See also:
Krystals 4.0 is a program which provides an environment in which to create krystals. It builds on the code
and ideas in my previous (unpublished) krystals software.
It is the first major program I wrote with Microsoft's Visual C# (2006).
The best way to learn any new language and/or programming environment is to solve a concrete
problem, and this was the problem I chose. The result is a program which works (and which
I use), but which has a few er... idiosyncrasies in its code. Instead
of tinkering with these, it would be better to reprogram the whole thing again from scratch — but I can’t
imagine getting round to that for some time...
The code library containing the more abstract classes (krystal, strand etc.) is however now part of
Moritz, and is continuing to be developed and maintained. The most recent use of this library is in the development of Moritz’
shaped expansion
and
permutation nodes.
Krystals 4.0 does not do permutation, even though
pk was part of Krystals 3.0
when I published my first website in 1999
(see
footnote 1 of A short introduction to krystals).
For a detailed descrption of the concepts involved, see
Krystal Permutation.
Contents:
The XML file formats and naming conventions for Krystals 4.0 are defined in the schema file
krystals.xsd. These definitions
are also used by Moritz.
Here are some more definitions, building on those in
A short introduction
to krystals.
- A krystal operator or simply operator
is an obect (such as an expansion field or modulation array etc.) which can use one or more
krystals to create a new one.
-
An expander is a field containing input and output points, as described in the short
introduction. I sometimes use the term ‘expansion field’, but this is
a bit clumsy.
An expander is an operator.
-
A gamete is a set of input or output points in an expander. An expander has an input
gamete and an output gamete.
-
A planet is an input point or an output point which moves (wanders) while an expansion
is being created.
The names of krystals and their operators are allocated automatically. Here is what they mean/contain:
Krystal types
Operator types
A
constant krystal file name has the form:
ck0(<value>).krys
where:
<value> is the value of the krystal.
For example:
ck0(4).krys,
ck0(17).krys,
ck0(56).krys
etc.
A
line krystal file name has the form:
lk1(<domain>)-<index>.krys
where:
<domain> is the maximum value in the krystal.
<index> a number which differentiates krystals which would otherwise have the same name.
For example:
lk1(7)-12.krys,
lk1(12)-2.krys,
lk1(100)-1.krys
An
expansion krystal file name has the form:
xk<level>(<fieldID>)-<index>.krys
where:
<level> is the krystal‘s level.
<fieldID> identifies the expansion field with which this krystal was constructed.
<index> is a number which differentiates between krystals which would otherwise have
the same name.
<fieldID>, which is also a component of the
expansion field file name, is defined
as follows:
<nInputPoints>
.<nOutputPoints>
.<index> where:
<nInputPoints> is the number of input points in the expansion field
<nOutputPoints> is the number of output points in the expansion field
<index> a number which differentiates between expansion fields which would otherwise
have the same name.
For example, some expansion krystal names are
xk3(7.7.1)-1.krys, xk4(6.12.2)-1.krys, xk5(7.7.1)-1.krys
A
shaped expansion krystal file name has the same form as an
expansion krystal file name, except that the first two characters are
sk.
For example:
sk3(7.7.1)-1.krys, sk4(7.12.4)-2.krys, sk5(7.7.1)-10.krys
A
modulation krystal file name has the form:
mk<level>(<domain>)-<index>.krys
where:
<level> is the krystal’s level
<domain> is the largest value in the krystal (not necessarily the largest value in its
modulator).
<index> a number which differentiates between this krystal and all other krystals in
the database which would otherwise have the same same.
For example:
mk3(7)-5.krys,
mk3(256)-1.krys,
mk4(100)-1.krys
A
permutation krystal file name has the same form as a Modulation krystal,
except that the first two characters are
pk.
For example:
pk1(6)-2.krys,
pk3(92)-1.krys,
pk5(12)-10.krys
An
expander or
expansion field file name has the form:
e(<fieldID>).kexp
<fieldID> is defined as above, so examples of expansion field file names are:
The <fieldID> is used in both expansion krystal and expansion field names, by which
one can see for example that the expansion field
e(7.7.1).kexp was used to construct
the krystal
xk5(7.7.1)-4.krys.
Both input and output points in expansion fields have contiguous, ascending values starting
at 1, so the number of input points is the maximum domain of the input krystal, and the number
of output points is the maximum domain of the output krystal. Thus the domain of an expansion
krystal cannot exceed the middle value in the <fieldID>.
A
modulator or
modulation field file name has the form:
m<xDim>x<yDim>(<domain>)-<index>.kmod
where:
<xDim> is the number of values along the modulator’s x-axis
<yDim> is the number of values along the modulator’s x-axis
<domain> is the largest value in the modulator.
<index> is a unique index, to identify this modulator as opposed to all other modulators
in the database which would otherwise have the same same.
