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Fractal Window Overview
The Fractal Science Kit fractal generator Fractal Window is the window that displays
a fractal image.
The fractal image is defined by a set of fractal properties found on the
Properties Pages accessed using the
Properties Window. When you start the Fractal Science
Kit (or open a new Fractal Window), a default
fractal is displayed. You can control the set of default property values by
creating a fractal properties file named My Default
Fractal.xml in the Fractal Science Kit Home folder. See
the
Save Fractal Properties command
description for details on saving the fractal properties to a file. My Default
Fractal.xml also controls the initial
Fractal Window displayed when you start the
Fractal Science Kit.
The Fractal Window has menu and
toolbar controls that provide access to all the other windows supported by the
application. You can open additional Fractal Windows
so that you can work with multiple fractals concurrently. There is no
distinction between the 1st Fractal Window
and any of the others that you have opened. You can close the 1st
Fractal Window, and if additional
Fractal Windows are open, the application will not
exit. When the last Fractal Window is closed, the
application will exit and any remaining open windows are closed automatically.
You can exit the application at once using the Exit
item on the File menu on any
Fractal Window and all open Fractal Windows
will immediately close.
If you open a fractal properties file (see Open File
below), the name of the file is displayed in the window's banner. Otherwise, the
window's banner displays a default name generated by the application. When you
save a fractal properties file (see Save
Fractal Properties below), you can change the name if required. The other
windows associated with this
Fractal Window (Properties Window,
Data Information Window, Information
Window) will also display the same name in their banner. If you save the
fractal image (see Save Fractal Image below),
the name is also used as the default image name.
When you click on the fractal image, information with respect to the sample
point on which you clicked is displayed in the Information
Window. Click on Information Window on
the View menu to view this information. This
information is very useful when you are setting up the
Color Controllers for a fractal in that
you can click on different parts of the fractal and examine the data associated
with the different points to guide your decisions with respect to mapping the
data to color. For example, an orbit trap may assign different index values to
different parts of the trap and you can use this to map different colors to the
different parts. By clicking on the trap you can examine which parts have which
index values to assist in the index to color mapping.
Depending on the state of several items on the Tools
menu, a click on the Fractal Window may have other
effects in addition to displaying information about the point in the Information
Window. The state (checked/unchecked) of the Preview Julia,
Show Orbit, and
Copy Point to Clipboard items on the Tools menu
control these effects. See the discussion of the Tools
menu below for details.
If none of the above mentioned items on the Tools
menu are selected (checked), you can double-click on a point in the
Fractal Window to perform a
2x zoom, centered on the point. For a much more controlled zoom, see the
discussion of the Zoom In item on the
View menu below.
The menu items provide complete access to all of the commands. Most of the
commands have a toolbar button as well. The following description is aimed at
the menu items but applies equally well to the toolbar buttons which are not
described separately. Hold the mouse over the toolbar button to see the
associated menu item text.
File Menu
The File menu has commands to:
-
Open a New Window. The new
Fractal Window has all the default property
settings. If you want to open a new window that is a copy of an existing
window, use the Display Fractal in New Window
menu item on the Tools menu of the window you
want to copy. You can control the set of default property values
by creating a fractal properties file named My Default
Fractal.xml in the Fractal Science Kit Home
folder. See the
Save Fractal Properties command
description for details on saving the fractal properties to a file. My Default
Fractal.xml also controls the initial
Fractal Window displayed when you start the
Fractal Science Kit.
-
Open a File. The
Open File dialog is displayed so you can
choose a file. All files created by the Fractal Science
Kit are saved as XML files. On the
Open File dialog, navigate to, and select the
XML file, and click Open. If the file
contains a set of programs, macros, or gradients; a browser (Program
Browser, Macro Editor,
Gradient Browser) is
opened to view/edit the file. If the file contains fractal properties, you are
asked if you want to replace the properties in the existing window or open a
new window. If you choose to replace the properties in the existing window,
the properties are replaced but the fractal is not redisplayed. This allows
you to make additional changes to the properties before you display the fractal. If you
do not need to make any changes, simply click Display
Fractal on the Tools menu to display the
fractal. If you choose to open a new window, the new window is created and the
fractal is displayed.
The File... command can also open selected gradient files created by other fractal programs
(i.e., files named *.ugr). When the
Open File dialog is displayed, navigate to, and
select the gradient file, and click Open. The
gradients in the file are converted to
a form compatible with the Fractal Science Kit and opened in a read-only
Gradient Browser where you can copy selected gradients to
your set of saved gradients in
My Gradients where they will be accessible to your
programs.
-
Open a browser (Program
Browser, Macro Editor,
Gradient Browser) to
view/edit the set of My...
programs/macros/gradients. These sets of objects are hooked into the
application just like the built-in objects. The browser is used to maintain
these sets. The browser allows you to order the objects in your set, add or
delete objects from the set, rename an object, edit the object data, and/or
export objects to a file.
-
Open a browser (Program
Browser, Macro Editor,
Gradient Browser) to view
the set of Built-in... programs/macros/gradients.
The built-in objects cannot be changed but you can copy/paste them into your
set of objects and modify them there. You can also reference a built-in object
in any fractal and the object is copied into the fractal and can be modified
there.
-
Close this
Fractal Window and any windows associated with
this Fractal Window.
-
Save Fractal Properties...
displays the Save Fractal Properties dialog so you can name
a file. Fractals are saved as XML files. This
command saves the properties for this Fractal Window
to the named XML file.
-
Save Fractal Image...
displays the Save Image dialog so you can name a
file. Image files can be saved as BMP,
JPEG,
TIFF, or PNG files.
This command saves the current fractal image to the named file.
-
Reset to Defaults resets
the fractal properties to the default property settings.
-
Register Product...
displays the Register
Product Dialog so you can register the product. Once the product is
registered, this item is disabled.
-
Exit the application. All
other windows are automatically closed.
View Menu
The View menu has commands to:
-
View the properties for this fractal in the
Properties Window. There is a separate
Properties Window for each fractal.
-
View information related to the data for this fractal in
the Data Information Window. There is a separate Data Information Window for each fractal.
-
View information related to this fractal in the
Information Window. There is a separate
Information Window for each fractal.
-
View diagnostics in the Error/Debug
Window. There is a single Error/Debug
Window shared by all fractals.
-
Resize... displays the Set Image Viewport dialog to adjust
the size/position/angle of the viewable area of the complex plane and/or the
size (in pixels) of the fractal image. The Center,
Magnification, and Angle,
are the point on the complex plane mapped to the center of the window, the
amount of magnification applied to the image, and the angle of rotation about
the center point, respectively. The Image Width
and Image Height specify the image width/height
in pixels and can be no more than 8000. Check Check to
constrain aspect ratio to retain the current ratio of Image Width
to Image Height; i.e., if you change
width/height, automatically change height/width to keep same aspect ratio.
Note that I update text of the other field when you hit
Enter or move to a different field. When adjusting the Image Width
and Image Height, remember that larger images
require more memory and take longer to generate. If
Anti-Aliasing is turned on,
these requirements are amplified and you can easily consume all the memory on
your computer. To generate larger images, see
Generating Large Images. The
size/position/angle controls are disabled for L-System fractals.
-
Display the Zoom In box to
allow you to magnify an area of the fractal. The zoom box is displayed on the
image and represents the portion of the image that will fill the window after
the zoom operation is complete. You can resize the zoom box by selecting 1 of
the 8 resize handles and dragging it to a new location. The resize handle
opposite the one you select/drag, remains fixed at its current position, and
the zoom box is resized as you move the selected handle. The aspect ratio of
the zoom box is the same as the image and cannot be changed; i.e., the ratio
of the zoom box height to the zoom box width will always match that of the
image. If you hold down the SHIFT key while
dragging the resize handle, the center of the zoom box remains fixed as you
resize the zoom box. You can move the zoom box by depressing the mouse button inside the
zoom box and dragging the zoom box to a new location. You can rotate the zoom
box by depressing the mouse button on part of the image outside the zoom box
and dragging the mouse to rotate the zoom box about its center. Once you have
positioned the zoom box to the desired location, use one of the items on the
Tools menu (or the associated toolbar buttons) to
display the fractal with its new magnification/orientation. Alternatively, you
can double-click on the fractal image while the zoom box is displayed to
invoke the Display Fractal command. If you wish
to cancel the zoom operation, simply select the menu item or toolbar button
again to remove the zoom box. While the zoom box is displayed, the
Zoom In menu item has a check next to it and the
Zoom In toolbar button is depressed. The
Zoom In menu item and toolbar button are disabled
on L-System fractals. To display grid lines on the zoom box, check the
Zoom Box Grid option on the
General tab of the Options Dialog.
