Softology - Visions of Chaos Tutorial

Visions of Chaos Color Palette Tutorial
Color palettes determine how the images Visions of Chaos creates appear. Using palettes is an important topic to creating pleasing looking images. The color palettes are made up of a series of 256 colors.

Loading a color palette
To load a color palette, click the Open Palette File button on the toolbar. Once clicked it will show the Change Color Palette dialog. From this dialog you can scroll up and down to see the sample palette files included with Visions of Chaos (over 1,200 at the moment). When you click a name it will show a preview of the palette colors. Tip: An easier way to see all the palettes available is to click the Browse button. This opens up a scrollable window of the palettes available. Click any of the palette preview images to select it. Once you have a palette selected, click OK to load the palette file as the current color scheme for Visions of Chaos. Tip: If you have a simulation running and want to switch between different palettes to see how they look, leave the palette window open (drag it to the side away from the main window), select a palette file and then click Apply to immediately change to that color scheme. Double-clicking the palette file name is the same as highlighting one and then clicking apply.

Loading a color palette

To load a color palette, click the Open Palette File button on the toolbar.

Once clicked it will show the Change Color Palette dialog.

From this dialog you can scroll up and down to see the sample palette files included with Visions of Chaos (over 1,200 at the moment). When you click a name it will show a preview of the palette colors.

Tip

Tip: An easier way to see all the palettes available is to click the Browse button. This opens up a scrollable window of the palettes available. Click any of the palette preview images to select it.

Once you have a palette selected, click OK to load the palette file as the current color scheme for Visions of Chaos.

Tip

Tip: If you have a simulation running and want to switch between different palettes to see how they look, leave the palette window open (drag it to the side away from the main window), select a palette file and then click Apply to immediately change to that color scheme. Double-clicking the palette file name is the same as highlighting one and then clicking apply.

Modify colors
The Modify Colors tab has various buttons to alter the currently loaded palette. Most of them are self explanatory. Experiment with them all to see how they can customize your existing palettes. The Wrap and Double buttons do need more explanation as they can really help in creating new pleasing schemes. If you have a palette that does not smoothly wrap around from the first to last color as in the following the fractal image will have a sharp break between the start and end colors as in this image. If you click the Wrap button it doubles the palette onto itself and makes it seamless. so the obvious palette break is no longer there. Sometimes the palette is too smooth so there is not enough detail within the fractal areas. If you click the Double button a few times it creates copies of the palette within the same palette. This now shows more structure within the fractal image. Tip: Loading a relatively plain gradient palette then clicking Wrap and Double can create new palettes quickly and easily.

Modify colors

The Modify Colors tab has various buttons to alter the currently loaded palette.

Most of them are self explanatory. Experiment with them all to see how they can customize your existing palettes.

The Wrap and Double buttons do need more explanation as they can really help in creating new pleasing schemes.

If you have a palette that does not smoothly wrap around from the first to last color as in the following

the fractal image will have a sharp break between the start and end colors as in this image.

If you click the Wrap button it doubles the palette onto itself and makes it seamless.

so the obvious palette break is no longer there.

Sometimes the palette is too smooth so there is not enough detail within the fractal areas. If you click the Double button a few times it creates copies of the palette within the same palette.

This now shows more structure within the fractal image.

Tip: Loading a relatively plain gradient palette then clicking Wrap and Double can create new palettes quickly and easily.

Blend Colors
The blend colors tab allows a palette to be created from a series of colors. The colors to blend can be manually selected by clicking the color squares. Clicking Random will randomly select a series of colors and a random blend function. Clicking Color Wheel allows a series of colors to be selected based on color theory. Clicking Colors From Image extracts a series of colors from a loaded image. Once you have a series of colors, select a blend function to interpolate them into a palette you can use or save.

Blend Colors

The blend colors tab allows a palette to be created from a series of colors.

The colors to blend can be manually selected by clicking the color squares.

Clicking Random will randomly select a series of colors and a random blend function.

Clicking Color Wheel allows a series of colors to be selected based on color theory.

Clicking Colors From Image extracts a series of colors from a loaded image.

Once you have a series of colors, select a blend function to interpolate them into a palette you can use or save.

Curves
The Curves tab uses curve formulas to create palettes. Keep clicking the 3 buttons until you find a palette you like.