README.md

Fractal Generator

Just a bit of fun...

A JavaScript implementation of an interactive fractal generator. It supports both Mandelbrot and Julia modes and 'Standard', 'Burning Ship' and 'Tricorn' variants using a variety of color rendering themes, including user-generated colour palettes and gradients.

The application also supports basic 'Deep Zoom' and 'Julia Spin' animation.

Fractal can be configured via a set of 'quick-set' buttons, or more comprehensively via a manual configuration form which allows specific coordinates to be entered in complex (real/imaginary) notation.

How to Use

The instructions can be viewed by clicking on the button:

• Click anywhere in the image to zoom in current cursor position by the zoom increment amount..
• Click, drag and release to zoom into drawn area.
• Ctrl + Click to zoom out at current cursor position by zoom increment amount.
• Shift + Click to centre at current cursor position.
• Alt(Option) + Click to toggle between Mandelbrot and Julia modes at current cursor position (useful points of interest can be found just outside the perimeter of the Mandelbrot set).
• Press to reset to default settings.
• Press to zoom in at current coordinates.
• Press to zoom out at current coordinates.
• Press to turn zoom animation on or off. A series of frames will be automatically generated, centered at the current coordinates with the zoom level incremented by the 'zoom increment' amount.
• Press to cycle through modes (Mandelbrot / Julia).
• Press to cycle through variants (Standard / Burning Ship / Tricorn).
• Press to cycle exponent (2 - 6).
• Press to cycle through color themes.
• Press / to shift color theme up or down.
• Press / to rotate Julia Set clockwise or anti-clockwise.
• Press to turn Julia spin animation on or off.
• Press to save image.
• Press to open or close settings panel.
• Press to open or close help panel.

To create a custom color rendering palette

• Choose a palette depth of 4, 8, 12 or 16 colors.
• Choose a gradient depth of 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512 levels.
• Choose the color interpolation method ('None' or 'Linear').
• Create the palette by picking colors using the color picker widget and applying the selection to each palette slot in turn.
• Click 'PAINT'. A color gradient will be created dynamically and applied to the displayed fractal.
• The custom color gradient will also be added to the list of available color rendering themes in the format 'User_x_nnn', where 'x' is an auto-incremented number and 'nnn' is the number of levels.

How to Deploy

To view and deploy as a web page

The project can be deployed as an Electron (Node.js) desktop application (index2.html), or as a stand-alone web site index.html.

To view as a web page, simply open the index.html file from the project root directory in any web browser. To deploy to a web server, from your command line:

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/Algol-Variables/fractal-generator
# Go into the repository
cd fractal-generator
# Copy files to required web server directory e.g. /var/www/html/fractal/
cp {complexlite.js, colorutils.js, fractalutils.js, app.js, index.html, styles.css, resources/*} /var/www/html/fractal

See, for example: fractal-generator

To build and deploy as a desktop application

To clone and run this repository you'll need Git and Node.js (which comes with npm) installed on your computer. From your command line:

# Clone this repository
git clone https://github.com/Algol-Variables/fractal-generator
# Go into the repository
cd fractal-generator
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Install electron-forge (if required)
npm install --save-dev @electron-forge/cli
npx electron-forge import
# Run the app
npm start
# Create local app executable using electron-forge (if required)
npm run make
# The executable application (.app, .exe, etc.) can be found in the /out/make directory
cd out/make

License

Copyright: Algol Variables © 2021

GPLv3 License

Icons from iconmonstr - License

Author Information

[email protected]