-
Display the Zoom Out box to
allow you to expand the view to see parts of the fractal outside the current
view. The zoom box is displayed on the image and represents the portion of the
window that will contain the current image after the zoom operation is
complete. This not as natural as the Zoom In
operation and takes a little getting used to, but is very flexible. The
mechanics of resizing, moving, and rotating the zoom box, are the same as when
zooming in. Once you have positioned the zoom box to the desired location, use
one of the items on the Tools menu (or the
associated toolbar buttons) to display the fractal with its new
magnification/orientation. Alternatively, you can double-click on the fractal
image while the zoom box is displayed to invoke the
Display Fractal command. If you wish to cancel the zoom operation,
simply select the menu item or toolbar button again to remove the zoom box.
While the zoom box is displayed, the Zoom Out
menu item has a check next to it and the Zoom Out
toolbar button is depressed. The Zoom Out menu
item and toolbar button are disabled on L-System
fractals. To display grid lines on the zoom box, check the
Zoom Box Grid option on the
General tab of the Options Dialog.
-
Reset the view to the Home
area; i.e., set the Magnification to
1, move the Center
of the view to (0,0), set the
Angle of rotation to 0, and redisplay the fractal.
The Home menu item and toolbar button are
disabled on L-System fractals.
Tools Menu
The Tools menu has the following commands:
-
Preview Julia changes the
cursor to a cross and places the
Fractal Window into a state where clicking on the Mandelbrot fractal generates a Julia fractal preview in the
Preview Window. The point on the Mandelbrot fractal where you click is
used as the Julia Constant for the preview. There
is a single
Preview Window shared by all windows
and each click on the Mandelbrot image generates a new Julia fractal preview,
replacing any image currently in the
Preview Window.
If you wish to cancel the operation, simply select the menu item or toolbar
button again. While you are in this state, the Preview
Julia menu item has a check next to it and the
Preview Julia toolbar button is depressed. The
Preview Julia menu item and toolbar button are disabled on Julia fractals, Orbital
fractals, and L-System fractals. The preview is
based on the properties that were in effect when the
Mandelbrot fractal was generated. Any changes to the properties pages
since the Mandelbrot fractal was generated have
no affect on the resulting Julia fractal. See
Exploring Julia Fractals for details.
-
Show Orbit changes the
cursor to a cross and places the Fractal Window
into a state where clicking on the fractal image displays the orbit associated
with that point as a series of dashed lines connecting the orbit points. Each
click on the fractal image generates a new orbit display, replacing any orbit
currently displayed. In addition to displaying the orbit, information about
the final orbit point is displayed in the Information
Window. If you wish to cancel the operation, simply select the
menu item or toolbar button again. While you are in this state, the
Show Orbit menu item has a check next to it and
the Show Orbit toolbar button is depressed. The
Show Orbit feature works best when you are zoomed
out to the point where the entire fractal is visible. If you are zoomed in too
far, orbit points may be omitted and the orbit display is slow and unreliable. The
Show Orbit menu item and toolbar button are
disabled on Orbital fractals and L-System fractals. The orbit is based on the
properties that were in effect when the fractal was generated. Any changes to
the properties pages since the fractal was generated have no affect on the
resulting orbit.
-
Copy Point to Clipboard
changes the cursor to a cross and places the
Fractal Window into a state where clicking on the
fractal copies the point on the complex plane where you clicked to the
Windows clipboard. From there, it can be pasted
into any editor or textbox as required. If you wish to cancel the operation,
simply select the menu item or toolbar button again. While you are in this
state, the Copy Point to Clipboard menu item has
a check next to it and the Copy Point to Clipboard
toolbar button is depressed.
-
Preview Fractal generates a
preview of the fractal (in the Preview Window) that would result if you were to execute the
Display Fractal command. This is useful when you
have made 1 or more changes to the properties and want a quick look at the
effects of those changes without incurring the cost of redisplaying the
fractal in the full window. If the Zoom In or
Zoom Out state is active, the zoom is applied to
the preview.
-
Display Fractal in New Window
generates a new Fractal Window based on the
current values of all the properties associated with the existing
Fractal Window. If the Zoom
In or Zoom Out state is active, the zoom
is applied to the new Fractal Window. This
command is used to open a new window for exploration while still retaining the
current window.
-
Display Fractal / Compile All
forces all programs to recompile before displaying the fractal. Normally, the
application will only compile and execute a program if it has changed or it
depends on data that has changed. For example, if you simply change the way
the samples are mapped to colors, the samples do not need to be regenerated
and the programs associated with sample generation will not be compiled or
executed. However, when you change inline functions, methods or macros, a
program only needs to be recompiled if it uses one or more of the functions,
methods, or macros that have changed. The application does not attempt to make
this determination so you must force a recompilation if you change inline
functions, methods, or macros that could impact programs that have not changed
in other ways and would therefore not be recompiled otherwise. See
Optimization for details. If the
Zoom In or Zoom Out
state is active, the zoom is applied. This command is rarely used.
