G-Force gold 7.3 disappointment

[JayPro]

Tom;

First to get to the extras archive, go to the "More Info" section of G-force. You should then see a dedicated page with a menu on top. One option is called "Extras", where you can download many additional effects that never made it to any released version.
Caveat on the Above: You will have to add Meta Files to a number of these.

Which leads me to.....

**The Short Skinny on Metas: These are used strictly for WaveShapes and are intended to be a descritor of what the effect in question is to look like like to the eye of the user. It is for the most part not meant to be an indicator of the sound-capability of the waveshape.

If you go into your waveshapes folder, you will se the Meta line with (usually) four major aspects (Reactive, Detail, Density, Morphable). If you want a true waveshape (i.e. not a particle, reactive or otherwise) these aspects should be set to a value of 4. Be advised though that there can be more aspects (some of the waveshapes from Ted's folder will demonstrate this). In this case, it can be okay to set an aspect or two to a level of 5, which is the highest level you can use.

You might notice that for effects that the user might want to make into a particle, there will be (usually) three of the four aspects used (minus Morphable) and the "combination" in this case will be Reactive=1 Detail=3 Density=3.

Hope this helps...I'll be glad to elaborate further.

[TMBrod]

Helpful, indeed! (but playing with it , I don't think THIS is the difference, yet, between 2.7.1 and 2.7.3).

How about my post on help U and shift U? What do they do, and what gets messed up if you y use them?

Colormaps may also be at issue here. there seem to be a lot of Light-colored colormaps in the new version. I'm gonna check that out. But, WHAT ARE *.map FILES???

Taking Rovastar's advise I've been plucking waveforms and particles out (working two screens on the PC, one for G-Force stand-alone, the other for Folders>Soundspectrum>....)and placing them in a folders named holdable-Waveforms, holdable-flowfields, etc. I'll see what pruning does!

Thanks, Tom

[Roger Bigod]

To understand .MAP files, consider the general problem of defining a function for a computer, say f[x] over the x-range of 0 to 1. There's a couple of ways to go about it. One is to just supply a table of the values at small intervals and look up the value of the function every time its used. That is easier for the computer, but tedious to specify the numbers. Also, its hard to look at the table of numbers and get a feel for the function. The other way is to specify the function symbolically, e.g. f[x]=(1-x). Easier for humans to write and understand, but makes the computer do a little work setting up the table.

The two methods are exemplified in the .MAP files and plain colormaps, with some technical hassle. The range isn't 0 to 1, its 1 to 256 in intervals of integers, because the information is one byte (256 possibilities) per pixel. And the output isn't one function, but 3 for telling the software what to put on the monitor. In one scheme the three parameters are H, S and V, in the other B, R and G. Either way, a .MAP file is just a bunch of numbers specifying 3 function tables. The .txt files are symbolic specifications of the functions. Given the .txt functions, its easy to make the tables. But there are a lot of possible tables for which its impossible to come up with a simple function, so the .MAP files have a much larger range of possible appearances (and correspondingly more scope for bad taste).

[TMBrod]

To understand .MAP files, consider the general problem of defining a function for a computer, say f[x] over the x-range of 0 to 1. There's a couple of ways to go about it. One is to just supply a table of the values at small intervals and look up the value of the function every time its used. That is easier for the computer, but tedious to specify the numbers. Also, its hard to look at the table of numbers and get a feel for the function. The other way is to specify the function symbolically, e.g. f[x]=(1-x). Easier for humans to write and understand, but makes the computer do a little work setting up the table.

The two methods are exemplified in the .MAP files and plain colormaps, with some technical hassle. The range isn't 0 to 1, its 1 to 256 in intervals of integers, because the information is one byte (256 possibilities) per pixel. And the output isn't one function, but 3 for telling the software what to put on the monitor. In one scheme the three parameters are H, S and V, in the other B, R and G. Either way, a .MAP file is just a bunch of numbers specifying 3 function tables. The .txt files are symbolic specifications of the functions. Given the .txt functions, its easy to make the tables. But there are a lot of possible tables for which its impossible to come up with a simple function, so the .MAP files have a much larger range of possible appearances (and correspondingly more scope for bad taste).

I think I've got it. javascript:emoticon(':roll:') Thanks!

[TMBrod]

Oh Mr. Rovastar, so beautiful!!!!! A fractal flowfield of thanks.

Yes, G-force 2.7.3 is just fine. For my taste I'm happy with just your folder in the Flowfields (though I'll be adding the others back in), and will do severe pruning on the colorfields and waveforms--to allow the flowfields to bloom. What a pleasure to tell you (and others) you were right. Tom Brod

Reposted here to fix the record. Responding to Rovastar's posting "A few new flowfields to try".

[andy55]

Desmo;

I believe your observations about the configs n the extras archive are because of the fact that they don't have Meta vaules assigned to them.
I'll be more than happy to elaborate on hem soon; but as I have things to do today, I'm afraid I won't be spending too much time at the forums.
Feel free to leave questions and the like and I'll get back to you.

EXTRAS ARCHIVE???? Is this a hidden clue to the mystery.

And HOW ABOUT "meta values"? Where can I learn about them?

All,

Sorry I haven't been replying in this thread (and others). It's been a very busy time and I'm moving to my permanent new residence in Boston MA--I've been living out ogf my trunk and using my portable office (ie, two laptops) since last October. Once I get settled in, get my stuff out of storage, and a desk that I can work out, we'll hopefully see more posts from andy! At the same time, SoundSpectrum is busy managing a number of projects that will allow us to get some new software out the door the not too distant future. G-Force Gold 3 will be a nice addition for G-Force users out there that wish to tinker and play with G-Force. In the mean time, thanks for being patient with your problems, and continue to submit your support questions to our support email address.

Thanks,
Andy

P.S. Jaypro, you're right about the comments in "Birth Cone" being outdated--we'll see that corrected in the next release.

[JayPro]

P.S. Jaypro, you're right about the comments in "Birth Cone" being outdated--we'll see that corrected in the next release.

I should apologize here for my ignorance, technically defined or otherwise; but I'm not quite sure what Birth Cone comment you're referring to. I'm not even sure I mentioned anything about it.

I hope you're not suggesting that Union effects hafta be Meta-filed....

[andy55]

P.S. Jaypro, you're right about the comments in "Birth Cone" being outdated--we'll see that corrected in the next release.

I should apologize here for my ignorance, technically defined or otherwise; but I'm not quite sure what Birth Cone comment you're referring to. I'm not even sure I mentioned anything about it.

I hope you're not suggesting that Union effects hafta be Meta-filed....

Hmm... Sorry, maybe it was Toby that made the comment.