FrEx user guide

FrEx should be very simple to use if you already know how to use other Windows applications. You can create new fractals and save them to disk, open existing ones and navigate through the history as you would with a web browser.

The Mandelbrot Set is navigated by dragging a rectangle around an area of interest on the currently displayed fractal. This area is then magnified and replaces the current view.

FrEx employs a stepped resolution technique. The image is built up by increasing the resolution in stages. At any point the process can be stopped and a new zoom area selected. Stepped resolution enables you to get a vague idea of the end result without having to wait for the full process to complete.

Contents:

  1. Quick start.
  2. Menu options.
  3. Toolbar.
  4. Status Bar.
  5. New/Properties dialog.
  6. Options dialog.

1. Quick start:

  1. Run FrEx.
  2. Select 'File', 'New' from the menu.
  3. Click 'OK'. (Ignore the properties in the box for now).
  4. When the bottom left status panel indicates 'Finished', select an area of the display by pointing with the mouse and dragging out a rectangle.
  5. Select 'Tools', 'Generate' from the menu.
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2. Menu options:

  • File:
    • New - Opens the 'New fractal' dialog box.
    • Open - Opens the standard file 'Open' dialog box.
    • Save - Saves an existing file otherwise as 'Save As'.
    • Save As - Opens the standard file 'Save' dialog box.
    • Properties - Opens the 'Properties' dialog box for the current fractal.
    • Exit - Exits the application.
  • View:
    • Toolbar - Toggles the toolbar on or off.
    • Status Bar - Toggles the status bar on or off.
    • Refresh - Refreshes the display.
  • Navigation:
    • Home - Sets the current fractal to the default location.
    • Back - Traverses back one history item.
    • Forward - Traverses forward one history item.
  • Tools:
    • Generate - Starts the fractal generation process.
    • Stop - Stops the fractal generation process.
    • Continue - Continues a stopped process.
    • Skip - Skips to the next generation resolution.
    • Options - Opens the 'Options' dialog box.
    • Priority - Gives access to the generate priority menu. This allows you to prioritize FrEx operations in relation to other Windows tasks. A low priority will effectively enable FrEx to operate as a background task, whereas a high priority will enable FrEx operations to complete more quickly but at the expense of other tasks.
  • Help:
    • About FrEx - Displays details relating to the current version etc.
    • Contact
      • Mail - Opens an e-mail window.
      • Web - Points your web browser at http://www.netthing.co.uk.
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3. Toolbar:

  • All toolbar buttons are replicated in the main menu.
  • For a description of a toolbar button hold the mouse pointer over it.
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4. Status Bar:

  • The status bar has three panes:
    1. Shows the current generation status, ie. Generating, Stopped, etc.
    2. Indicates the progress and current resolution during generation.
    3. Shows the current history position and the total number of history entries, eg. 7 of 9.
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5. New/Properties dialog:

  • Name:
    • The title of the current fractal.
  • Coordinates:
    • Pstart, Pfinish, Qstart, Qfinish - These values are the co-ordinates of the current fractal in the complex plane. They can be ignored as all navigation is handled via the mouse.
  • Accuracy:
    • Iterations - More iterations will produce a more fractured image.
    • Escape - A larger escape value can produce a better image.
  • Appearance:
    • Monochrome - Directs the generation process to produce a colour or monochrome fractal image.
    • Modulation - Affects the banding in a monochrome image.
    • Colours - The number of discrete colours in the resultant fractal image.
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6. Options dialog:

  • Operation:
    • Auto generate - When this is checked generation occurs automatically when a new fractal is loaded or created. This also applies to history navigation.
  • Resolution range:
    • Controls the number of steps taken when generating a fractal. For example, a sequence of 8, 4, 1 would take three passes to complete with the resolution increasing each time. A sequence of 1, 1, 1 would generate the fractal in one pass. The values indicate the size of each effective 'pixel' in terms of actual screen pixels.
  • Accuracy:
    • Iterative increment - In order to maintain the 'fracturedness' of the image you are generating, it is necessary to increment the number of iterations used for each image as you zoom in. This control allows you to adjust the increment. A larger number will probably give better results, but it will take longer to generate the image.
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