Topographic flow 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.
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 terrain off, it reads: Only picture A is used while A → B terrain 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-topographic-flow.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, from its start, in the direction the next run would go. 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
- Relief map · Dune rings · Copper plate · Fine survey · Tidal · Topo bloomPick one
- Sets every slider, the easing and A → B terrain at once; it does not start a run. The highlight goes as soon as you change a control.
- Relief map: The opening look: levels 18, line width 0.06, flow 1, hillshade 0.55, base dim 0.42, saturation 1.35, smoothing 4, 2 seconds, ease in-out.
- Dune rings: A few thick lines on a brighter, more shaded picture that move far and fast: levels 7, line width 0.14, flow 2.2, hillshade 0.85, base dim 0.6, smoothing 9, 1.6 seconds, strong ease out.
- Copper plate: Thin, vivid lines on a dark, strongly shaded picture, like an engraved plate: levels 24, line width 0.035, hillshade 1.1, base dim 0.22, saturation 2.1, smoothing 3, 2.4 seconds, strong ease in-out. See engraving.
- Fine survey: Many hairlines with little shading and a slow, short move: levels 44, line width 0.02, flow 0.4, hillshade 0.3, smoothing 2, 3.2 seconds, soft ease out. See fine survey.
- Tidal: The preset that moves furthest: levels 16, line width 0.07, flow 3, smoothing 6, 3.4 seconds, ease in-out. The lines move a long way while A turns into B.
- Topo bloom: Heavy smoothing, so the ground becomes a few wide, soft basins ringed by broad lines: levels 11, line width 0.09, flow 1.8, hillshade 0.7, smoothing 14, 2.6 seconds, ease out.
Sliders
The sliders change the next run, and the frame on screen at once when no run is playing.
- Flow speedSlider · 0.3 to 4 · starts at 2.3
- How fast a run plays; right is faster. A run lasts 4 seconds at the left end and 0.3 seconds at the right, and the start, 2.3 on the slider, is 2 seconds. The number beside it compares with that start, so it reads 1.00× there; 2.00× is twice as fast.
- LevelsSlider · 4 to 48 · starts at 18
- How many contour lines span the whole range from darkest to brightest. More levels means a smaller height step between lines, so they sit closer together. See contour interval and isoline.
- Line widthSlider · 0.01 to 0.2 · starts at 0.06
- How thick each line is, as a share of the step between two levels. Lines look thinner where the ground is steep, since the levels crowd together there, and their edges stay smooth at any size. On gentle ground a line is never wider than about 12 pixels, and on ground that is all but flat it fades out. See line width and anti-aliasing.
- FlowSlider · 0 to 6 · starts at 1
- How far the lines move in one run, counted in levels: at 1 each line ends where its neighbour started, and at 0 they do not move. The lines move from brighter ground towards darker. When a run ends the lines stay where it left them, and the next run carries on from there.
- HillshadeSlider · 0 to 1.2 · starts at 0.55
- How strongly the picture between the lines is shaded as if lit from the upper left, so slopes facing the light brighten and the others darken. At 0 the ground looks flat. See hillshade, slope, directional light and surface normal.
- Base dimSlider · 0.1 to 1 · starts at 0.42
- How bright the picture shows between the lines: at 1 it is at full brightness, at 0.1 it is nearly dark. The lines keep their own brightness.
- SaturationSlider · 0.5 to 2.5 · starts at 1.35
- How strong the colours of the lines are. Each line takes the colour of the picture under it, lifted a little; at 1 the colour is otherwise unchanged, lower turns it greyer and higher makes it stronger. The picture between the lines is not changed. See saturation.
- SmoothingSlider · 0 to 16 · starts at 4
- How much the picture is blurred before its brightness is read as height. At 0 every small detail gets its own tiny rings; high values leave a few wide, soft shapes. The map updates a moment after you stop moving it. See contour smoothing, Gaussian blur and luminance.
- 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 terrainOn or off · starts on
- When on, a run also turns the height and colours of A into those of B, and the next run goes back from B to A. When off, a run only moves the lines over picture A, and picture B is not used; turning it off returns the map to picture A. It starts on, and every preset and Reset keep it on. See morphing and crossfade.
Export
Under the buttons, a line tells you what the last export did, such as PNG saved.
Reset
Back to the Relief map preset and picture A's map, with A → B terrain on. Your pictures stay.
- ResetButton
- Sets every slider back to the Relief map preset, with A → B terrain on, and returns the frame to picture A's map, so the next run goes from A into B. Your pictures stay as they are.