Material alchemy guide
Every control
Every control in the panel, top to bottom. The picture itself is a control too: tap it anywhere to start a run. Where you tap does not matter.
Load and save
Under the tiles a line says what plays: the samples until you add your own, then A plays into B. Kept on this device, never uploaded. With A → B crossfade off, it reads: Only picture A is used while A → B crossfade is off. Your pictures follow you to every lab tool that takes a picture, until you press × on a tile.
- Image AButton
- Picture A as a tile: press it to add or replace your own; two pictures picked or dropped at once fill A and B. The × on a picture takes it away and the sample plays again. Your pictures stay on this device and follow you to every lab tool that takes a picture.
- SwapButton
- Exchanges A and B, so the transition plays the other way. With one picture of your own, it moves to the other side and the sample takes its place.
- Image BButton
- Picture B, the one A plays into, as a tile: press it to add or replace your own. The × takes it away and the sample returns. See PNG and JPEG.
- Save PNGButton
- Saves the frame as it is at that moment, as aikizi-material-alchemy.png. See PNG.
- Record videoButton
- Records one run: it presses Replay itself and records the canvas for up to seven seconds. While recording it reads Stop recording; press it to stop early. See record video.
- ReplayButton
- Plays a run again at once, even if one is playing. See replay.
Effect
- EffectChoice
- Opens another of the 14 image transitions. Each one is its own page, so your pictures and settings stay behind.
Presets
- Nacre · Anodized · Silk · Y3K chrome · Jade idol · Liquid mercuryPick one
- Sets the material and every slider at once, with the crossfade on; it does not start a run. The highlight goes as soon as you change anything.
- Nacre: The opening look: Iridescence at amount 0.82, relief 1, film thickness 3, 2.2 seconds, ease in-out. See nacre.
- Anodized: Iridescence with deeper relief, a thicker film and its colours turned round the wheel, so the bands are tighter, stronger and differently coloured: amount 0.95, relief 1.6, film thickness 6, light angle 2.4, tint 1.8, 1.8 seconds.
- Silk: Sheen with a tight highlight and deeper relief, kept low so the picture is not washed white: amount 0.55, relief 1.3, sheen sharpness 45, tint 0.4. See sheen.
- Y3K chrome: Chrome at full strength, so a run carries A into B through metal: plating 0.82, relief 1.4, 1.6 seconds, expo out. See chrome.
- Jade idol: Jade with a wide inner glow: amount 0.95, relief 1.2, light angle 1.7, scatter radius 12, tint 0.25, 2.4 seconds. See jade.
- Liquid mercury: Chrome almost fully mirrored with soft relief, lit from the other side: plating 0.95, relief 0.9, light angle 3.1, 2 seconds.
Sliders
The sliders change the picture on screen at once, and the next run. The panel below was read with Iridescence chosen, so its slider is Film thickness.
- MaterialChoice
- The surface: Iridescence, Sheen, Chrome or Jade. Each has one slider of its own under the shared ones: Film thickness, Sheen sharpness (2 to 60), Plating (0 to 1) or Scatter radius (1 to 24). See iridescence, sheen, chrome and jade.
- Transition speedSlider · 0.3 to 4 · starts at 2.1
- How fast a run plays; right is faster. A run lasts 4 seconds at the left end and 0.3 seconds at the right. The number beside it compares with the opening look, Nacre at 2.2 seconds, so it reads 1.00× at the start; 2.00× is twice as fast.
- AmountSlider · 0 to 1 · starts at 0.82
- How strongly the material covers the picture. Between runs it rests at about two thirds of this and reaches the full amount in the middle of a run. At 0 you see the plain picture.
- Relief depthSlider · 0 to 3 · starts at 1
- How raised the surface looks. At 0 it is flat and the light shows no bumps; higher, edges in the picture stand out like carving. See relief depth, heightmap and Sobel operator.
- Light angleSlider · 0 to 6.283 · starts at 0.9
- Which side the light comes from, as a turn from 0 to about 6.28, one full circle. A run adds one more full circle on top. See light angle.
- TintSlider · 0 to 6.283 · starts at 0
- Turns the colour of the material round the colour wheel, a full circle at the right end. It changes the Iridescence film colours, the Sheen highlight, the Chrome metal and the Jade stone. See hue shift.
- Film thicknessSlider · 0.5 to 8 · starts at 3
- Shows with Iridescence. How thick the film is: thicker gives more, tighter bands of colour, most in the bright parts of the picture. See film thickness and thin-film interference.
- EasingChoice
- How a run speeds up and slows down: Linear, three strengths each of ease in and ease out, two of ease in-out, expo out and back out. See easing, ease-in, ease-out, easing strength, expo out and back out.
- A → B crossfadeOn or off · starts on
- On: a run makes the material swell while B fades in under it, and settles on B wearing the material; the next run goes back. Off: the material stays on picture A, and a run makes it swell and settle; turning it off returns to picture A. It starts on, and every preset and Reset keep it on. See material transition and crossfade.
Export
Under the buttons, a line tells you what the last export did, such as PNG saved.
Reset
Back to the Nacre preset and picture A, with A → B crossfade on. Your pictures stay.
- ResetButton
- Sets the material and every slider back to the Nacre preset, with the crossfade on, and returns to picture A, so the next run goes from A into B. Your pictures stay as they are.