I'm still in awe over the Quartz Composer application that Apple snuck onto my computer... there's a whole cottage industry of creative types having a ball with that. Quadrium is similar, in that it takes inputs like color, position, gradiant, vectors, and provides outputs to all sorts of warping, blending, splicing, and dicing tools. Using little threads that again are similar to those found in QC, you just connect all the bits together and watch your composition take shape.
Each "node" has a myriad of attributes that can be tinkered with, and Quadrium provides mutate and randomizer actions that you can use to goof with the nodes and their values. It's thoroughly delightful, and the Gandreas software site has a nice gallery showing sample "drawings."
One nice feature is the ability to save drawings for later, or to add them to a "breeding pool," where they can be used to "grow" more graphics. In fact, there are so many nice and unique features of this software that the more I play with it, the more awe creeps into my assessment of it. For example, Quadrium supports Bonjour networking, so you can share your creations with others, and it even has a tie-in to .Mac for publishing to the world. Did I mention it can automatically create an iPhoto gallery of your work? And on and on...
As the author explains, Quadrium uses mathematical equations, data flow models, and genetic programming techniques to grow its art, but you don't have to be a mathematics whiz to enjoy using it:
Quadrium is designed to make it easy - you start with a sample image and then you can just "mutate" it to make variations until you find something more in line with what you had imagined. Or, if you want something that looks like two other images, you can "breed" the images together to produce new images with qualities from the two parent images. Or you can actually play with the "DNA" of the image, represented as a simple flow diagram - adjust different parameters and settings and see the results of your experiments with live feedback. You can then add in more nodes to your work, from the 150+ available. The possibilities are limited by your creativity (and since it can make random mutations, even your creativity won't limit it).
Part of what makes Quadrium so easy is the "starting points" screen that greets you on launch. Here, you can choose from a large variety of pre-built patterns and see how they're constructed. Quartz Composer has a similar feature, but not nearly as many starting points.
As with other software from this developer, Quadrium is meticulously documented. Besides the usual introductory help information, you get a 77-page reference manual with information about all of the 150+ nodes you can use in your drawings. In addition, he provides a 26-page tutorial, showing exactly how to make the best use of the many options.
In my tests, Quadrium performed well... it was obviously using a lot of CPU cycles during some of its operations, but it did so without crashing. The stated requirements are for a G4 or G5, with a dual-processor box recommended. Obviously, this is the kind of software that will reward added computing power!
If I have a quibble with Quadrium, it's the price. Is this package worth 40 bucks? Definitely! The value packed into this little software bundle is immeasurable. Only thing is, with Quartz Composer being free, and with the huge amount of development going on in that direction, it's hard to justify buying Quadrium. For me personally, I would never have the time to do Quadrium justice. I'm hoping to eventually learn enough about QC to make interesting drawings, and one of the great rewards of QC is the animations that can easily become screen-savers or desktop backgrounds.
I do think it's easier to sit down with Quadrium and develop eye-catching designs than it is with QC, though. If you love messing around with patterns and designs, or need to do so for your livelihood, Quadrium will definitely reward experimentation. Nothing else out there is quite like it, which makes Quadrium freaking awesome Mac software!
