...yes, I was a test participant on this feature. So now that it's out and public, I went ahead and turned it into a regular, free download because I won't sell resources

Well that's something sweet to see when you get home I got a DD on this piece:



I'm especially honored with this one because I really just fiddled around in Apophysis to find my way back into it (and potentially find a bug or two)

Thanks to `SuicideBySafetyPin for featuring this fractal old-school doodle

...that purchase thing popping up in your devWATCH!
I hope you know me well enough that I'm not gonna charge points for anything I was testing it together with other people. Once the purchase thing is released (is it now?) I will of course make it free.

:thumb312524196:

This up there is kind of a test. DeviantART is adding a feature and you will see it soon. I was asked to write up something really quick and submit it to test that new feature. I think it's normal that you don't see a download.

Also, it is not the new Apophysis.

Just don't mind that upload.

If you use the tutorials I shared for your gain of knowledge to create works which look exactly like mine (even if they have different colors because you couldn't even figure out how to load my gradient) then you're stealing my stuff. There, I said it.

"Making of What happens with faith" has been reproduced pretty frequently and the results (which look like my original work) are being credited as original artworks which I don't approve (duh)

Simply said - this doesn't really encourage me to share more how-tos. Got that?

I created another domain for Apophysis 7X. But before you panic: the old domain (apophysis.xyrus-worx.org) is still reachable and will be reachable

The new location is http://apophysis-7x.org; you can see the main page there. Downloads, history, etc.
Then there is http://code.apophysis-7x.org; you can read the current source code online at this location. Live. As I commit it (for example when I fixed a single bug)
And finally (for now) there is http://code.apophysis-7x.org; this is the new main bug tracker for Apophysis 7X.

The bug tracker lives on SourceForge.net as does the source code. The alternative URLS are:
- https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=284068&atid=1204394 for the tracker and
-http://apophysis7x.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/apophysis7x/

If apophysis-7x.org is not reachable in the next hours, this is because it's still being setup by the provider.

---

Now that we cleared that up, here comes some very important information! READ UP CAREFULLY!

Since I clearly have less time now but still want to care for and continue Apophysis 7X, we need to make up some rules concerning bug reports. I don't have the time anymore to run between my e-mail inbox, deviantART and Facebook or whatnot to gather all the reports. I need it at a central place. This is said bug tracker!

Only reports in that tracker are being taken care of. It's not that I strictly ignore any report anywhere else but I will oversee them naturally. Don't complain if I didn't read your note or your message on Facebook. I didn't see it. I'm looking into my e-mail inbox like once a day. Apophysis bug reports have a folder there which gets filled by SourceForge. The e-mails you send me directly are drowning in whatever things I get daily. So don't wonder if I don't see them. So please stick to this act of centralization if you want to have your problem fixed or fix it yourself (the source is online)

We need to be prepared for that another developer will either join or take over the project. Thus the outsourcing. Whoever might join or overtake in future will certainly not gain access to my e-mail inbox or deviantART account to see all the bugs you are reporting in your habit. Better switch now

The bug tracker acts as my to-do list. It takes too much time to formulate a clear to-do item for every 1000 words-story you sent me via note. Not that I don't appreciate detailed reports but sometimes I just don't need to know that you have X gigabytes of RAM and a spaceship of a GPU (not to speak of that Apo itself gives a crap on your GPU because it's a pure CPU application)

I don't need to announce known problems anymore. You can just check if your problem already exists in the tracker. I won't answer duplicates.

You can observe the bug processing in the source code browser on code.apophysis-7x.org. When I commit a bugfix, I will write the username you wrote your bug report with into the commit comments as a reference. Commits are visible as they are done. If there have been enough commits, a release will be published. Of course, you can always checkout the source code yourself via SVN and build your own release if it's THAT important

---

There are also some simple submission rules which I put in a paste bin and linked on the top of the submission form on the bug tracker page.

Please make sure you include the following information in your artifact:
1) What happens NOW (is-status) and what SHOULD happen (should-status)?
2) How can the I reproduce/provoke the problem you have?
     
Before you submit a new artifact, make sure:
1) that you have the newest version of Apophysis 7X / 7X64 (remember Hotfix releases)
2) that you are working on Windows XP or higher; Linux or Mac versions are available using WINE but can act strangely
3) that your computer is clean of viruses (of course) and you are not using any desktop enhancement or shell replacement software such as Aston, NextStep or WindowFX
4) that your font size is set to normal in the Windows appearance settings (only for interface related problems)
     
Bug or feature? An artifact without a should-status can't be processed as I won't know what program behavior you wish for. Maybe you are reporting an error message and it should appear because of another problem in your configuration?

