at 10,000 with an occasional 20,000 or 25,000. No need to say this, but Keith was talking about me when he mentioned a low tolerance for grain. :-)

The best tactic I could recommend at this point is to make your render crazy-big and scale it down yourself. Don't bother with oversample in this case, just make it huge at a reasonably low quality level and hope that shrinking it will hide the blemishes. Quality can't fix everything, although it certainly does help. Ask me if you would like a critique. Best wishes to you.

my longest render was 110 hours ... fricken hours, if I remember corrrectly

I currently render at 2000 quality, point 3 filter radius, 1 oversample

3200x2400

I find if you adjust the shadows it gets rid of the grain, brings up the colour and details.. but dont render under 1600 x 1200 or under quality 2000.. Experiment, move triangles, change values, try different variations and scripts.. most members who use apophysis will be happy to help you... just give them a yell.....

HAPPY APOPING.. ;)

Jacqueline's right, you'd be amazed at how playing with the shadows in PS really can make your image pop.

I'm now rendering at 3200x2400 & then sizing down. Hm, I forget who told me to do that ..... Anyhoo ....a 500 Quality is way too low in my opinion. At the very least you should be running at 2000, just like Keith said.

You can also go into Options & try lowering the setting of your gamma to 3. I've done that. But if you really want advice, post some images so we can see where we could help.

Have fun with it, you'll find Apophysis can be addicting ! ;o)

the main thing to remember .. besides that I'm always right .. is .. Nowhere is it written that a fractal is, will be, or should be .. GRAIN FREE

let your hair down .. revel in the grain .. swim with it .. drink from it ..

look at your own complexion in the mirror ... are YOU grain free? ... hah! .. yet YOU are a fractal .. not as pretty as the ones I make, maybe, but a fractal non-the-less

now ... go forth and photoshop yourself ... play with the "shadows" like those "other" people said

:O) .. (*no egos were harmed in the posting of this message .. least of all mine*)

muhahahahaha .. (*cough cough*)

*sniff*

*dials baby big ears hit men r us*

hey ummm stupid question...im new do i have to render the image to save it and is there anyway to save so i can send the images to other people who dont have the program that would like to see them.....and your tutorial is great BTW, i just dont have 8 hours to spend on a render especially on my really slow really old computer.

You do have to render it or the file will not be saved.

What I normally do is play with a flame, wait til I'm about to go to bed, then let Apophysis render all night.

You can set the graphic size smaller, but in lower resolutions, they won't look as good.

@munnin:

Lil' bit more information, on rendering to save your image that you created:

Click on the 'render to disk' ... and ensure that the file is being saved as a .jpg. Not ... as a .png, in the window dialogue that pops up prior to the actual rendering.

Rendering as a .png ... eliminates the background colour and you will get a 'transparent' flame/abstract or image as a result.


Emily makes a good suggestion to allow your renders to complete over night.

Playing around with the settings; ie. Quality, Over sample and image size ... can reduce your render times.


How to render in Apophysis and a brief discussion on the settings/options available to you.

p.s. The above link and screenshots are still relevant, despite being somewhat dated in terms of the Apophysis versions and releases available now.

okay well thank you, very much i think i figured a few tricks to do it ill let you all know if it works out im too worried about the quality right now im just playing around most will be ddeleted and then ill start over :) so thank you anyways. ill keep in touch and just to warn you guys i ask alot of questions

I've just seen this.. thank you.
I'm not good with technical aspects and will read this again and play.

I recently got asked.. "Do you play with mutations or transforms generally?"
And I have to admit I have no idea what that means..I just..make things.
So after being confused by wikipedia it is nice to find this..maybe I'll have more luck understanding things.

Here you go:

http://sya.deviantart.com/art/Apophysis-Tutorial-10781352


Unfortunately, the resources that were at one time available at apophysis.org ... are no longer there.