NAME
    App::GUI::Cellgraph - draw pattern by cellular automaton

SYNOPSIS
    1.  start the program (cellgraph)

    2.  push buttons and see patterns change

    3.  choose "Save" in Image menu (or Ctrl+S) to store image in a PNG /
        JPEG / SVG file (choose image size in menu beforehand)

DESCRIPTION
    An Harmonograph is an apparatus with several connected pendula, creating
    together spiraling pictures :

    This is a row of cellular automata as escribed in Steve Wolframs book "A
    new kind of schience"

    enhancements:

    *   third pendulum can rotate

    *   pendula can oscillate at none integer frequencies

    *   changeable amplitude and damping

    *   changeable dot density and dot size

    *   3 types of color changes with changeable speed and polynomial
        dynamics

Mechanics
GUI
    The general layout of the program has three parts, which flow from the
    position of the drawing board.

    1   In the left upper corner is the drawing board - showing the result
        of the Harmonograph.

    2   The whole right half of the window contains the settings, which
        guide the drawing operation. These are divided into two tabs -
        roughly devided in form and decoration.

    3   The lower left side contains buttons which are a few commands, but
        most are in the main menu.

    Please mind the tool tips - short help texts which appear if the mouse
    stands still over a button or slider. Also helpful are messages in the
    status bar at the bottom: on left regarding images and right about
    settings. When holting the Alt key you can see which Alt + letter
    combinations trigger which button.

  Rule
    The content of the first tab are the settings that define the properties
    of the 4 pendula (X, Y, Z and R), which determine the shape of the
    drawing. X moves the pen left - right (on the x axis), Y moves up -
    down, Z does a circling movement, R is a rotation ( around Z's axis).
    Each pendulum has the same three rows of controls.

    The first row contains from left to ritght an on/off switch. After that
    follows the pendulum's amplitude and damping. Amplitudes define the size
    of the drawing and damping just means: the drawings will spiral toward
    the center with time (line length).

    The second row lets you dial in the speed (frequency). For instance 2
    means that the pendulum swings back and fourt twice as fast. The second
    combo control adds decimals for more complex drawings.

    The third row has switches to invert (1/x) frequency or direction and
    can also change the starting position. 2 = 180 degree offset, 4 = 90
    degree (both can be combined). The last slider adds an additional fine
    tuned offset between 0 and 90 degree.

  Start
    The second tab on the right side has knobs that set the properties of
    the pen. First how many rotations will be drawn. Secondly the distance
    between dots. Greater distances, together with color changes, help to
    clearify muddled up drawings. The third selector sets the dot size in
    pixel.

  Menu
    The upmost menu bar has only three very simple menus. Please not that
    each menu shows which key combination triggers the same command and
    while hovering over an menu item you see a short help text the left
    status bar field.

    The first menu is for loading and storing setting files with arbitrary
    names. Also a sub menu allows a quick load of the recently used files.
    The first entry lets you reset the whole program to the starting state
    and the last is just to exit (safely with saving the configs).

    The second menu has only two commands for drawing an complete image and
    saving it in an arbitrary named PNG, JPG or SVG file (the file ending
    decides). The submenu above onle set the preferred format, which is the
    format of serial images and the first wild card in dialog. Above that is
    another submenu for setting the image size.

    The third menu has some dialogs with documentation and additional
    information.

AUTHOR
    Herbert Breunung (lichtkind@cpan.org)

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright(c) 2022 by Herbert Breunung

    All rights reserved. This program is free software and can be used and
    distributed under the GPL 3 licence.