My USB-crystal ball is in the laundry. An artifact without reproduction steps can't be processed as I won't know what you did before the problem occured. What steps were you following in the program before the problem occured?
     
Avoid unneccessary information. Save me some time by double-checking your settings and making sure that I can see it on my machine! This way, your artifacts will be processed efficiently and fast. If Ineed to know your CPU type, how much RAM and operating system you got and what graphics card you are using, I'll let you know. I don't care if you are an animator, a print artist or a casual playing around. During the bug processing, you are a user. You don't need to tell me that. Be clear and focused.

Use english language. I don't care if your grammar is not the best and you misspell words. If I can understand it somehow, it's fine. Google translate is okay too - as long as it's not TOO wild. But avoid writing in french, german, spanish, zulu or whatnot. If you don't speak english then I can't help you. Sorry.

Don't abuse for feature- and change requests. This tracker is about BUGS. You are seeing a bug when the program clearly behaves in another way than it's intented to behave. Sometimes, error messages pop up for a good reason. Your wish that the editor background should be hot pink is a change request, not a bug. So is your wish that you can render exotic image format XYZ with Apophysis is a feature request. But your wish that Apophysis should not open your CD/DVD-drive every time you click on "Render" is a bug report because that is a clear misbehavior.

Don't abuse anonymous reports. You can report bugs without logging into SourceForge (even though you can do so with OpenID, a Google account and whatnot. If I get fishy shit in the tracker, the anonymous reports will be turned off immediately and indiscutably and you will have to log into SourceForge and potentially make an account to be able to report bugs.
     
Thanks for acknowledging!

There are bugfix commits in the Apophysis 7X repository
(If enough bugs got fixes, I'm gonna build a release)

Since I foresee that I'm not gonna be that active on Apo7x anymore, I restructured the code repository with the goal of making it more transparent and usable by other developers.

First and foremost: the URL! --> [link]
The checkout command is: svn co https://apophysis7x.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/apophysis7x ./apophysis7x

I resetted the repository and added all relevant things. This includes XE2 project files, help files, assets (graphics, the chk64 tool), plugin headers and the installers.

However, you need some things on your workstation to work with these things. This includes:
+ Delphi XE2 (licensed, of course)
+ TMS Scripter Studio (licensed, only for x86 aka 32 bit)
+ Photoshop and Axialis IconWorkshop for the icons
+ Help File Writer for the help files
+ A certain folder structure; more details in the file "Repository notes.txt" on the repo root

All dependencies except TMS have been moved to the repo. You check them out with the code. TMS can't be included because it's commercial and SVN inclusion would violate the EULA.

The WinForms-project (7x16) has been added as a branch; same for the installers.
The console project (latest release) has been added as a branch too. It builds fine.

You can't commit to the repo unless I add you as a developer but you can sure as hell read from the repo and play with the code

Happy programming!

EDIT: The source code of all my plugins can be found in assets/plugin now

A few people MIGHT have noticed that I've been very inactive lately This is due to a reason. Background is that I moved and started a new job because my old (freelance) work didn't pay my things anymore and the place I lived at was kinda dead and on the edge of the universe

I started working there 2 weeks ago. It's a software company in Karlsruhe, Germany which provides lawyers and courts with applications they need to keep things running. Namely office-, file- and document-management solutions. I'm in the development department of the office-management-solution.

I'm working 8.30am to 6.00pm every monday till friday so there is not much space left for my own projects BUT I'm also gathering a lot of knowledge to optimize and speed up the development process for my own projects. This enables me to not shut down everything and continue on weekends and such. Pretty much like everybody does their hobbies when working during the week. And as a nice bonus, I'm now financially able to stop holding my things up as donation-ware and turn them into "real" freeware because somebody else pays my bills

Right now, I have to use my free time to settle and close the files on my old place. But there will be times where I have time to fractal and fractal code again. After all, the majority of the tasks before me are done.

Anything else to say? Yes! Thanks a lot to all morale boosters and supporters who provided heartfelt help during the big transistion

Hey everyone

just letting you know that I'm happy and thankful about all the birthday wishes! Thank you I also received a very special and awesome gift from =deadened-glow: a fractal which was composed from the colors she sees when listening to my voice in video tutorials and such created out of a neurological condition called synesthesia. I think it'll hit deviantART soon

Apart from that, I am really close to moving to another city. It's called Karlsruhe. Here are some pictures:

Sorry for the crappy photo quality. A phone camera is not a high-end Canon
This will also be the place of my new job which will occupy me 40hrs / week. That kind of means that Apo and such have to move back a bit but they are still continued Especially 7x16 has priority now. The .NET-GUI is fairly processed right now and the render core is ready.

