nerverot — induces edginess in the viewer

Synopsis

nerverot [-display host:display.screen] [-foreground color] [-background color] [-window] [-root] [-mono] [-install] [-visual visual] [-db] [-no-db] [-colors integer] [-delay microseconds] [-count integer] [-line-width integer] [-event-chance fraction] [-iter-amt fraction] [-nervousness fraction] [-max-nerve-radius fraction] [-min-radius integer] [-max-radius integer] [-min-scale fraction] [-max-scale fraction] [-fps]

Description

The goal of nerverot is to be interesting and compelling to watch, yet induce a state of nervous edginess in the viewer. This manpage describes v1.3 of the program.

Options

nerverot accepts the following options:
-window
Draw on a newly-created window. This is the default.
-root
Draw on the root window.
-mono
If on a color display, pretend we're on a monochrome display.
-install
Install a private colormap for the window.
-visual visual
Which visual to use. Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual.
-db
-no-db Use double-buffering (or not, respectively). Double-buffering may make things look better for larger line widths and/or larger numbers of blots, but "better" may equate to yielding less of the desired edginess effect. You'll be calmer after watching the double-buffered variant; you're more likely to go into epileptic fits with it off. Hence, it is off (false) by default, resource doubleBuffer.
-colors integer
How many colors should be used (if possible). The colors form a smooth ramp between two randomly-chosen colors. Defaults to 4, resource colors.
-delay microseconds
The interframe delay, in microseconds. Defaults to 10000, resource delay.
-max-iters integer
The maximum number of iterations (frames) before a new model is generated. The actual number of iterations per model is a random number between 1 and this value. Defaults to 1200, resource maxIters.
-count integer
How many "blots" to draw at a time. This number may be rounded down to fit the particularly chosen model, and has a fixed minimum per-model. Defaults to 250, resource count.
-line-width integer
The width of the lines to draw. 0 means an optimized pixel-thick line. Defaults to 0, resource lineWidth.
-event-chance fraction
The chance, per iteration, for a life-altering event to occur (such as picking a new rotation target), in the range 0..1. Defaults to 0.2, resource eventChance.
-iter-amt fraction
The fraction of movement towards a target (such as rotation angle or scale) that happens per iteration, in the range 0..1. Defaults to 0.01, resource iterAmt.
-nervousness fraction
How nervous the drawing is, in the range 0..1. This is how jumpy the points on each blot are. Defaults to 0.3, resource nervousness.
-max-nerve-radius fraction
The maximum radius of blot nervousness, as a fraction of the radius of the blot, in the range 0..1. Defaults to 0.7, resource maxNerveRadius.
-min-radius integer
The minimum radius for a blot, in the range 1..100. Defaults to 3, resource minRadius.
-max-radius integer
The maximum radius for a blot, in the range 1..100. Defaults to 25, resource maxRadius.
-min-scale fraction
The minimum overall scale of drawing, as a fraction of min(windowHeight,windowWidth), in the range 0..10. Defaults to 0.6, resource minScale.
-max-scale fraction
The maximum overall scale of drawing, as a fraction of min(windowHeight,windowWidth), in the range 0..10. Defaults to 1.75, resource maxScale.
-fps
Display the current frame rate and CPU load.

Environment

DISPLAY
to get the default host and display number.
XENVIRONMENT
to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

X resources

There are resource equivalents for each option, noted above.

Bugs

nerverot should have more models.
XDBE should be detected and used, if available.

Author

Dan Bornstein <danfuzz@milk.com>.