Apophysis F.A.Q.

We noticed there was a constant income of recurring questions about Apophysis on the group's homepage, so I collected the most common ones and Xyrus-02 kindly answered them for us .


Getting started

• Where do I get Apophysis? Is it expensive?
  Apophysis is free, open-source software. That means, it does not cost you a cent. In addition, everyone is able to change the software using
  the available source code. This is also why there are different
  versions of Apophysis:
  
  • Apophysis 2.x
    The "official" or "main" version of Apophysis. You can download it from Apophysis.org
  • Apophysis 2.08 3D
    The original Apophysis 3D hack. You can download it from Sourceforge.net (where you can also get newer beta versions of Apophysis 2.x)
  • Apophysis 7x
    A popular version of Apophysis including all 3D features, better support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 and a big set of new features (such as enhanced coloring mechanisms, flame previews and templates) This is the most recent and most frequently updated version out there. You can get it from =Xyrus02's homepage at xyrus.clan-boa.com
  • Apophysis 2.x JK
    Another popular modification of Apophysis 2.x. It does not contain 3D features but it has an outstanding system to detect missing plugins, a sophisticated way to embed your flames into rendered images and many more features. You can get it from ~Lu-Kout's SourceForge project page
• Which version of the software is the newest? Which version should I get to make 3d flames?
  The newest version out there is Apophysis 7x. It has also the ability to make 3D flames but may perform poor on older computers. In this case, you should get Apophysis 2.08 3D.
• How do I install Apophysis?
  • 
    The official version comes with an installer which installs version 2.02. After that, you can download a newer release and place the .exe file in the install directory. If you want to install Apophysis 3D or Apophysis JK, you do it the same way (download the official installer and then place the latest .exe file in the install directory)
  • Apophysis 7x comes with its own installer. Just download it and install it like every other program.
  
  
  
  • Is there a beginners tutorial?
    There are many of them. Just browse here or here.
    A few recommended tutorials are here:
    • Apophysis help file
    • Apophysis: what icon I'm clicking
    • All about Apophysis
    • Apophysis guide 2.1
    • Exploring Apophysis 3D
  
  
  
  • Where can I find flamepacks/scripts?
    You can find them here and here.
  
  
  
  • Can I run Apophysis on Mac?
    Officially not. However, the latest versions of each Apophysis variant have been proven to run fine using the free software Wine. However, this software is a bit tough to handle. So if you are not really into this tech stuff, you may want to use a (commercial) simplificating user interface like Crossover. You can also check out this helpful news article .
  
  
  
  • How can I make animations?
    You can either use the script Apophymator or flam3. Please check the corresponding documentations to learn how they work.

Plugins

• How do you get a plugin to work?
  For Apophysis 2.x, Apophysis JK and Apophysis 7x, you must create a folder at the install location named "Plugins" and move the downloaded .dll files in there (the .c files are not for end-users but for developers - ignore them if you don't need them)
  For Apophysis 3D, the folder must be named "Plugins3D".
• Where can I find plugins?
  Plugins can be found here. There are also plugins listed in the Fractal-Resources and Apophysis-Plugins groups on deviantART. The most popular choice is the Aposhack all-in-one plugin pack - but beware! Do not install all plugins at once. Apophysis can only handle a specific amound of plugins at a time depending on the amount of system memory (RAM) you have installed. If you get error messages, remove some plugins and try starting Apophysis again.
• When I open Apophysis I get an error message "access violation at address [...] in module [...]. Write of address [...]" How can I fix that
  Most likely, you have too many plugins installed. Try removing some first. If that does not work, try resetting your settings:
  
  1. Click Start/Run or hit Windows+R
  2. Type "regedit" and click OK
  3. In the left area of the now opened window, browse to "HKEY_CURRENT_MACHINESoftware"
  4. If you are using Apophysis 2.x, 3D or JK, delete the item "Apophysis 2.0" by clicking it and pressing "delete" on your keyboard. If you are using Apophysis 7x, delete "Apophysis 7x".
  5. Close the window and try starting Apophysis again
  
  If nothing of that helps, backup your flames, delete the Apophysis folder (and all settings as shown above) and download and install the most recent version of Apophysis.

Scripts

• How do I run a script?
  In Apophysis, click "Script" in the main menu, then "Open...". Select the script file you have downloaded or saved and click "Open" in the dialog. Then just hit "F9" on your keyboard.
• Is there a tutorial about writing scripts?
  There is a scripting reference manual written by the community. Also, ~datagram wrote an excellent scripting tutorial.

Rendering

• How can I render my flame?
  By just hitting Ctrl+R in Apophysis. When you have done that, a window opens where you can adjust settings like image size, render quality and target file. Click "Start" when you are ready and then be patient!
• Why do I get a transparent background?
  You have chosen PNG as the output format. If you do not want transparent backgrounds, click "Options" in the main menu, then "Options" again. On the "General"-tab at "PNG Transparency", check "Disabled" and click OK.
  Alternatively, you can just render as BMP or JPEG (which do not support transparency)
• Which are the optimal settings for a render? How can I get rid of the grain?
  Usually, setting "Quality" to 4000, "Filter Radius" to 0.7 and "Oversample" to 2 is okay. If you want to render prints, however, consider higher settings. An image size of 1024 in width is okay for web images (to upload on deviantART)
  For prints, calculate the size the following way:
  print_size = web_size * desired_dpi / 96
  So for example, if you want to render a 3000x2000 image at 300 DPI, calculate as following:
  width = 3000 * 300 / 96, height = 2000 * 300 / 96
Please also consider high oversamples and qualities for prints. If your image still contains grain, increase the quality again.</li>
• Can I continue using Apophysis while running a render?
  Yes, if you got a relatively modern PC.
• How many renders can I run in the same time?
  This depends on your processor (CPU) power. It is not recommended to start three or more render processes at once, however.
• Can I only render to PNG format?
  No. The format is decided by the file extensions you give in the "target" field. Allthough, only PNG supports transparency.
• What effect does oversampling actually have on the quality of the image?
  Oversampling effectively smoothes out jagged edges. For example, if you render at oversample = 3, the image is rendered three times the given size, smoothed and then scaled down to the given size.
• When I try to render there is an error message "List index out of bounds -1". How can I fix that?
  Usually, it is sufficient to restart Apophysis. If that doesn't fix the problem, delete your settings as described above.

Flames

• How can I make a flamepack? How can I save more than one parameter per file?
  Apophysis generally saves flames in .flame files, which are actually collections of fractal flames.
  If you click the "Save" button in the toolbar, a dialog opens. The field on the top is the path of your flamepack. The field on the bottom is the name of the flame within the flamepack.
• What's the maximum number of transforms I can use for a flame?
  Generally 100. Apophysis 7x, however, has two additional versions: the "lite" version, which allows only 50 transforms to save memory, and the "T500" version, which allows 500 transforms.
• When I try to load flames/parameters I get a error message saying "Error: no colours in palette". How can I fix that?
Your flame is likely corrupted. Apophysis saves a backup whenever it adds or removes a fractal flame into or from a flamepack. Restore the last backup named "(your flame file name).bak".</li>