metablobs- but different
another metablobs preset, but I wanted it to be different, so I have two sets of blobs- one positive and one negative so its more dynamic (Read the comment). btw- if this crashes try downloading the new colormap.
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/1646190They don't seem to be very meta :P. Except for maybe around the very edges.
For metaballs you need a concave falloff function for the color. Suppose your falloff function is f(x). Take the sum of f(x)+f(t-x) as you move t towards zero (start so that f(x) and f(t-x) don't overlap) and draw the graphs (e.g. using a ssc x=i*2-1;y=f(i)+f(t-i); where f is your expression for the falloff function.
First we try a linear function f(x)=max(0,1-d); It starts at 1, goes down to 0 and stays at 0 from x>1. Start t at about 2.5 and decrease it very slowly. Notice how the 'shared' area becomes flat between the two.
We'll now try a convex function, which bulges upward: f(x)=if(below(x,1),cos(x*pi/2),0);. It's a part of the cosine function. Notice how now the shared area has a bump in the middle. This is even worse!
Now instead, use f(x)= if(below(x,1),1-sin(x*pi/2),0);
This function is concave (it hangs downward). Now if you move the two functions closer together, you'll get a nice metaballish effect between the two.
The attached preset shows two metaballs approaching eachother, with the slice running through the gray line represented at the bottom. The red lines contain the result after colormapping. It switches between 4 shapes of functions: the 3 above + the mixcurve 1-(3x^2-2x^3).
The mixcurve actually is quite good, because it is convex at one end and concave at the other. So you get both decent blobbing at the edges, but without tiny spheres in the middle.
LOL! Anyone else seeing any humour in the fact that UnConeD's educational preset has been downloaded more times than M^2k's own preset 😞 😛
Nice preset M, looks a bit like a preset i did for my next back (which has nothing to do with metablobs though), but grain/scatter/fuzzify effects don't quite fit with solid shapes i think... but that's just me.