GridSquares plug-in> Square Attribute group

This section controls many characteristics of GridSquare's particles, including their thickness, opacity, length, speed and lifespan. Many of the controls determine the length of time that the shape elements stay onscreen. The number of parameters may look a little daunting but they are all easy to use and have a unified result.

 

 

 

Minimum Width/Height, Randomness
Maximum Width/Height, Randomness

All Squares are assigned two widths or lengths when they are created, a Minimum and a Maximum.

The Minimum is the least number of pixels a square will be when it appears on the screen. For example, if Minimum is set to 10, then whenever a square appears on the screen, it will be 10 pixels long. That is essentially its starting length.

The Maximum is what the square grows to. Once a square is created, it grows to reach the maximum width/length. If Maximum is 35 and the Minimum is 10, then the Squares will get created 10 pixels long and will grow to 35 pixels long.

Horz and Vert Growth Speed determine how quickly the lines hit these limits.

 

 

Birth Rate, Randomness

Determines how many Squares are produced each frame. The higher the value, the more Squares you'll have.

Be careful about cranking this up, because this is another parameter that can seriously affect render times. The more Squares there are, the more stuff there is to keep track off, and the slower the filter renders.
This is especially true if the LifeSpan is set high. Once a square dies off, GridSquares doesn't need to keep track of it. However, if the Squares have a long LifeSpan and there's a high Birth Rate, things can get really slow. You have a lot of Squares being produced and they're lingering around for a long time.

 

 

LifeSpan, Randomness

Controls how long a square should exist on the screen before disappearing, measured in frames. This can affect render times by having Squares linger around for a long time. This is fine if that's what you need, but if the Squares are going off the grid, and hence not visible, GridSquares is keeping track of a bunch of Squares it doesn't need to. Adjust this so that Squares are living as long as they need to, and not significantly longer.

 

 

Speed, Randomness

Sets the speed that squares move/grow at. It's pretty self-explanatory. The higher the setting, the faster the square will reach its maximum length, and the sooner it will scoot around the screen afterward.

 

 

Horiz/Vertl Growth Speed, Randomness

Together, these controls set the speed that the squares grow from their Minimum Width/Height to their Maximum Width/Height. Growth Speed is measured in pixels/grid space per frame.

Once a square has hit its Max Width/Height, it no longer grows. If you have Growth Speed set really high, the squares will hit their Maximum Width/Height very quickly, unless the Maximum Width/Height value is also very high.

Be aware that the combination of LifeSpan, Growth Speed and Speed may cause the squares to disappear before ever reaching their Maximum. If the squares aren't quite getting big enough for you, check these three parameters.

 

 

Spin Speed, Randomness

Sets the speed at which the squares spin and rotate. The higher the setting, the faster the square will spin around.

 

 

Squares Can Overlap checkbox

Turn on this checkbox to let the squares overlay each other. (Surprised?)

 

 

Squares Can Overwrite checkbox

Turn on this checkbox to let the squares replace each other in the grid formation.

 

 

Viscosity, Randomness

Viscosity causes the squares to slow down as they get further away from the producer point. Normally, viscosity refers to the amount of resistance that comes from the thickness of a liquid or substance. For example, water has a higher viscosity than air, oil has a higher viscosity than water, mud has a higher viscosity than oil, and so on.

By increasing the Viscosity, you are essentially telling the Squares that they are moving through some substance with a certain amount of thickness. This will cause them to slow down, and if the Viscosity is high enough, they will stop completely.

 

 

Opacity, Randomness

This determines how opaque or transparent the Squares are. The lower the setting the more transparent the Squares are, and the more you can see the background through them. This is accomplished by adjusting the alpha channel, so if you save out a quicktime movie or photoshop file with an alpha channel, it will contain the transparency information from GridSquares. This allows you to take advantage of the transparency in other programs.

 

 

Fade In/Out, Randomness

Tells the squares to slowly fade in or out over a given number of frames. The squares will go from opaque (or whatever Opacity is set to) to transparent and disappear. Both controls are wholly dependant on the LifeSpan parameter, especially Fade Out.

Fade Out will cause a square to fade as it gets close to the end of its LifeSpan. If the LifeSpan is 60 frames and Fade Out is 10 Frames, then the square will fade to fully transparent from frame 50 to 60. This can make the squares exit from the screen a bit more gracefully than just disappearing at frame 60. Disappearing squares tend to be somewhat jarring visually so it's best to fade them out.

Fade In works the same way. If it's set to 10, then over the first ten frames of its life, a square will slowly go from completely transparent to the Opacity value. This allows the square to make a smoother entrance.