For example:
m7x7(12)-3.kmod,
m12x12(12)-8.kmod,
m7x13(120)-2.kmod.
Note that even though not visible in their file names, all krystals contain heredity information
which can be used to construct family trees. (See the schema file, and use of krystals in
Moritz.)
Here is Krystals 4.0’s (very makeshift) initial window:
The buttons access the different parts of the program:
This simple dialog creates a new constant krystal, with its automatically allocated name,
in the standard krystals folder. This dialog can also be opened using Moritz' krystal nodes' context menus.
This simple dialog creates a new line krystal, with its automatically allocated name, in the
standard krystals folder. This dialog can also be opened using Moritz' krystal nodes' context menus.
My previous krystals software only used expanders containing fixed points. Planets are
implemented here for the first time, so I need to say something about how they work before
going on to describe the editor.
The following diagram shows a simple planet which moves in a straight line from a point near
an output focus to the centre of the field during the course of an expansion. (Such paths
always begin next to the planet’s label.) (Compare this with the example of an
organic expansion in the short introduction.) In this example, the density input is
a simple line krystal [
lk1(7)-1.krys ] containing
the 7 values (1,2,3,4,5,6,7), so there are 7 positions along the trajectory from which strands
are expanded. Expanding this field [
e(1.7.1).kexp
] results in an output krystal containing seven strands: This is the level 2 output krystal
xk2(1.7.1)-1.krys displayed on the left:
These examples have been extracted from screenshots of the editor. By default, expander input
points are black dots, output points are small red circles. In the result:
‘m’ is the moment (=strand) number
‘p’ is the strand’s input point number (taken from the points input krystal
- in this case a constant)
‘d’ is the strand’s density (taken from the density input)
The brackets contain each output strand’s values.
In Krystals 4.0:
-
A planet’s path (or trajectory) may have any number of subpaths. In the simplest case, it
only has one subpath, which is traversed during the whole expansion, as above.
-
A subpath’s shape is limited by the editor to being either a circle, spiral or straight
line.
-
A subpath can contain one or more point positions: one point per strand in the output.
-
Subject to planet positions being in sequence, the first point in a subpath can correspond
to any value in the density input. (Each such value corresponds to an output strand.)
In the following example, planet 1 has two subpaths beginning at the 1st and 4th values in
the same density input as above [
lk1(7)-1.krys ].
(This is expander
e(1.7.2).kexp). The result of expanding
this is the krystal
xk2(1.7.2)-1.krys displayed
on the left:
Note that subpaths have their own start and end points. They dont have to end where the next
subpath begins - thats just the way I set up this example.
In general, the point positions along a subpath are calculated by dividing it hierarchically
(and recursively) using the density input’s structure. For example, if a level 2 density
input (here I'm using xk2(1.7.1)-1.krys above) is loaded for this last expander (e(1.7.2).kexp),
the point positions are as in the following field diagram. The points are not part of the
expander itself. Again, the resulting expansion [
xk3(1.7.2)-1.krys ] is displayed on the left:
In all subpaths except the last, the level 1 points remain where they were. The points at
the next level are simply distributed evenly between them and the end-point of the subpath.
In the final subpath (here the second of two), the level 1 points (m7, m11, m16, m22 in this
example) are distributed evenly between the first and last points of the subpath (with the
first point at the subpath's first coordinate) and the intervening points are distributed
evenly between these and last point of the subpath as before. But then the whole subpath is
stretched so that the final moment (m28 here) lies on the final coordinate of the subpath.
In the above diagram, I have added labels, and coloured the level 1 coordinates and final
moment to make things clear. The editor simply displays all the input points as black dots.
But it provides other ways of analysing point information. See
Orientation below.
An expander’s input gamete can have any domain, and can consist of any combination of
fixed points and planets. In the following expander [
e(7.7.14).kexp
], the input gamete consists of two planets (1 and 2) and one group of fixed points (3,4,5,6,7).
For this example, I have used the krystal [
xk2(1.7.2)-1.krys]
for both density (d) and points input (p) values, as can be seen in the output krystal [
xk3(7.7.14)-1.krys ] on the left. (The editor
gave this expander the index 14, because I have 13 other expanders whose names begin with
“7,7” in my database.)
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.png)
The unused input planet points are coloured light blue.
Note that fixed input point 7 is never used either. This is not an error, since the expander
can be used with other input krystals as well. Currently, the editor issues a warning in this
case. It should really colour all unused points light blue as well...
