Digital Dream Studio V2

[5.06.2006] Full DDS SOURCE CODE for sale (including plug-ins). Price 2000$ (negotiable). Please contact me for details at dds_v2@yahoo.com.

[20.06.2006] Digital Dream Studio V2 won several software contests: Infomatrix(international contest, 2006, Silver Medal), InfoEducatie (national contest, 2005, Second Prize) and CIA (national contest, 2006, Third Prize).

[8.04.2006] Step by step guide to DDS V2 available here.

[12.02.2006] Apparently there was a problem: some links directed you to a ZIP file with an old version of DDS. If that is the case, please re-download the .exe file below, with the latest version. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Bug fixes, some new features. Download new build here

[31.01.2006] There is a newly-added HintBox which gives a brief description of most features, so it would be easier to understand how everything works. Some bug fixes. More presets in EasyBOX. A linear transform feature available, so you can easily transform layers by dragging the edges. So download the new release right away and DO tell me what you think about it.

[18.09.2005] Download a 4KB library of IFS (.ifs) files here. (To use in the IFS section of the Shapes and Patterns panel)

[16.09.2005] I've made a few changes to the software, the most important of which being the EasyBOX. It allows you to select tools simply by choosing from a list - no need for you to change all those settings every time you use a brush (unless you want to get into fine details). Also, I've added new options for the brush; I've implemented a very useful airbrush. Parametric shapes can now output key points for spline curves, so you can start by defining a mathematical curve and then modifying it interactively, as you see fit. Also repaired some bugs.

About DDS

DDS is a image generating and editing software, which is currently freeware. What sets it appart from other similar programs is the ability to fine-tune even the low-level options of each one of its tools. Brush shapes, blending modes, fadings, layer proprieties, flood fills and spline curves - all of them and many more can be defined in great detail, by the user. Furthermore, the features offered by DDS can be easily extended by adding new plug-ins (the communication protocol between the host and the plug-in is simple enough for even the beginner programmer to use).

DDS is fully compatible with Windows 95/96/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003. As hardware specifications I would recommend a 1GHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 1024x768 resolution and 32 bit color depth, 300 MB of free hard drive space (or better). However, I have succesfully tested DDS on a Pentium 333 MHz, 96 MB RAM, 800x600 resolution and 24 bit color depth (it must admit it was a bit slow, especially on those effects involving a lot of math).

For a general presentation of these, see the Features section.

For a more detailed description, see Insight.

Beginnings....

What started the idea of DDS was my interest in mathematics and the discovery of its extremly powerfull applications in computer graphics, namely in image generating and editing. However, very few of these mathematical concepts had been implemented properly in othersoftware, so I began working. Fractals were the most interesting for me so I read about Julia and Mandelbrot and implemented a few models. I soon developed some simplistic coloring schemes, I learned more about ways of using those schemes for other purposes (for example, drawing gradients). After awhile, when enough ideas were in my mind, I wanted them all linked together. Dropped in a selection map, some layers and some plug-ins and I got an image of Digital Dream Studio.

Of course, the standard concepts regarding selections, brushes, effects, blending, plug-ins and whatever else were not to my liking. So I designed new ones, slightly different ones - on whether they are better or worse, I will hear from you. My vision was based on giving the user full control over how effects are applied, down to the smallest, seemingly irrelevant detail.

While I was building the host program, refining its features, ideas for plug-ins started pouring in: a mapping plug-in, a liquifying plug-in, a plug-in for simulating partial differential equations (PDE) and another for rendering fractals. It most defenetly doesn't stop here, but this is what I managed to implement so far...

From here on...

Remember - I can't come up with all this ideas... Please, share your opinion. Give me a suggestion. Tell me what could be done to improve DDS.

Some new plug-ins: