Fractalytic Version History

v0.63.5

  • Added a second function type for the Newton-Raphson Method (f(x) = x^n - x^(n-1) - 1).
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the Mandelbrot set not to appear in the centre of the window and stopped it being stretched/squashed after resizing of the main window.

v0.63.4

  • Added choosable colour schemes for the Mandelbrot, Mandelbar and Julia fractal types.
  • Some changes to the Newton-Raphson method code has meant a slight speed decrease for low power renders but a speed increase for high power renders.
  • A new option for colouring by iteration instead of root for Newton-Raphson method has also been included.
  • Fixed a bug that stopped the reset zoom working for Newton-Raphson method.
  • Newton-Raphson method now centralises on screen when window size is changed.

v0.63.3

  • Extended the anti-alias routines to Symmetric Fractals, Square Quilts and Hexagonal Quilts.
  • Improved the render speed of the Mandelbrot and Julia sets (and derivatives) by removing some unnecessary calls to functions in the drawing routines.

v0.63.2

  • Extended the anti-alias routines to include the Sierpinski Carpet, Dragon Curve, Levy C Curve, Koch Curve and Symmetric Icons.
  • Some optimisation of Fractal Fern code to marginally improve render times.

v0.63.1

  • Added multicolour options to Quilts and Symmetric Fractal types; this will apply a three colour (red, green and blue) implementation of the code with red as the base.
  • Preview drawing for these fractal types has also been changed so that less pixesl are plotted giving a better representation of what the final fractal will look like without the preview image fading to white.
  • The Fractal Fern is the first of the affine transformation fractals to include anti-alias routines.

v0.63.0

  • Included new fractal type: Strange Attractors. This implemenetation will draw the Lorenz and Pickover Strange Attractors in four views.

v0.62.5

  • Added updated options form for Diffusion Limited Aggregation and the Buddhabrot/Anti-Buddhabrot fractal sets.
  • Included new absolute ("Burning Ship") routines for the Buddhabrot and Anti-Buddhabrot fractal types.
  • Removed the colour and brightness from the General Options menu item and incorporated these into the relevant fractal options.
  • Added Save Image and Specific Fractal options to the File menu.
  • Modified some of the code to make future updating and bug finding slightly easier.

v0.62.4

  • The Chaos Game has been added to the Pre-defined Affined Transformations updated options form and extended the colour options to include green and iterated green.
  • New options forms have been created for the four Symmetric / Quilts fractals.
  • An update has been made to the Symmetric Icons drawing routine fixing a bug seen and the scale factor has been reduced.

v0.62.3

  • Added the Sierpinski Gasket, Sierpinski Carpet, Koch curve, the Levy C Curve and Dragon Curve to the list of fractals with updated options form style (including adding the Fractal Fern colouring options to each).
  • Changed the Fractal Fern routine so that it can be drawn using either a shear technique or a rotation technique with the shear amount or angle user definable (the rotation works but is not yet perfect so will be developed further in a later version).
  • Fixed a minor bug that could occur when a user had previously drawn an affine transformation fractal then clicked the preview button directly before changing the anti-alias options.
  • Increased the maximum iterations in the Mandelbrot set to 1500 and in Julia set/Newton-Raphson to 1000.

v0.62.2

  • Updated the options for the Fractal Fern including new colouring options and a preview window.
  • Fixed a bug in the Mandelbrot, Julia and Newton-Raphson routines when the user had resized the window between drawing.
  • (Note that Julia and Newton-Raphson routines still zoom fully out if the window is resized after zooming in - I will try to work on this for a later version).

v0.62.1

  • The new Options Form style has been applied to the Newton-Raphson Method of Approximation.
  • Added a new smooth colour transition option to the Mandelbrot set, Julia set and Newton-Raphson Methods which is slightly slower but gives smooth gradients to the colours instead of the normal banding that comes with shading using integer iterations (this works in the preview window as well as the main window).
  • The maximum iterations for Mandelbrot drawing has been increased to 1000 from 500 to enable more detail in high zooms.
  • Fixed a slight bug in the Preview Window so it now clears when re-opening the options window.

v0.62.0

  • Changed the name to Fractalytic.
  • Added a new option to the Diffusion Limited Aggregation Fractal Type: Plots per Pass - the higher the number the quicker the drawing will finish but the less responsive the program and longer time between screen refreshes
  • The Mandelbrot and Julia Options Screens have had a revamp.
  • The Mandelbrot Options now let you choose the initial top left co-ordinates, zoom, power and style for the render as well as providing a small preview picture (the power and style options now means that Mandelbar and Burning Ship are now incorporated into the standard Mandelbrot choice so no longer appear as separate menu items).
  • The Julia set has similar options and now incorporates the equivalent of mandelbar and burning ship Julia sets.
  • Other fractal options will be revamped in later releases to give the same functionality and ease of use.

v0.61.2

  • Added the Levy C Curve as a new Fractal Type.
  • Changed the handling of DLA random walking points that leave the screen (they now wraparound and rejoin at the opposite edge instead of being deleted if they wander too far off screen).

v0.61.1

  • Main options are now automatically saved (this does not include iteration levels or parameters for individual fractal types but this may come later).
  • There has been a very slight presentational change in the toolbars.
  • The Sierpinski Gasket is now included in the anti-alias routines.
  • Diffusion Limited Aggregation has been included with six different starting types (including single point, horizontal line three circles and multiple random points) and the option of pure white or full-colour.

v0.61.0

  • The Iterated Function fractals (Sierpinski Gasket, Fractal Fern etc.) routines have been optimised to improve the speed.
  • Added Mandelbar sets up to power 20 and the equivalent of the burning ship, buddhabrot and anti-buddhabrot for the mandelbar set.
  • The main menu order has been changed and some grouping made.
  • Fixed a bug that occurred if you made the window smaller before drawing any fractals.
  • The Chaos Game has been added.

v0.60.3

  • The Anti-Buddhabrot is now zoomable.
  • The Burning Ship Fractal has been added.
  • Anti-Aliasing for some fractal types (specifically the Escape Time sets such as Mandelbrot, Julia and Newton-Raphson).
  • Changed the Newton-Raphson drawing routine to make it slightly faster.
  • Added a timer function that can be switched on/off to show how long each Fractal is taking to draw.

v0.60.2

  • The Anti-Buddhabrot set has been included (an obvious choice after the last update).
  • The Buddhabrot options now include higher iterations and is now zoomable (beware though that zooming into this can cause very slow rendering as the entire set needs to be tracked with much greater precision than when zoomed out).
  • I've change the brightness/contrast and colour options for the Buddhabrot (and Anti-Buddhabrot) to give much more control over the render including the ability to change this afterwards (see the website for technical details).
  • I've also fixed a bug in the Hexagonal Quilts drawing routine and added some extra error trapping routines including making sure that the user cannot resize the form while a drawing operation is taking place and minimising the form now does not destroy the previously generated fractal.

v0.60.1

  • Included the Buddhabrot set fractal type.
  • Also increased the speed of some of the existing fractal types (Mandelbrot set, Julia set and Newton-Raphson) and improved the drawing routine for Symmetric Icons and Quilts.
  • Fixed a few bugs that caused overflow errors.

v0.60.0

  • The first version to be written in Visual Basic. I've tried to keep most things the same but it now includes a fully resizable Window, better dialog boxes, progress bars and double precision numbers.
  • The drawing routines may seem a little bit slower at times but the better precision and Windows components make up for this.
  • I've added the Koch Curve and Koch Snowflake into the same menu option and a "random" snowflake can now be drawn.
  • The Save option now includes more filetypes.

v0.58.5

  • The last version to be written using Blitz Basic.
  • A quick release with an extra fractal created using affine transformations (the Dragon Curve).
  • The Dragon Curve can be generated using two or four affine transformations giving the impression of two or four of them stuck together. The random element does not work properly yet but I've left it in as some interesting effects can be seen occasionally.
  • Also the symmetric Icons, Symmetric Fractals, Square Quilts and Hex Quilts can now be drawn in three shades instead of just the usual red (multicolour will be coming soon).

v0.58.4

  • This has been a bug fixing release.
  • The Hexagonal Quilt drawing routine has been sorted and I also came across a bug that was preventing some fractal types being drawn after others had been used.
  • Next time I'm hoping to start getting some colour into the two types of quilt and possibly saveable options.

v0.58.3

  • The Options screen has been changed to be a bit more interesting - instead of clicking on text fields all options are now presented as icons (click on the left/right arrows to change and OK button to save).
  • I have also fixed a problem with the shift component of the Square Quilts fractal type (still no change to the toggle parameter this time but hopefully that will be in the next release).
  • Hexagonal Quilts have been added, again, from the Symmetry in Chaos book, but there is a bug in the drawing routine that I hope to find and sort out by the next version.

v0.58.2

  • I have fixed a problem with the period parameter of the Square Quilts fractal type (the last version didn't do anything with this parameter) and I've identified a problem with the toggle parameter that I hope to fix in the next release.
  • I've also changed some of the code for the spinner buttons so that they all look and work in a more uniform way.
  • The Koch Curve and Koch Snowflake are now drawn much larger on screen and I've fixed the Random Koch Curve options.

v0.58.1

  • Another Fractal Type added from the Symmetry in Chaos book (Square Quilts).
  • Also changed the version control (the .x after the main number will signify a small change), I have implemented this as I expect the next version will be very similar to this one but with a few tweaks to the Square Quilts drawing routine to make it more colourful.