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Both the input gamete and the output gamete can consist of any numbers of fixed point groups
and planets. Here is an expander [
e(1.12.1).kexp
] consisting of one input planet and two groups of fixed output points. If you look inside
e(1.12.1).kexp, you will see that it shares its output gamete with
e(7.12.1).kexp. Here are the expander and expansion of
xk3(1.12.1)-1.krys:
The Main Window
When an empty expansion editor opens, it looks like this:
At this point, the File menu can be used to create a completely new krystal or open an existing
one.
File/New... opens a “new expansion” dialog:
File/Open krystal... loads an existing expansion krystal to be used as the basis for
further editing.
The editor looks like this after loading
xk3(7.7.1)-1.krys.
Note (Dec. 2009): An editor like this can be opened from Moritz by choosing "open expansion editor" from an expander node’s context menu.
There are five areas in this window
-
Title bar (top): shows both the name of the output krystal and the name of its expander.
-
Information strip (bottom):
-
Moments: the number of strands in the output krystal
-
density: the name of the density input krystal
-
input points: the name of the points input krystal
-
Output krystal display (left): This area contains a hierarchic representation of the
data contained in the output krystal. Each bracket pair contains a strand of values. The preceding
three fields are
-
m: the moment (or strand) number
-
p: the value of the points input for this strand
-
d: the value of the density input for this strand
At the left of the display are the strand’s hierarchic coordinates. These coordinates
nest to a depth equal to the output krystal’s level.
-
Expansion field (middle): input points are solid black dots, output points are small
red circles. The colours can be changed in the control panel.
-
Control panel (right): at the top of the control panel, there is a set of radio buttons
which set the editor to a state in which it can change the type of points selected:
-
fixed input
-
fixed output
-
input planet
-
output planet
Krystals 4.0 supports planets for the first time. See Planets.
The above screenshot is of a krystal which has only fixed input and output points.
After loading a krystal, it is possible to change the input krystals, expander or gametes
using commands in the
File menu. Gametes are loaded
from complete expanders. They are never stored separately.
Point groups and planets are added to, or deleted from, the current gamete using the Edit
menu.
The bottom four items in this menu duplicate the block of radio-buttons.
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Here is the Control panel from xk3(7.7.1)-1
again:
When editing fixed input groups, the top popup menu selects the particular group.
Inside the Fixed Input Points area (which changes depending
on the setting of the top radio-buttons and the Shape popup),
-
The Shape popup offers a choice of shape for the point group
-
Circle
-
Spiral
-
Straight Line
Each of these affects the controls lower down. Here, a fixed spiral input group is being
edited.
-
The Values input field sets the number of points in the group and their values.
-
From Radius and From Angle set the starting point of the group (The large light
blue circle in the field display has radius 1.0.
Angles are given in degrees anticlockwise, beginning at 0.0 with a direction pointing right
from the origin.).
-
To Radius and To Angle set the end point of the group.
-
Rotation rotates the group around the origin.
-
Shift Radius and Shift Angle shift the group as a whole using a specified vector.
These are followed by two controls which affect the group’s display
-
Visible sets the visibility/invisibility of the group. This can be useful when trying
to distinguish points.
-
The Colour popup sets the display colour of the points in the group. (A sample is given
in the field above.)
The controls for Fixed Output Points are exactly the
same (with different settings of course), except that the field containing the points preview
contains four small circles.
The Zoom popup sets the size of the expansion field in the display.
The Expand button becomes available when an expanded krystal’s inputs have changed.
The strands in the output krystal display in the left panel are also deleted at this time.
The Save button becomes available when a krystal is expanded.
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Here is the control panel as it looks while editing a straight line.
(This is subpath 1 of planet 1 in
xk3(1.7.2)-1.krys.)
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And here is the control panel as it looks while editing a circular group.
(This is fixed output group 2 in xk3(1.12.1)-1.krys
containing the four output foci 3, 12, 9 and 6.)
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The following screenshot shows the editor immediately after loading the level 5 krystal xk5(7.12.5)-1.krys (this is a rather contrived example!).
Note the hierarchic structure of the output krystal display, and the information in the bottom
part of the window — this krystal has 246 moments (strands).
Each strand in the output krystal display corresponds to an input point in the expander.
The expander’s input gamete has domain 7, and consists of one group of 5 fixed points
(1,2,3,4,5) and two planets (6 and 7). Input planet 6 has two subpaths, the first of which
is a spiral inside the fixed output points (4,5,6). Input planet 7 has one subpath, which
is a spiral inside the fixed output points (1,2,3).
The output gamete has domain 12, and consists of three groups of three fixed points ((1,2,3),(4,5,6)
and (7,8,9)) and three planets (10,11,12). During the course of the expansion, output planet
10 converges on input point 5, output planet 11 converges on input point 4, and output planet
12 goes round output points (4,5,6) before converging on input point 2.
1. Right clicking on any point in an input or output planet trajectory opens an information
window for the selected point, scrolls the output krystal display and highlights the related
strand: