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Compare Products For Computer Generated Art

8 august 2008, Simon Strandgaard

This is a list of node/layer-based graphics software similar to Toolbox, a mac-application that I am working on. Hopefully this is interesting if you are into computer generated art. I add things here, that I can try out on my machines or where I can tell from the screenshots that it's interesting.

If there is something missing or something wrong, then send an email to neoneye@gmail.com, thanks.

I'm a mac user and my expectations to looknfeel is beyond normal. My comments hilite good/bad aspects and other details. The reason that some of the programs doesn't have links to screenshots and reviews, is that I couldn't find any. I havn't omitted links on purpose. I don't intend to do any harm, however some things really pisses me off, such as happy talk and expensive software.

My primary test-machines is a MacMini 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Graphicscard is an Intel GMA 950 with 64 MB RAM. It's running Mac OSX 10.5. The other test-machine is an Acer Travelmate 2413LCi 1.5 GHz Intel Celeron M, 512 MB 400 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. Graphicscard is an Intel GML 910 with 128 MB RAM. It's running Windows XP SP2. My hardware is not top of the line, so the applications may perform significantly better on more well-equiped machines.

In paticular im interested in werkkzeug inspired tools and other demotools. Anything in this area has my interest, maybe because its made by programmers and not influenced by a some sick marketing department.

 
Program
Price
Comments
  • *final price 50 EUR.
  • inspired by werkkzeug
  • alpha version
  • Im the author of this program. It still sux in many areas, but compared to many others it sux less.
  • bundled with xcode SDK for osx 10.4
  • steap learning curve
  • user interface is slow
  • QC is derived from Pixelshox
  • Mac looknfeel. Intuitive and doesn't get in the way.
  • Has a really interesting idea, clicking in the output window allows you to interact with a specific layer. Nice.
  • Single window interface.
  • Not super intuitive ui.
  • A bit slow.
  • Great user interface that is responsive.
  • Few filters.
  • No shots beside those on the frontpage.
  • User interface is responsive.
  • Some filters.
  • Drawing is too simple.
  • Undo actually works nice. Few programs get this right.
  • Pretty effect stack. Neat.
  • *final price 100 USD.
  • Has some pretty UI elements.
  • slow, crashes, buggy, hyped, sux.
  • much happy talk, a bad omen!
  • *pay what you can afford. Student price 15 EUR.
  • ChocoFlop's developer is honest, open, no business talk. That's the spirit. I predict ChocoFlop will become very successful.
  • alpha version
  • I cannot find any collection of shots, nor tutorials.
  • Test application by Apple, for exploring the capabilities of Core Image.
  • Bundled with macosx tiger.
  • simple user interface
  • no effect layers
  • intuitive user interface
  • non-responsive
  • immature, lack many things to be really useful
  • seems more like an image browse, than an effect tool
  • slow
  • long URLs and happy talk on website
  • user interface needs polishing
  • ok responsive
  • Crashes
  • Not updated for a while. 1.1 beta 2 was released on 13 June 2005.
  • No undo/redo. Black output most of the time. Inconsistent. Not intuitive.
  • Extremely pricy considering that it lacks basic mac features.
  • *No price on website. Probably expensive.
  • Not updated for a while. 2.1 was released on 07 June 2003.
  • No mac looknfeel. It's adhoc and makes my head hurt.
  • steap learning curve
  • looks like mac, but doesn't feel so.
  • steap learning curve
  • untested
  • untested
  • open source (80% of the codebase)
  • One of the best X11 apps I have ever seen on Mac OS X.
  • Fast and smooth!
  • open source (GPL)
  • puredata is the mother of modern node systems
  • comprehensive help system
  • only the last operation can be undone
  • difficult to find good screenshots
  • open source (GPL)
  • I wasn't aware that Blender has a node-based editor, so I must investigate it again.
  • *No price on website. Probably expensive.
  • untested
  • Impressive system corrupted by happy talk.
  • open source (Artistic License)
  • non-responsive
  • user interface needs polishing
  • upcoming version 0.4 seems more promising
  • I cannot find any shots nor videos
  • no mac looknfeel
  • comprehensive help system
  • only the last operation can be undone
  • often fail to render the user interface correct
  • program hang using 100% cpu so I had to shut it down
  • difficult to find good screenshots
  • *prepurchase price, will be more expensive later
  • untested
  • open source (GPL)
  • untested
  • it should work on mac too, but there is no mac binary :-(
  • open source (GPL)
  • untested
  • *No price on website. Probably expensive.
  • untested
  • untested
  • untested
  • No editor for linux? Seems as if its just the renderfarm.
  • we will continue monitoring this project
  • open source (GPL)
  • untested
  • *discount if you contribute with filters.
  • neat!
  • *unknown
  • untested
  • doesn't seem to have a dedicated homepage :-(
  • is the hypershade editor available for mac?
  • *basic edition is free.
  • untested
  • *No price on website. Probably expensive.
  • untested
  • untested
  • *No price on homepage, probably expensive
  • untested
  • uses vbscript, sigh
  • *16000 EUR upto 42000 EUR for .dll usage, available for all major platforms/consoles
  • Made by the demogroup Farbrausch for composing their productions
  • I am still looking for good screenshots
  • next generation of werkkzeug, more polished, only focus on textures
  • we will continue monitoring this project
  • Made by the demogroup Farbrausch for composing their productions
  • Great source of inspiration. Awesome program
  • steap learning curve
  • not updated for a while, version 1.2 was in 2004
  • open source (GPL and LGPL)
  • werkkzeug clone
  • check out SF project page if you are a developer
  • fxgen was made public in 2007, and lots of things is going on
  • we will continue monitoring this project
  • Made by the demogroup Vectronix for composing their productions
  • werkkzeug clone
  • steap learning curve
  • Official homepage http://www.vectronix.org/wbb/ has dissapeared
  • not updated for a while, last version was around 2005?

