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diff --git a/help/rest/format.txt b/help/rest/format.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1972704 --- /dev/null +++ b/help/rest/format.txt @@ -0,0 +1,136 @@ +.. _format: + +.. index:: + pair: file; format + +File Format +=========== + +.. highlight:: scheme + +This section describes the format used by XaoS for animations, configuration +files and saved positions. All these files have a common format, designed to be +easily readable, to allow manual editing of files and easy conversion by other +programs. + +I also taken care to make it easily extensible for future versions of XaoS so I +hope there will not be many incompatibilities between various XaoS versions. + +The format is a simple set of commands executed sequentially. XaoS does not +provide any variables/cycles as usual scripting languages do, but future +extension to full-blown Scheme should be easy since the format uses Scheme-like +syntax. The syntax of every command is:: + + (command_name [param1] [param2]) + +where parameters are optional and separated by whitespace (an arbitrary number +of spaces, tabs and newlines). The parameters can have the following types: + +integer + number w/o decimal point (123) + +float + floating point number in decimal notation with optional exponent (1.23E2) + +keyword + text started by quote '. It is used to pass various string constants like + formula name ('mandel) Quote is required for scheme compatibility + +string + Text inside double quotes. The only parameter that should contain + whitespace + +boolean + #t for true or #f for false + +There is a complete description of all XaoS functions (with some examples) and +an index of functions in the :ref:`XaoS registry <menus>`. You may particularly want to +read about the :ref:`animation functions <animf>`. Also, the following functions are +significant: + +load + This function loads and interprets a file. It works similarly to #include + in C. + +initstate + Available in version 3.0 and above, this function resets XaoS's state to + default values. This command should be at the beginning of each animation + file, since otherwise some stuff previously enabled by user could cause + unexpected effects. State is not reset by default before playing animations + since it would make it impossible to write macros. Current versions don't + really need macros, but in future versions, when the Scheme programming + language will be available, this should be a much more interesting subject. + +usleep + This function waits for a selected amount of time(in usec) before + processing the next command. The screen is recalculated and displayed at + the beginning of the sleep if necessary. The remaining time is spent by + waiting, calculating if necessary, or performing any animation you entered + via animation commands. + +wait + Waits until the animation or image rendering is complete. Do not call this + function when zoom, or continuous rotation is active otherwise deadlock + happens. It is a good idea to call it immediately before text subtitles are + displayed, since it looks ugly when they are displayed over a blocky + unfinished fractal. Because the degree of blockiness at a given instant is + a function of your machine speed, it may look nice for you but ugly for + others with slower machines. Also you should call this after an animation + is performed, before the switch to another fractal happens; since the + switch involves calculation, the screen is stopped for a while and an + unfinished fractal there looks ugly. You should also call it, when you want + to do something as soon as possible. + +Example:: + + ;configure everything for the first frame + (inistate) + (palette 1 1163254293 0) ;custom palette + (cycling #t) ;enable cycling + (cyclingspeed 7) + (maxiter 276) ;higher number of iterations + (range 3) ;default range for solid guessing + (usleep 1000000) ;second frame starts here + (moveview -1.8101154154614007889 -8.2687205907162041209E-05) + ;just move the image + (usleep 1000000) ;third frame + (morphview -1.8101154154614007889 -8.2687205907162041209E-05 + 6.277210971069452361E-10 6.2772109785334669875E-10) + ;10 seconds of zooming into selected + rectangle + (usleep 100000000) + +The best way to learn XaoS command language is probably to read position files +and modify them. For example, to create zooming animation from the original +file:: + + (initstate) + (defaultpalette 0) + (formula 'mandel) + (view -1.64128273713 -5.50393226816E-05 9.69332308848E-08 9.69332308834E-08) + +Just change the view command to morphview, and add usleep:: + + (initstate) + (defaultpalette 0) + (formula 'mandel) + (morphview -1.64128273713 -5.50393226816E-05 9.69332308848E-08 9.69332308834E-08) + (usleep 10000000) + +The following code produces Julia morphing in the real axis:: + + (initstate) + (fastjulia #t) + (juliaseed -2 0) + (morphjulia 2 0) + (usleep 2000000) + +And following is the "rotozooming" animation:: + + (initstate) + (fastrotate #t) + (morphview -1.64128273713 -5.50393226816E-05 9.69332308848E-08 9.69332308834E-08) + (morphangle 300) + (usleep 10000000) + (wait) + (fastrotate #f)
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