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More updates to the readme and todo

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2022-09-16 21:42:37 -07:00
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6
README.md
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@@ -42,17 +42,17 @@ The way I see it, there's four kinds of Matrix effects people call ["digital rai
A fan project can attempt to tackle any of these. However, this project focuses specifically on #1 and #3— an endless effect, visually stunning and mystifying, that feels right at home on any screen.
The following the criteria that guided the development process:
The following criteria guided the development process:
- **Get the right glyphs**. Like the actual ones. By now everyone's heard how the Matrix glyphs are some treatment of [Katakana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana), but they also include a few characters from [Susan Kare's Chicago typeface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_(typeface)). The Matrix glyphs in *this* project come from the source: cleaned up vectors [from an old SWF](https://web.archive.org/web/20070914173039/http://www.atari.com:80/thematrixpathofneo/) for an official Matrix product, archived back in 2007. That's how deep this rabbit hole goes, friends.
(Please support the [Internet Archive!](https://archive.org/about/))
- **Get the new glyphs**. When *Resurrections* hit theaters in December '21, it debuted an expanded glyph set with a daunting *135 symbols*. Virtually all of them were recovered from the movie trailers for this project and uploaded before the film's release! ...But they were of relatively poor quality. Fortunately, in this age of higher resolution reference material and tie-in marketing, a decent sized sample of new glyphs were eventually reverse-engineered from [a sparkly watch ad](https://www.hamiltonwatch.com/en-int/thematrixresurrections), and the rest were lovingly synthesized from frames of a [behind-the-scenes VFX video](https://buf.com/films/the-matrix-resurrections).
- **Get the new glyphs**. When *Resurrections* hit theaters in December '21, it debuted an expanded glyph set with a daunting *135 symbols*. Virtually all of them were recovered from the movie trailers for this project and uploaded before the film's release! ...But they were of relatively poor quality. Fortunately, in this age of 720p reference material and tie-in marketing, a decent sized sample of new glyphs were eventually reverse-engineered from [a sparkly watch ad](https://www.hamiltonwatch.com/en-int/thematrixresurrections), and the rest were lovingly synthesized from frames of a [behind-the-scenes VFX video](https://buf.com/films/the-matrix-resurrections).
- **Make it look sweet in 2D.** The most versatile, recognizable and mesmerizing manifestation of the code rain is when it seems to pour right down your screen like rain on a windowpane. While depth effects are cool, they can obscure the details that make the difference between a goodtrix and a *greatrix*.
- **Make it look sweet in 3D, too.** To facilitate future support of stereoscopic and holographic displays, it made sense to nail down a 3D variation, but it looks pretty on any kind of display.
- **The 2D glyphs are in a *fixed grid* and *don't move*.** The "raindrops" we see in the effect are simply waves of illumination of stationary symbols that occupy a column. To get a better look at this, try setting the `fallSpeed` to a number close to 0.
- **Get the glow and color right.** Matrix symbols aren't just some shade of phosphorous green; they're first given a bloom effect, and then get tone-mapped to the green color palette.
- **Multiple "raindrops" often occupy the same column.** This is complicated, because we can't allow them to collide. The solution in this project is to model each column's glyph brightness is a kind of [sawtooth wave](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SawtoothWave.html), where the width of the teeth subtly fluctuate to keep things interesting. The tips of those teeth— the cells in the grid where the sawtooth dips— are where we put the "cursors" (or "tracers") at the bottom of each raindrop.
- **Capture the glyph cycling sequence.** The symbols in the sequels' opening titles, which are arguably the highest quality versions of the 2D effect, change according to a repeating sequence (see `glyph order.txt`). This is only a technical detail, and only applies to *Reloaded* and *Revolutions*— everyplace else, the symbols change randomly.
- **Capture the glyph cycling sequence.** The symbols in *Reloaded* and *Revolutions*' opening titles, which were at one point the highest fidelity versions of the 2D effect, change according to a repeating sequence (see `glyph order.txt`). This is only a technical detail, and while it once drove the glyph cycle in this project, this behavior's been retired.
- **Whip up some artistic license and depict the *previous* Matrix versions.** The sequels describe [a paradisiacal predecessor](https://rezmason.github.io/matrix?version=paradise) to the Matrix that was too idyllic, [and another earlier, nightmarish Hobbesian version](https://rezmason.github.io/matrix?version=nightmare) that proved too campy. They depict some programs running older, differently colored code, so it's time someone tried rendering them.
- **Heck, try building some homemade varieties that have nothing to do with the franchise.** See the list of links above for the full set of available versions.
- **Make it free, open source and web based.** Because someone could probably improve on or personalize what I've done, and I'd like to see that— and maybe incorporate their improvements back into this project.

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TODO.txt
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@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
TODO:
Isolate classic from defaults
Update the README
Audio system
Toggle (or number representing frequency)
Load the sound effect