GENERATORS

Chrome

Chrome Chrome is a visualisation plugin that allows you to trigger graphical events using the pianoroll, midi controller or automation clips. Before using chrome you may need to run the Programs > FL Studio > Advanced > Graphics tester, to see if your graphics card is Chrome compatible and unlock the plugin. This is done to avoid unexpected system instability.

Scene Controls

Camera

Use this control to rotate and view the scene from various angles. The camera may be moved around the X axis (Tilt), Y axis (Rotation), and translation along the Z axis (Zoom).

• Rotation - Left-click and drag up/down inside the large Camera Rotation wheel.
• Tilt - Left-click and drag up/down anywhere on the bottom left corner (Tilt section) of the camera control.
• Zoom - Left-click and drag the Zoom slider on the right of the camera control.
• Direct Image Control - The camera can also be adjusted by clicking and dragging on the scene display itself. Left mouse = X and Y movement, Right mouse = X and Z movement.

Scene Selector

Click the arrow buttons on the Scene Selector box to change the scene. Left-clicking the scene text will open a menu of available scenes. The scene selector is also automatable

Scene Parameters

To change the parameters of the scene there are two control methods; 1) Scene Parameter knobs (automatable) and 2) Piano roll. These parameter sets are configured individually for each scene and are described below.

• Ambience - A plain coloured background with moving ‘blobs’ can be used as a very simple background. Note triggers a blob to pulse in brightness
• P1: Hue – the hue of the background
• P2: Saturation – the amount of colour in the background, ranging from grey to Hue.
• P3: Intensity – the brightness of the background
• P4: Blob Count - amount of blobs present on the screen
• P5: Blob Brightness
• P6: Blob Blend Mode – by default blobs are additively blended. Options include negative blending and alpha blending
• Fireworks - Multi-coloured fireworks burst over a pool of reflecting water
• P1: Slow Motion – controls the time frame of the firework simulation.
• P2: Fountain Style - Loads different 3D fountain styles and sizes
• P3: Emitter Radius - Controls how far from the centre of the fountain the fireworks are emitted.
• P4: Sky Hue - as above
• P5: Sky Intensity - as above
• P6: Sky Brightness - as above

Piano roll Controls

• Notes - Triggers fireworks over the fountain
• Pan – controls direction of firework explosion
• Vel – controls strength of firework explosion
• Particle Life – controls how long particles stay on the screen
• Particle Size – Controls the size of the firework particles
• Lightning - Multi-coloured bolts of lightning in clouds
• P1: Slow Motion – controls the time frame of the lightning simulation.
• P2: Glow Amount - The size of the glow filter. High value = large blurred glow, Low Value = sharp jagged glow
• P3: Glow Intensity - the brightness of the glow.
• P4: Cloud Transparency - Transparency of clouds
• P5: Cloud Density - Low Val = Clear, High Val = Heavy cloud cover
• P6: Cloud Glow – how bright the lightning lights up the surrounding clouds

Piano roll Controls

• Note triggers a lightning bolt
• Pan – 100% Right = Bolt branch off at right angles 100% left = near straight bolts
• Vel – controls bolt length
• Bolt Speed – works like P1: Slow Motion, but for individual lightning bolts
• Branches – the amount of branches in this bolt
• Metaballs - Blobs of liquid mercury (metaballs) which melt away with time. The metaballs reflect their environment like shiny metal and glow multi-coloured when first placed (like glowing hot metal).
• P1: Decay Rate – How fast the blobs melt away. Full Value = No Decay
• P2: Zoom Blur Amount - controls the amount of zoom blur/glow applied to the metaballs
• P3: Cooling Rate - How fast the coloured glow fades from the metaballs
• P4:Environment Brightness - Brightness of the background environment
• P5:Environment Blur – How blurred/out of focus the background is
• P6: Environment – choose a background image (environment)

Piano roll Controls

• Note - triggers a metaball
• Pan – controls how far from the centre the metaballs orbit
• Vel – Unused.
• Blob Radius – size of the metaball blob
• Rotozoom - Classic 2D scene. First brushes (2D pictures) are drawn onto the screen. Scene is then rotated and zoomed by the camera then fed back onto the screen producing a ‘hall of mirrors’ effect. Hence the name Rotozoom.
  • P1: Kaleidoscope 1 – draws the scene again at 4 separate corners of the screen. Produces a fractal pattern
  • P2: Kaleidoscope 2- Same as above. Kal. 1 controls the X shift of the newly drawn pictures, Kal. 2 controls the Y shift of the newly drawn pics.
  • P3: Fade Strength - How fast the trails fade out. Technically it controls the amount of the old scene being fed back onto the screen.
  • P4: Distortion Amount – The scene can also be distorted by a ripple type effect. This controls the amount of distortion. Lowest Val = No Distortion
  • P5: Distortion Mod – the size of the ripples of the distortion. High Val = Rolling big ripples, Low Val = Very small (stained glass effect almost)
  • P6: Glow – adds a simple glow to the scene.

  Piano roll Controls

  • Note - triggers one of 16 individual 2D brushes (Which brush is triggered is controlled by which note on the piano roll.) emitting smaller particles shaped like the 2D sprite
  • Pan – 100% Left = natural brush colour/white, Centred = Note controlled colour, 100% right = Custom colour
  • Vel – speed of the brush around the screen.
  • Custom Colour – cycles through rainbow colours. Only effective when using a Pan value between Centred and 100% Right.
  • Brush size – physical size of the 2D brush.
• Tunnel - Generates an endless twisting tunnel through which the camera flies. Notes trigger neon rings of light to fly down the tunnel towards the camera.
  • P1: Tunnel Profile – loads different tunnel cross-sections / profiles
  • P2: Tunnel Length- Increases/decreases the spacing between tunnel segments.
  • P3: Tunnel Speed - Increases/decreases the speed at which the texture on the tunnel flies by.
  • P4: Tunnel Twist – causes the forthcoming tunnel segments to become very twisty at high values, smooth and straight at low values.
  • P5: Spotlight – Controls the position of a spotlight running through the tunnel. Lowest/Highest Value = No Spotlight
  • P6: Tunnel Texture – loads different textures for the walls of the tunnel.

  Piano roll Controls

  • Note - triggers a neon ring which flies down the tunnel at the camera.
  • Pan – controls the distance from the camera at which the ring spawns. 100% left = At camera, 100% = furthest down the tunnel
  • Vel – speed of the ring’s flight.
  • Radius – Radius of the ring. At highest value, ring touches the tunnel walls, at lowest it disappears at a point in the middle of the tunnel.
  • Particle Size – Undefined.

Preload Scene

Switch - On when lit. Using multiple scenes within a project, it is useful to have the used scenes load when the project loads, and not when they are first displayed (as is the default). Marking a scene with the Preload button causes it to be loaded on project load, the next time you open the project.

Quality

The Quality Slider trades off visual quality of the scene in return for better performance/lower CPU usage.

Object Properties

Object/text options

Chrome allows up to 16 text messages or objects to be displayed over the current scene.

• Object Selector - The object selector allows you to select one of 16 the text messages/objects as the current object. To display the message/object check the ON box to the right of the text message/object selector box. The ON/OFF state is remembered for each of the 16 messages/objects.
• Object controls - This is the main control panel for the current object. Select to display Text, or 3D Objects. The ON switch to the right is remembered for each object selected with the 'Object Selector'.
  • Text mode - Click on the message area (‘Text Message 1’ in this case) to enter a text message. Left-click the Font Button to the right of the text entry box to change the font type and size used for each message.
  • Object mode - In object mode, the message area displays the filename of the currently loaded object, the button to the right (changes from text mode) to allows loading of a new 3D model. By default the dialog is opened in the Chrome/Objects directory. The model loading process may take some time for larger models as Vertex Normals are calculated on load. When more than one model is loaded into the system, the button opens a menu allowing you to choose from already loaded objects (with no loading times), or to open a new object.

Position Knobs

The position controls allow changes to the position and rotation of the object in all 6 degrees of freedom, 3 axes and 3 angles.

Effect

The effect controls govern the overall appearance of the object/s.

• Effect selector - Choose between 7 different predefined animations:
• Z Bounce
• X spin
• Y spin
• Z spin
• Random Spin 1
• Random Spin 2
• Random Movement
• Depth – Only works when using a Text Message. It governs how much the text message is extruded in the Z direction.
• Size – Alters the scale of the object. Also affects the light/texturing/position of the object.
• Light – Adjusts amount of illumination of the object. Off – No light, Half way – Normal lighting, Full – Fully illuminated.
• Speed – Governs the speed of the predefined animations as well as the fade in and out when switching the object on and off.
• Transparency - Governs the transparency of the object from fully Solid to invisible.
• DS – Adds a black Drop Shadow behind the object to make it visible on bright backgrounds
• Glow – Adds a glow to the object
• Colour box - Choose a colour for the object. To remove colour, choose white.
• Texture - When enabled, you can pick a picture to wrap around the object (texture), when disabled, the object is a solid colour defined by the colour box. Though the colour of the object also tints the texture used (Pick white for no tinting). If the model contains texture coordinates (details about how to wrap the picture) they are used, otherwise standard planar mapping is used. Use the button to load BMP, TGA or JPG picture files. 32-bit TGA files are also supported. When more than one texture is loaded into the system the button displays a menu of all the textures loaded into the system, together with the option to open a new texture.

  Right-click context menu:

  • Use Predefined Mapping - Uses the texture coordinates from the model file (if exists).
  • Use Automatic Mapping - Same as the mapping on the text messages.
  • Texture Scale - Selects the scale of the texture mapping on the object as either half, normal or double.
• Reflect - The reflect button toggles between wrapping the texture on the object, and reflecting the image on the object. When enabled, the object takes on a mirror surface and the picture is reflected off it.

Fullscreen Control

• Auto - When selected Chrome will automatically go to 'Full Screen' mode when play is pressed in FL Studio.
• Fullscreen button - forces the scene display in fullscreen mode. Right-click the button to select a display monitor on a multi-monitor system.
• Hiding the Interface - Right-click on the scene to open the 'Hide Interface' command that removes all the controls from the window, leaving only the Scene. Right-click again on the scene display brings up the Show Interface command. Note: make sure to right-click without moving the mouse, otherwise the plugin may interpret the movement as a camera adjustment.

Note: While the cursor is hidden, the camera can still be adjusted by clicking and dragging on the screen. The ‘Auto Fullscr’ button causes the plugin to go into ‘full screen’ mode whenever the project is played back.

Plugin Credits: Michael Pote