Replace Collections
From Ultrafractal Wiki
also see: Problems with Replacement
In a recent message Diane Walker wrote:
"Hi Ron, I tried over and over to copy my selection from the Shape Collection but, since I got nowhere, I thought that perhaps something had been done to make this step unnecessary. It was within a TrapShape Block. I still can't figure out how to copy and paste my selection though. Diane"
Diane, I don't know if this helps at all but let's say the relevant part of your .upr structure looks something like this:
Trap Shape -> Trap Shape Block
Trap Position
Trap Shape -> Shape Collection (make sure to expand this section!)
Trap Shape -> dmj5 Astroid
Trap Transfer
Here the Shape Collection is loaded inside a TrapShape Block and the Astroid shape from dmj has been selected.... look at that trap shape nesting... in effect the astroid is a trap shape within another trap shape here (i.e. the full Collection).
You need to right click on icon next to the bold word "Astroid" (with the Squareness param just below it) --> Copy. Now click on the icon next to the bold "Shape Collection" text just above the Astroid you just copied --> Paste.
The .upr will now look like this - a somewhat simpler structure, and much lighter on the system now that the full collection has been removed:
Trap Shape -> Trap Shape Block Trap Position Trap Shape -> Astroid Trap Transfer
I know it can be hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes but maybe this will help shed some light on where you might be having problems. ??
Chris
Look at my original email "Challenge 7 and all that" and look at the upr titled "Challenge7DW2_mod1". Copy that upr into UF and you will see that it is absolutely identical to Diane's original upr. Now look at the trap scale value in Trap Position WITHIN TrapShape Block and immediately above the trap shape Cross on all layers. You will see that that trap scale has been set to a value 5. The original value was 1.0. In the orginal upr, which used the Shape Collection on all layers the size parameter for Cross was 0.2. The value of trap scale set within Trap Position is in fact the reciprocal of the size value used in the Shape Collection. 5.0 = 1/0.2
Ron Barnett
***
Ron,
Thank you for your explanation - I've spent ages looking at this problem again and I believe I did understand the principle perfectly correctly.
I don't like puzzles and believe that many things in UF should be absolutely predictable so I have been doing some investigating. I now believe that this reciprocal solution ONLY applies to a limited number of trap shapes, the Cross shape on Diane's .upr happens to be one of them. However, if you try this trick with other shapes you will find, as I have, that this rule is not universal across all trap shapes.
The results of my tests on some fairly randomly selected trap shapes are as follows, "YES" means the reciprocal solution works as expected, "NO" means it doesn't:
dmj Cross YES dmj Linear Wave NO dmj Pinch NO dmj Point YES dmj Rectangle YES reb Cardiod NO reb Gear Curve NO kcc5 Cocked Hat NO kcc5 Devils Curve NO mt Folium NO mt Rose NO standard Diamond YES standard Heart NO standard Spiral NO
Just to be clear on what I did in these tests: 1. I used Generic Colouring (Direct) with Image Traps 2. I loaded Shape Collection within a Trap Shape block and changed the Scale to 3. 3. I picked a Trap Shape to work with from the Collection drop down list 4. On a duplicate layer I exchanged Shape Collection for a TrapShape Block and copied the selected trap shape over. I then changed the Block > Trap Position > Trap Scale param from the default 1 to 0.3333, the reciprocal of the Shape Collection's Scale of 3. 5. Compared the two images: same = "YES", different = "NO"
***
You are correct. The reciprocal method works for only some trap shapes. The use of Trap Transfer works for all trap shapes. I was trying to minimize the number of plug-in changes, which probably created more confusion than help.
For example say you selected 'Ellipse Catacaustic' as your shape in the Shape Collection drop-down . First right mouse click on the load icon to the right of 'Ellipse Catacaustic' and select 'Copy.' Then right click on the load icon to the right 'Shape Collection' and select 'Paste.' Once the layer rerenders, the image should be the same, but the Shape Collection PlugIn will be replaced by the 'Ellipse Catacaustic' PlugIn.
Ron Barnett
***
Hi Ron,
I'm afraid I can't get this to work - using the reciprocal of the Shape Collection scale in TrapShape Block -> Trap Position -> Trap Scale results in a different image. Perhaps I am doing something wrong???
I made a note a while back of something else you said regarding transferring the Shape Collection Scale to a single trap shape... you suggested transferring the Shapes Scale figure into the Pre-scale slot of Trap Transfer... this DOES work as expected.
Can you help me make sense of this please, I'm thinking that if there are indeed two methods for achieving the same thing then this might possibly be useful in some circumstances.
Below is a .upr to illustrate the problem - perhaps you can spot what I am doing wrong. I haven't included the Shape Collection layer, for brevity, just take it as read that a scale of "3" for the Cardiod shape within the Shape Collection gives an identical image to the one you see on the top layer here. On that top layer I have simply copied over Cardiod as the Trap Shape and entered "3" into Trap Transfer -> Pre-scale.
On the second layer I have followed your instructions above and entered "0.3333" into TrapShape Block -> Trap Position -> Trap Scale. This is not the same image as layer 1.
ShapeCollectionScaleTest {
; Copyright © 2008 by Christine-Ann Martin.
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}
Thanks for any insight!
Chris
***
I don't know if this is a problem with the Shape Collection or something else, I am merely reporting that using the reciprocal of a Shape's Scale when copy/pasting a shape to a single Block does not appear to work consistently for all trap shapes. The only *consistent* way I know of to reproduce an image is to use the same Scale figure from the Collection (in the above example this is "3") in the Trap Transfer > Pre-Scale slot below the (single) trap shape in question. Works every time as far as I can tell.
Do you agree with my findings? I would be interested in any comments you might have on this. Thanks!
Chris
***
Hi Chris,
Both methods work. The Shape Collection size was 0.2. The reciprocal of 0.2 is 5.0 Thats the value I put into Trap Position for trap size in the modification of Diane's upr, and if you compare her original upr with the modified one, you should see that they are identical. You can also take the other approach, which is to replace Null Transfer with Trap Transfer and set Pre-scale to the value as the size value in the Shape Collection.
One of the sometimes confusing aspects of UF5 is that it is often possible to achieve the same final result through different paths. This is an example of that.
