PowerPlugs! - it's not a dream 


Introduction                               Example1 

PowerPlugs! are a extended version of Wildfire's 3D-operators
allowing the superposition of effects in the threedimensional space.
For example after wrapping an image onto a cube a radial-wave
could be applied to the cube.
Since version 3.14 you can combine phong-shaded Lightwave3D-objects
with your images. All 3D-effects can be applied to these objects, too.
This makes it for example possible to create a threedimensional
twirled cow in a few seconds.

This are of course incredible mega-features many 3D-programs
are missing.
But many users may have no need for it because they have slow
machines with only some memory or don't need any 3d-effect.

So you have to register for the PowerPlugs!-package separately.
The price is 50,00 DM or 40,00 US-$. I think this is quite fair
for such unique features and makes it possible to keep the low price
of the base-package.

After registering you will receive an extended version of the
"wildfire.library" which enables the handling of so-called
"3D-temp-buffers".
If you have installed the normal version of the library (registered
or not) all 3D-operators are restricted to operate on image-
buffers (STREAM and TEMP1, ..., TEMP8).
After installing the extended PowerPlugs!-library four
additional buffers can be used: TEMP3D1, ... TEMP3D4.


Usage                                      Example2  

The usage is quiet simple. If you specify a 3d-temp-buffer
instead of an image the transformation is applied to
a virtual object and not to an image. This means that
all "final" transformation operations like rotating, scaling
or adding light are not performed. 3d-temp-buffers
can be specified both as input and output.

Example: You want to linearcombine two simple waves.

          Add a Wave3D-effect and set the originX-value to 60.
          Set the output-buffer to TEMP3D1.
          Add a second Wave3D-effect and sets it's originX-value to 260.
          Set the input-buffer to TEMP3D1.

         So what happens ? The image is read and deformed by the first
         Wave3D-operator but not rotated, scaled or rendered.
         The result is read in by the second Wave3D-operator, deformed,
         rotated and rendered.


Operators                                  Example3  

The following operators support the PowerPlugs!-concept and
can therefore combined in any manner:

    Axis3D           Add axes in very high quality to plots      Example 
    Bump3D           Real Bump-mapping                           Example 
    ColorCube        3D color- or alpha-space                    Example 
    Cube             Wrap an image onto a cube                   Example 
    DataPlot         Plot threedimensional data-sets             Example 
    Genlock3D        Threedimensional genlock                    Example 
    Join3D           Join two 3D-temp-buffers                    Example 
    LWOB             Import Lightwave-objects                    Example 
    Magnet3D         Grab and drag portions of an image          Example 
    Morph            Interpolate between two objects             Example 
    ParPlot          Plot threedimensional parametric functions  Example 
    Perspective      Add perspective to an image                 Example 
    SetColor         Modify the color of objects                 Example 
    Sphere           Wrap an image onto a complete sphere        Example 
    Transform3D      Perform standard 3d-transformations         Example 
    Triangulate      Convert images into smooth phong-object     Example 
    Twirl3D          Apply a Twirl-effect along any axis         Example 
    Twist            Deform an image using rotation              Example 
    Water            Apply an anharmonic water-wave to an image  Example 
    Wave3D           Apply a harmonic wave to an image           Example 
    Wrap             Wrap the image on a sphere or a tube        Example 
    ZPlot            Plot threedimensional functions             Example 

Looking at the example-pictures

 Example1 again 
 Example2 again 
 Example3 again 

keep in mind that all parameters may be animated easily
and any number of these operators can be combinated in any manner.

All scripts which where used to create these example-pictures
can be found in the "wf:doc/PlugIns"-drawer.


 I'm impressed !