  • TG

    free
  • texture generation / synthesis
  • inspired by werkkzeug
  • has a sister program SG for audio
  • The program OpenBlackBox can read TG files!
  • not updated for a while, version 0.3 was in 2005
  • *No available for sale. For internal use only.
  • untested
  • made by Carsten 'jazzoid' Przyluczky
  • shader based
  • inspired by werkkzeug
  • we will continue monitoring this project
  • untested
  • Made by the demogroup Conspiracy for composing their productions.
  • we will continue monitoring this project
  • untested
  • Made by Johannes "trigger^hoodlum" Diemke.
  • untested
  • best shots I could find is in PDFs!
  • untested
  • untested
  • *No price on website. Probably expensive.
  • untested
  • is ProFX the same as MaPZone?
  • user interface is weird

  • NodeJoe

    *unknown
  • material editor for 3dsmax
  • *is beta, no price on website yet.
  • untested
  • Requires 3dsmax to run.
  • *beta and there is no set price yet
  • untested
  • *Free for non-commercial use. Otherwise 500 EUR per CPU or 200 EUR per week.
  • untested
  • untested
  • untested
  • untested
  • open source
  • untested
  • Their vision is to read files from TG. It seems as TG already is supported?
  • we will continue monitoring this project

  • PaintLab

    free
  • Experimental C# paint application built on OpenBlackBox
  • untested
  • is this open source?
  • untested
  • untested
  • Website is annoying! I cannot link to the shots page, because main.php script dislikes urlencoding!
  • *Cannot find price, because there is no official website.
  • untested
  • Great power similar to Quartz Composer.
  • Ackward user interface.
  • Pretty fast considering its flash.
  • Changing parameters doesn't update result on the fly. This sux.
  • Ackward user interface.
List contains 68 products

There has been suggested many applications that is node-based, that has focus on different things than graphics. This page is only for graphics software, the following list is not an attempt to keep track of what else is out there. It's just extra material.

 
Program
Price
Comments
  • open source
  • untested
  • VERY interesting, the OLPC laptops ship with this powertool. Lots of young kids will adapt some technical skills that previously has been available only to older geeks.
  • we will continue monitoring this project
  • good help
  • weird undo, no redo
  • supposed to be for kids, but user interface is unintuitive. Though I am not a kid.

    • Picatune

      free
    • music tracker for 64k intros
    • can export ASM code
    • inspired by werkkzeug
    • difficult to use
    • Source code were apparently lost? this project is dead?
    • untested
    • Microsoft has a similar product: Popfly
    • untested
    • *Demo price 49$. Realworld price 3700$
    • Doesn't seem to be a stand alone program. Included with the expensive 'SQL Server 2005' package?
    • I have only breifly looked at this. Unstable. Ugly. Promising.
    • *unknown
    • untested
    • VPL is Visual Programming Language
    • Can be found in Microsoft Robotics Studio
    List contains 10 products
    updated 09 aug 2008
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