Vein growth guide
Every control
Every control in the panel, top to bottom. The picture itself is a control too: tap it to start a run, and with Sprout from on Tap point, to choose where the veins start.
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 transition off, it reads: Only picture A is used while A → B transition 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-vein-growth.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, with the network you have, 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
- Leaf veins · Root rise · Gold circuit · Coral fan · Nerve netPick one
- Sets every slider and choice at once; it does not start a run. Every preset keeps A → B transition on. The highlight goes as soon as you change a setting.
- Leaf veins: The opening look: fine veins spreading from the tap point in the picture's own colours. Density 4200, light bias 1.4, edge follow 1.1, capture radius 0.14, kill radius 0.03, step size 0.012, taper 1.2, glow 0.6, image dim 0.42, 2.2 seconds, ease in-out. See leaf veins.
- Root rise: Thick trunks that start along the bottom edge and branch upwards, in the picture's colours: taper 1.6, image dim 0.5, 2.6 seconds, strong ease out.
- Gold circuit: Fewer, straighter gold lines that grow in from the border and cling to bright edges: density 2600, light bias 2, edge follow 1.6, kill radius 0.05, step size 0.02, glow 1.1, image dim 0.6, 1.8 seconds, expo out.
- Coral fan: Wide crimson sprays from the tap point: density 5200, capture radius 0.24, kill radius 0.028, step size 0.011, glow 0.8, 2.8 seconds, ease in-out.
- Nerve net: The densest and finest mesh, growing in from the border in the picture's colours: density 6000, light bias 0.9, edge follow 1.3, kill radius 0.022, step size 0.01, glow 0.95, 2.4 seconds, strong ease in-out.
Sliders
Every slider and choice changes the next run, and a run that is playing. Density down to Taper, Sprout from and A → B transition grow a new network a moment after you change them. Between runs the frame shows only the first few veins, so press Replay to see a change.
- Growth 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, Leaf veins at 2.2 seconds, so it reads 1.00× at the start; 2.00× is twice as fast.
- DensitySlider · 800 to 6000 · starts at 4200
- How many attraction points are scattered over the picture. More points give a richer network with more branches. See density and attraction point.
- Light biasSlider · 0.4 to 3 · starts at 1.4
- How strongly the points favour the bright parts of the picture. Low, dark areas get nearly as many as bright ones; high, the veins keep to the brightest areas. See light bias and gamma.
- Edge followSlider · 0 to 2 · starts at 1.1
- How many extra points sit along the edges in the picture, so the veins trace its outlines. At 0 the edges get no extra. See edge follow and Sobel operator.
- Capture radiusSlider · 0.06 to 0.3 · starts at 0.14
- How far away a branch tip can feel a point. Larger lets tips reach out further, giving wider, straighter sprays. See capture radius.
- Kill radiusSlider · 0.015 to 0.08 · starts at 0.03
- How close a tip must come before its point is removed. Larger removes points sooner, so the network is sparser. See kill radius.
- Step sizeSlider · 0.006 to 0.03 · starts at 0.012
- How far a tip grows in one step. Larger gives longer, coarser segments; smaller gives finer, smoother curves. See step size.
- TaperSlider · 0.3 to 2.5 · starts at 1.2
- How quickly branches thin from the thick trunks to the tips. Higher leaves only the trunks thick. See taper.
- GlowSlider · 0 to 1.5 · starts at 0.6
- How bright the centre of each vein is and how far its soft light spreads. At 0 the veins still show, without the bright centre. See vein glow and bloom.
- Image dimSlider · 0 to 0.85 · starts at 0.42
- How much the picture is darkened in branch-shaped patches as the veins grow, so they stand out. At 0 the picture keeps its brightness. See image dim.
- Sprout fromChoice
- Where the veins start. Tap point (radiate) grows from the last point you tapped, the centre until you tap. Border (inward) starts from two points on each edge. Bottom (rise) starts from five points along the bottom edge. See growth origin.
- TintChoice
- The colour of the veins: the picture's own colour under each vein, brightened, or gold, or crimson. See vein colour.
- 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 transitionOn or off · starts on
- On, picture B shows through in branch-shaped patches under the veins as they grow and fills the frame by the end of the run, and the next run goes back. Off, the veins grow over picture A only and the frame stays on A; turning it off returns the frame to A. Changing it grows the network again a moment later. It starts on, and every preset and Reset keep it on. See growth reveal and crossfade.
Export
Under the buttons, a line tells you what the last export did, such as PNG saved.
Reset
Back to the Leaf veins preset, with A → B transition on, and the next run going from A into B. Your pictures stay.
- ResetButton
- Sets every slider and choice back to the Leaf veins preset, with A → B transition on, and returns the frame to picture A, so the next run goes from A into B. Your pictures and the last tap point stay as they are.