The readme file for "Prometeus" visual plugin for WinAMP
Version 1.6
Written by Anatoly Savenkoff <saanvi@saanvi.ru>

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Russian (English version below)
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1.       
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1.       

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3.        

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        1.6        ,   
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        1.01      "Lights falloff", - .

        1.0       .

6.           

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WebMoney (RUR): R087047952485
 
WebMoney (USD): Z507323347112
 
E-gold: 1659427

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English
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WARNING:
        THIS VISUALIZATION PLUGIN GENERATES VERY ACTIVE SERIES OF IMAGES 
WITH FAST-CHANGING BRIGHTNESS AND COLOURNESS. THIS MAY LEAD TO 
UNFAVOURABLE DISORDERING OF EYE OR NERVOUS SYSTEM (FOR PEOPLE WITH EXCITED 
NERVOUS SENSITIVITY). IMMEDIATELY STOP USING THIS MODULE, IF YOU NOTICE 
SOME HEALTH DIVERGENCES!!!

1.      About
2.      System requirements
3.      Installing and tuning
4.      Additional information
5.      Version history
6.      Tables of plugin tests and some greetings

1.      About

        The "Prometeus" visual plugin for WinAMP is the model of soviet 
typical light-music systems. :) These systems divide spectrum of incoming 
signal into some bands and assign a colors to they. The name "Prometeus" 
was originally used as a name of such amateur radio-electronical system. 
These systems are extremely beautiful, so I decided to incarnate 
"Prometeus" on PC.
        The program is absolutely freeware, and you may use it at your 
own risk. You may distribute program in it's original state without any 
recompilation.

2.      System requirements

        "Prometeus" works fine in the default mode (10x10 panel) at almost 
every system with Pentium processor and 1 Mb PCI videocard. The exotic 
modes (like 16x16 one) are work well at PII and Celeron processors, and 
on a P-166 also. Don't execute other processes that consume system 
resources - they will fight "Prometeus" performance. 16bit system palette 
is recommended (TrueColor works more slower in most cases, but not 
always!). If you have a very fast videocard with TrueColor mode Ok - then 
TrueColor is the best choice.
        "Prometeus" was tested and developed with WinAMP 2.72, although I 
don't see any obstacles in running "Prometeus" at newer or older versions 
of this player.

3.      Installing and tuning

        Copy vis_prometeus.dll in subfolder "Plugins" of "C:\Program 
files\Winamp" folder (or some another folder, in which WinAMP was 
installed). After next execution of WinAMP the plugin will appear in 
WinAMP's visual plugin list, and you may choose and configure it.
        You may enter in "Prometeus" configuration dialog by common method 
(Alt-K or options menu), and also by clicking left mouse button on the 
panel of working "Prometeus".
        "Select mode" option allows you to choose some of "Prometeus" 
predefined panels (which are distinguished by pattern and size). I 
personally use some of 16x16 modes - they looks very beautiful. ;)
        "Display FPS" option enables framerate displaying.
        "SmartDraw" option (don't confuse with "SmartDrive" :) enables 
special fast drawing mode, which is invented by me. This is a scary 
mixture of non-standard use of standard functions. At this moment I don't 
see any problems with it, but for more confidence I decided to add normal 
method of drawing. If you experience problems with picture (strange 
blinks or something like that) - try to disable "SmartDraw" option. But 
normal mode of drawing are slower than "SmartDraw" by a factor of 1.5-2. 
Although on very fast computers "Prometeus" works fine without 
"SmartDraw".
        Of course you know what "Full screen" means. But for this option 
you must have a powerful computer. :-)
        "Randomize presets" button allows random patterns generate on 
all panels. In some cases these patterns are very amusing.
        "Restore presets" button reverts all panels in they original 
state.
        The "Lights falloff" slider controls speed of light brightness falloff, 
and the changes made by this slider is applied immediately.
        The "Sensitivity" slider controls sensitivity of a renderer. In case 
of a low sensitivity, more power of input signal is required to light up a 
lamps, and vice versa. Changes applied immediately.
        The "Render delay" slider is a VERY IMPORTANT SLIDER. WInAMP plugin 
system sends spectrum data to a plugin with a small delay. On my computer, 
with rendering speed of 100 fps, this delay is about 11 frames, i.e. slightly 
bigger than 0.1 second (measured by experience way). So, I put this value in 
"Prometeus" as a standard, but you may want to change it. For this purpose, 
use the file test.mp3 (comes in distributive). In this file short bursts of 
noise are recorded with about 0.5 second delay. Start WinAMP to play this file 
repeatedly, and see light bursts - they must happen in tact with noise clicks. 
Adjust render delay if nesessary. If your computer is fast enough to render at 
100 fps, the standard delay of 11 frames should work best. But if rendering 
done at speed lower than 80 fps, the delay probably must be corrected.