Another thing which is bugging many users at the moment and I'm quite tired of answering to the same question over and over again: If Apo7x15c doesn't find your plugins, double check the environment-tab on the options window to see whether the plugin path is correct. Especially if you ran the 64 bit version first, the plugin path might be wrong (pointing to the 64 bit Apophysis folder)

Then the question "Y U NO IN APOSHACK": simply because I'm barely at home at the moment and my internet-enabled phone does neither support Flash nor Javascript and thus the Aposhack doesn't load I hope I have internet at the new place very fast so I can come back soon. Until then: patience

Servatores fractalis

West germany sucks in one point: the rents are ridiculous. And there is a provision of around €3000. There goes my first batch of higher income Donations are welcome

Oh by the way:
I'm not retired.

Hey guys,

no, I'm not dead. I just got really fucking busy recently. A condition which can happen to anyone at anytime sometime. And I have some good news and some bad news. Let's start with the good ones:

Gots the job - a very nice and interesting company responded positively but you might already know that from Facebook. They did that after I did a little presentation involving powerpoint, screenshots of Apo7X(64) and a live demo of the latest Tacitus build (no Mandel-something, just the C# code on a sample API client) So I am moving to the german city of Karlsruhe by June 1st and part of the reason why I'm busy is that I'm looking for apartments where payment and provision are not equal to pocket picking. Do I know any fractalists there by the way? I know *AmorinaAshton lives in Karlsruhe (still?) and =Leichenengel is quite close. Any french friends in Alsace and Lothringen, perhaps? That new job also means that I'm working mon-fri every week for at least xmas. This is when I get off the first time. Not that I'm already looking forward - it is a fun job in a fun environment - but Apo time might get a little bit short. I'm trying to stay on it, though. You've seen that I prefer to compress the surface work into a few days, usually.

And now the bad ones:

Gots the disease D: - I've been diagnosed the first chronic disease on my before perfectly white paper of health issues. Not going into details (privacy and shit) but it's a really annoying and irritating one (not deadly, not even dangerously - don't wet yourself) and requires constant treatment as it is in fact a genetic problem and these are quite difficult to handle, usually. Point of telling you this is not because I'm whining about it and try to gather as many condolences I can find (save those for people who really got shit on - like cancer or aids patients); I am telling you this because of the context of this blog - where was I? I've been on lab tests and shit for every day I was not taking care of moving recently. My new health insurance company is just biting it's testicles because I signed up a week before I went to the doctors. That makes me giggle a little bit about the whole case.

What does this mean for Apo and such now? Simple. There won't be any hotfixes next weeks so you gotta help yourself a little bit. There were no absolutely critical problems with the program so there also is no need for a hotfix. I got very little free time and I certainly don't want to spend it by explaining why 15C can't find plugins at the old place (again) No offense there. I am just partially dead when I come home and I rather want to watch TV or play a game or read or whatever shit there is. I mean you can ask me, of course. But you got to be patient when it comes to an answer.

HOWEVER - I finally got a (true) smartphone. WP7(.5) on an HTC 7pro and I am more efficient in e-mailing and Facebook-messaging.  The choice of OS was clear before for whoever knows me. I don't want any Apple bullshit and I'm not a Linux/Android person. So what's left? Blackberry OS (meh), Symbian (MEH), some crappy minor OS which can't do shit AAAND Windows Mobile 7 which integrates nicely in my Windows (Live) ecosystem. I miss a Skype app which can send me message and call notifications to the home screen, though. I have to keep it open and in foreground to see (not hear) when I got a message. Pretty useless. And deviantART lacks a proper mobile app either. Just a crappy mobile site gnawing on my precious bandwidth D: No thanks! Mail me, if it's important; fuck you, if you mail me between 2am and 7am MY TIME

That's all for now. Enjoy your fractals!

Xyrus

Uploaded another fix release of Apophysis 7X15C. Addressed bugs/suggestions are:

+ Added a HF release number in the title bar and the about box (currently 9)
+ Fixed MT rendering to address the point bug

In addition to that, I added czech and french translations with the great help of the corresponding translators.

All of that is downloadable on apophysis.xyrus-worx.org - as always.

A DC_Image gradient pack by ~halakimok
Time to use some bitmaps in Apophysis, right?