-
Display Fractal generates a
new fractal for the existing Fractal Window based
on the current values of all the fractal properties. The application will only
compile and execute a program if it has changed or it depends on data that has
changed. For example, if you simply change the way the samples are mapped to
colors, the samples do not need to be regenerated and the programs associated
with sample generation will not be compiled or executed. See
Optimization for details. If the
Zoom In or Zoom Out
state is active, the zoom is applied.
-
Cancel Display
can be used to pause or terminate
an active display request. When you click Cancel Display,
a dialog is displayed asking you to confirm the request. If you click
Yes, the fractal generation is terminated. If you
click No, the fractal generation resumes where it
left off. Cancel Display is only
enabled if the Fractal Window is currently
processing a Display Fractal request.
Cancel Display can be used to break out of
infinite loops in your program, to stop a previous request that is taking too
long, or to terminate a display request if you decide you need to make
additional changes to the properties before you display the fractal. If the
Zoom In or Zoom Out
state was active when the Display Fractal command
was executed, the zoom is applied to the fractal even if you cancel the
request and any future display request will reflect the new position.
-
Generate Scaled Image allows you to generate very large images.
When you execute the command, the Save
Image dialog is displayed so you can select the image type, and specify
the name and folder for the image file. Next, the Generate Scaled Image
dialog is displayed so you can select a Scale Factor.
The width and height of the current fractal are multiplied by the
Scale Factor to determine the size of the
resulting image. To generate the image, the fractal is divided into an
NxN grid, where N is
the Scale Factor. Each grid cell is used to
generate a new image as large as the original fractal, and these are combined
into a single scaled image. The Shut Down Computer
option can be checked to shut down the computer when the command completes.
This command clears the sample data storage associated with the fractal in
this window. See
Generating Large Images for details.
-
Generate Image
Set allows you to generate a set of images from the fractal properties
files in a folder.
When you execute the command, the Generate Image Set
dialog is displayed so you can select a Folder
and Image Format. The command opens each fractal
properties file found in Folder, generates the
associated fractal, and saves the image in the given
Image Format. The image file name is the same as the fractal properties file but with the XML suffix
replaced by one appropriate for the image type. The
Image Size option is used to resize the set of images based on the
Size option. The Shut
Down Computer option can be checked to shut down the computer when the
command completes. This command clears the sample data storage
associated with the fractal in this window. See
Generating Multiple Images for details.
-
Clear Texture Cache clears
the cache that holds textures used by the
Color Controllers. When a texture is loaded, it is placed in the texture
cache so that future requests for the texture do not need to reload the image
data. This greatly improves the performance with respect to texture
processing. The downside is that if you relocate/change a texture, the image
data may exist in the cache and the change will not be apparent until the
application is closed and then restarted. The Clear
Texture Cache command solves this problem. If you determine that a
change you made to a texture file is not reflected in the corresponding
texture object loaded into the application, it is likely that the texture is
in the texture cache and you will need to execute the
Clear Texture Cache command to clear the cache. Once you execute this
command, requests for a texture will reload the cache with the current file.
This command is rarely used.
-
Clear Sample Data clears
the sample data storage associated with the fractal in this window. When a
fractal is generated, a large amount of memory is used to store the data
associated with the fractal. This data is required to perform
Processing
Optimization. If you are willing to forgo
Processing
Optimization, you can reclaim this memory by executing this command. The
sample data is also required by the Data Information
Window. This command is disabled if the sample data has already been
cleared. At any time, you can execute the Display
Fractal command to regenerate the sample data. This command is rarely
used.
-
Backup My Programs copies the
My Programs folder and all the
files therein, to a new folder under
the My Backups folder named
My Programs <Date> where <Date>
is the current date/time. See My Backups
for details.
-
Options... displays the
Options Dialog used to set program options.
Help Menu
The Help menu has the following commands:
-
Open Documentation...
opens the documentation in your browser to this page. See
Installing the Documentation for details
on downloading a disk-based version of the online documentation to your
machine.
-
Open Site Map... opens the
documentation in your browser to the Fractal Science Kit
Site Map.
-
Fractal Science Kit Tutorials...
opens the online tutorials in your browser.
-
Fractal Science Kit Examples...
opens the fractal examples page in your browser.
-
About Fractal Science Kit...
displays a dialog with product information including the registered user, the
product version, and the document version.
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