Flaming Pear SolarCell Manual

What it does

How to Install

Controls

Effects

Versions

How to Purchase

Questions

SolarCell

What it does

SolarCell is a plug-in filter for paint programs. It draws suns in a fantasy style. You can make suns with coronas, halos, rainbows, and swirling surface detail.

How to install

To use this software, you need a paint program which accepts standard Photoshop 3.0 plugins.

Just put the plug-in filter into the folder where your paint program expects to find it. If you have Photoshop, the folder is Photoshop:Plugins:Filters or Photoshop:Plug-ins. You must restart Photoshop before it will notice the new plug-in. It will appear in the menus as Filters->Flaming Pear->SolarCell.

Most other paint programs follow a similar scheme.

If you have Paint Shop Pro: you have to create a new folder, put the plug-in filter into it, and then tell PSP to look there. In PSP's menus, choose File-> Preferences->General Program Preferences... and click the Plug-in Filters tab. Use a "Browse" button to choose the folder. The plugin will appear in the menus as Image->Plug-in Filters->Flaming Pear->SolarCell.

Controls

There are several controls for each of the five elements in a sun:

> The sun

> Flares

> Diffraction spikes

> The halo

> The bow

...and a few other controls that affect the whole image.

1. The sun |  |  |

The sun's disk is normally filled with fiery swirls, but it can also be a flat color, or black like an eclipse.

Sun disk popup menu lets you choose the sun disk type.

Color Button This button lets you choose the sun's color.

The other disk controls only affect the "normal" fiery-swirls disk:

Radius This is the size of the sun.

Cold/Hot Biases the sun's color toward cold (blue) or hot (red) hues.

Swirl count Swirls in the lumpy pattern make it look more like fire. This control set the number of swirls.

Swirl Size Set the size of the swirls. If the swirls are large enough to overlap each other, interesting patterns appear. Beware, setting this slider to a high value may take a very long time to produce a result. Be patient, and a new graphic will soon appear.

Smear Larger values of this control produce longer streaks in the swirls.

Detail Sets the overall scale of the lumpy pattern on the sun's surface.

Monopoles and Vortices: You can have two types of swirls. Monopoles are streaks radiating from a point. Vortices are spiral whirlpools.

sun disk popup

color button

monopole

vortex

2. Flares |  |  |

The flares are jets of flame shooting out from the edge of the sun,

Color button Sets the flares' color.

Count Sets how many flares there are.

Radius Sets the size of flares.

Width Sets the width of the individual flares.

Detail adjusts the lumpiness of the flares.

Brightness Adjusts the overall brightnes of the flares.

Orientation control Determines the clustering of the flares. It works like the control for the diffraction spikes, explained above.

sun with corona flares

3. Diffraction spikes |  |  |

In real-life photographs, diffraction spikes appear around bright lights due to a flaw in the lens. SolarCell draws these spikes in order to produce the illusion of glaring brightness.

Color button The color button sets the color of the spikes.

Count Sets the number of spikes.

Radius Sets the spikes' length.

Width Sets the spikes' width.

Brightness Sets the overall brightness of the spikes.

Gamma Changes the contrast of the spikes to produce a softer or harder appearance.

Diffraction For a more realistic appearance, this control lets you add stripes of subtle colors across the spikes. When this control is at zero, there are no stripes. At 100, the stripes are at their most prominent.

Diffraction Scale Sets the width of the color stripes.

Orientation control Adjusts the direction and grouping of the spikes. It works like this:

> The direction of the yellow line sets the direction that the spikes will tend to line up along.

> The distance of the blue dot from the center sets how much the spikes will cluster together.

For example: if you place the blue dot in the center of the control, the spikes will be dispersed all around the sun. If you drag the blue dot all the way to the edge of the circle, then the spikes will all cluster together at the same angle. Experiment and see.

sun with spikes

orientation control

4. The halo |  |  |

The halo is a bright circle of color around the sun. It helps to convey the impression of brightness, and of air between the sun and the observer.

Color button Sets the halo's color.

Radius Sets the width of the halo. The radius is added to the sun's size, so you can change the size of the sun and the halo will move with it.

Brightness Adjusts the contrast of the halo, so it can taper off slowly or rapidly.

sun with halo

5. The bow |  |  |

The bow is a rainbow around the sun. When it's bright, it produces a fantasy-like effect. When dim, it lends a subtle variation of hue.

Radius This is the bow's radius, but it is not added to the sun's radius. The bow radius can be less than the suns' radius. This way, the bow can overlap the sun, which is sometimes useful.

Width The bow's width.

Bow brightness Sets the brightness.

Bow Blur Sets how much the colors blur together. When this control is turn up high, the bow will have subtle colors like those seen around the moon on a partly cloudy night.

The checkbox Reverses the order of colors in the bow.

sun with bow

6. Other controls |  |  |

Dice This randomizes the settings. Click it as much as you want to see different effects.

Random seed. This changes only the arrangement of all the random elements, like the spikes, corona jets, and the sun disk surface.

MasterBrite This is the master brightness control for the whole image.

Position of Sun Reposition the sun by clicking anywhere in the preview area.

Glue mode: Lets you combine the sun with the underlying image in various ways. Modes other than "normal" produce special effects. "Composite" is useful: it makes the sun opaque, and everything else brightens the underlying image.

Plus % and minus buttons: If the selected image area is larger than the preview are, these buttons will let you zoom in and out . You can also reposition the preview by dragging it around; your cursor will turn into a hand.

Auto Preview: When this box is checked, the preview automatically updates whenever you move any control. Turn it off if you want to save time.

Load preset: SolarCell comes with some presets, which are files containing settings. To load one, click this button and browse for a preset file.

Save preset: When you make an effect you like, click this button to save the settings in a file.

Three more buttons:

OK: Applies the effect to your image.

Cancel: Dismisses the filter, and leaves the image unchanged.

Register: Allows you to type in a registration code.

dice

random seed

glue mode

Load preset (top)
and save preset

Effects

Try loading the settings files that come with SolarCell to see what it can do, or click the dice until you see something you like.

Hint: If all four color controls -- sun, spike, halo, and corona -- are similar, then results are realistic. Using vivid, unrelated colors produces a surreal effect.

Version History
Version 1.1f January 2000

Fixes a crash that sometimes happened with ImageReady.

Version 1.1e November 1999

Fixes strange bow colors that may appear when SolarCell is used with some paint programs.

Version 1.1d July 1999

Improves compatibility with non-Photoshop paint programs.

Version 1.1c May 1999

Fixes a bug which sometimes caused the color buttons to crash.

Version 1.1b May 1999

Fixes a slow startup bug which caused SolarCell to run very slowly the first time it was used.

Version 1.1 April 1999

The first public release.

How to Purchase

You can place an order online here. A secure server for transactions is available.

If you prefer, you can place an order offline by using the "Register" program that comes with the software.

Purchasing the software removes the time limit. You will get an unlocking code by email in a message titled "Thanks for your payment."

Questions

Answers to common technical questions appear on the support page, and free upgrades appear periodically on the download page.

Trouble with your order? Orders are handled by Kagi, which can be reached at admin@kagi.com .

For bug reports and technical questions about the software, please write to lloyd@flamingpear.com .