v0.57

  • Added another Fractal Type (Symmetric Fractals).
  • This is another Fractal from the Symmetry in Chaos book that is similar to the Symmetric Icons type added in the last version.
  • The information screen has had a (very) slight makeover but more to be added to this in a later version.
  • The "plotting..." text has been added to all Fractal Types just so that you know the program is doing something even if you can't see it (pressing escape while this message is showing on screen will cancel the current drawing operation).

v0.56

  • Added a new Fractal Type - Symmetric Icons. Thanks to Ashley Buckner to pointing me towards the Symmetry in Chaos book by Michael J Field and Martin Golubitsky. This is my version of one of the fractal types mentioned in the book.
  • There isn't any info about the new type in the help screens yet (another version will be forthcoming shortly with improved help and info).
  • A "plotting..." status is shown on the new Fractal Type and that will be added to the others for the next version.

v0.55

  • Drawing routine changes now implemented in all Fractal Types (new toolbars and mouse still active during drawing).
  • A dialog box now briefly appears on screen when saving an image (this still needs some further work though).
  • More text added to the Help screen to introduce the new Toolbars but this will be updated further soon to make it look more professional.

v0.54

  • The changes to the Mandelbrot routine from v0.53 have been implemented in the Newton-Raphson method and the Julia set (toolbars are as below).
  • Also the Newton-Raphson method now inlcudes a zoom function.

v0.53

  • Added a simple "About" screen.
  • Changed the main screen image.
  • The Mandelbrot routine has been completely revamped so that the mouse pointer is still active while rendering and the screen now includes a toolbar with 6 options:
    • Menu will take you back to the main screen
    • Save will save a picture of the current view and place it into the same directory as the main program
    • Options will display a dialog box
    • Go will start the rendering process if you have changed any options
    • Stop will stop a render in progress
    • Full will zoom fully out and start the rendering process again
  • (I intend to add this functionality to all of the other fractal types but thought that I would release a version like this to show the progress of the application).

v0.52

  • Added some basic Dialog Box routines for setting the initial conditions of the variables.
  • All fractal types now blank the screen before drawing so it doesn't look as though the program has frozen when redrawing the same fractal using different conditions.
  • Each fractal type will now automatically draw when chosen.

v0.51

  • I've added some options to change screen resolution and mode.
  • The program will now run in three resolutions (640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768). But make sure that your graphics card can cope with these resolutions as, at the moment, I haven't put in to place any error checking routines.

v0.5

  • A new front screen has been added with a simple menu system (Options and Credits are not available yet).
  • Some more very slight optimisations of the drawing code.

v0.45

  • Added a basic save function for creating screenshots. Press s once the drawing operation has completed and a bmp will be saved in the Chaos directory (It will not overwrite files already present so you can save multiple shots per session).
  • Some slight changes to the infomation screens.

v0.44

  • Some slight speed increases by optimising code and drawing 1x1 rectangles instead of WritePixel.
  • The top left corner now displays the number of milliseconds taken to draw the image for Julia Set, Mandelbrot Set and Newton-Raphson Method.

v0.43

  • Added two new versions of the fractal Fern/Tree and will now draw a random (although still self-similar) Koch Curve.
  • + and - buttons now accept input when holding the left mouse button down and so you can increase/decrease the variables faster.

v0.42

  • Added the Koch Curve and Snowflake and a Fern generated using affine transformations.

v0.41

  • Added the zoom routine to the Julia Set.
  • Right clicking will now zoom fully out and will start the rendering process for other Fractal types.
  • Fixed a bug on the Julia Set where variables rolling to zero would show 2.53

v0.4

  • Added the Sierpinski Carpet type.
  • Made a simple zoom function for the Mandelbrot Beetle (once you have drawn the initial picture clicking the mouse on the picture will zoom in). Blitz Floating point numbers are not very precise so the zoom function is limited to approximately 6 or 7 zooms.
  • Enhanced the information screens with a basic scrollbar but still need to make them look better.

v0.3

  • I've added some basic information screens for each of the Fractal types.

v0.21

  • Put a brief help file on front menu.
  • Added a routine for drawing Sierpinski's Gasket

v0.2

  • Added a small menu system, the Mandelbrot "Beetle" and the Julia Set.
  • Controls and limitations remain the same at the moment.
  • I've also significantly increased the rendering speed by optimising the code.

v0.1

  • Newton-Raphson Method of Approximation (index 2 - 10, number of iterations 5 - 500).
  • Limitations: the picture doesn't clear after rendering so pressing g on the keyboard a second time for the same index and iterations will make the program look as though it isn't responding.