4.      Additional information

        Internally, maximum framerate is limited to 100 frames per second. 
I personally suppose that bigger framerate is just wasting of processor time. 
The "Prometeus" looks well at lower framerates down to 10 fps, becouse I've 
implemented special dynamical correction of lights falloff.

5.      Version history
        
        1.6     More algorithm changes, new 16x16 mode (Huge circle).

        1.5     Big changes in algorithm. Dynamical tuning of spectrum width 
was eliminated (it sucks). New sliders - "Sensitivity" and "Render delay". 
Rendering results looks very cool now! :-) Slider values now showing near the 
slider.

        1.01    New slider - "Lights falloff", some fixes.

        1.0     First public release.

6.      Tables of plugin tests and some greetings

Processor: Cyrix 233 MMX (? such a slow system!)
Video: PCI 1Mb
WinAMP version: 2.72
OS: Win95 OSR2
modes          |4x4    |6x6    |10x10  |16x16
_______________|_______|_______|_______|______
8bit           |22.3   |21.4   |18.8   |12.8
16bit          |21.5   |21.4   |13.7   |8
TrueColor      |21.4   |16.3   |10.5   |5.5
               -------------------------------
                              FPS
Processor: Celeron 433
Video: PCI 2Mb
WinAMP version: 2.72
OS: WinNT 4.0 SP 6
modes          |4x4    |6x6    |10x10  |16x16
_______________|_______|_______|_______|______
8bit           |33.3   |33.29  |33.05  |25.15
16bit          |33.3   |33.27  |32.5   |24.86
TrueColor      |33.3   |25.10  |20.06  |10
               -------------------------------
                              FPS
Processor: Pentium 166
Video: PCI 1Mb
WinAMP version: 2.72
OS: WinNT 4.0 SP 6
modes          |4x4    |6x6    |10x10  |16x16
_______________|_______|_______|_______|______
8bit           |33.3   |30.5   |25     |19.2
16bit          |30.8   |24.6   |15.5   |7.5
               -------------------------------
                              FPS
Processor: Celeron 433
Video: AGP 32Mb GeForce MX (rendering without "SmartDraw")
WinAMP version: 2.80
OS: WinNT 4.0 SP 6
modes          |4x4    |6x6    |10x10  |16x16
_______________|_______|_______|_______|______
8bit           |99.9   |95.5   |92.13  |65.95
16bit          |98.1   |97.01  |93.02  |88.68
TrueColor      |98.03  |98.77  |93.42  |not tested*
               -------------------------------
                              FPS
        * at TrueColor 16x16 the video stutters and sound was completely
suxx 8( ... I think this can be buggy nVidia detonator drivers for WinNT...

If you want to support development of this program, send money to any of accounts
listed below:

WebMoney (RUR): R087047952485
 
WebMoney (USD): Z507323347112
 
E-gold: 1659427

Special thanks and greetings to:

melkiy melkiy   <melkiy@hotmail.com>
Victor Borisov  <prochat@chat.ru>
Sharapov        <sharapp@mail.ru>

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Author's E-mail:        saanvi@saanvi.ru
Author's homepage:      http://saanvi.ru
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Prometeus is a product of Russian Federation
