I hope you can help me. I don't know anything about Sunflow or Structure Synth. I messed around with something called POV-Ray a long time ago (8 years I think).
What would be the best way to get started with these programs? Should I start with Synth? Something else? And where can I read about how to use them?
Thanks!
2. Try out the various examples
3. Use the built-in renderer till you're comfortable with the grammar. The SS website + Syntopia's blog is very helpful. Also you'll find good Flickr images with exact SS script in them.
4. Download and extract Sunflow (requires Java)
5. In SS, Render > Template Export to Sunflow-Colored
6. Open the output.sc file in Sunflow (may have to click Build Scene)
7. Click IPR for quick preview, Render for hi-res.
8. Camera view in SS and Sunflow is a pain initially. Press Shift and Control when you drag our mouse to change axes of rotation and zoom.
9. The best part of the SS grammar is that you can define the same rule {} multiple times and each one could contain a slightly different command. When you call the rule repeatedly, any of the matching rules are randomly executed. That's how I got the spikes in the virtue.png to look so organic.
10. Keep this open all the time: http://structuresynth.sourceforge.net/reference.php
11. To really make all of this work, learn a bit about 3D graphics / transformations. You don't need to be able to make the Quake engine but knowing what happens when you apply an RX over an RY can help. Of course, you can play around with the code in the IDE and keep hitting F5 to see what effect each change has on the final object. However, due to the nested nature of the grammar, you might get the wrong impression. The one tip I can give is to think in the rule's local coordinates. Each rule is called with its own 3D coordinates, inherent from the parent rule. Anything you do in that rule is only for that rule and child-rules. The global coordinates aren't affected. Rotation inside a rule is only for rules & objects called within the rule.
About step 11), any recommendations about learning 3D graphics? I'm just doing this for a little fun, so I don't want anything too heavy... just a kind "Graphics 4 dummies" if it exists.