Requirements Color Fractal Generator (CFG) is only intended for use on a Macintosh color computer with at least a 4 bit (16 color) display and System 6.05 or later (System 7.x preferred). System 6.0x must run with MultiFinder. This program supports 4, 8, 16, and 32 bit color systems, but the monitor must be at least 12" in size (minimum of 512 pixels by 384 pixels). CFG does not require a math coprocessor (even though it is doing some heavy number crunching), but it will take advantage of one, if present. The program is 32-bit clean and can generate fractals in the background, permitting the user to engage in other frivolous activities. Power Macs must currently run this program in emulation mode (see the PowerMacs section below). This program has been designed to provide extensive scripting support. CFG has the appropriate code to handle both AppleScript and UserLand Frontier. Using the scripting capabilities is definitely not required to generate great fractals using CFG, but it does provide the user with the ability to extend the power of this program. One can write scripts to provide simple utilities that make CFG easier to use (such as the Stack Windows sample script), automate the exploration of the fractal universe, or even create fractal movies. If one does not posess an the AppleScript extensions or the commercial version of Frontier, Frontier Runtime may be used. This is the Shareware version of Frontier. It has some limitations, but it does provide a lot of the capabilities of the full version, but at a greatly reduced cost (since it's Shareware, you can also try before you buy). The runtime version is available on bulletin boards or Shareware CD-ROMs. If you have access to the full version, even better. New in Version 2.1 The color model has been corrected for 4-bit and 8-bit color systems. These settings (especially the 8-bit) will produce brilliantly colored fractals whose color can be reliably reproduced. Scripting support has been added including an extensive set of verbs, shared menus, and a quick script utility. In addition to native CFG palettes, this program can load palettes from resources of type 'clut' and 'pltt'. One may select the floating point display precision, anywhere from 3 to 18 digits. The Window Size item from the Size menu has been removed. Having the option of resizing the fractal image data whenever the window was resized or zoomed was just too volatile. However, three QuickTime sizes have been added to this menu. Other significant features include: support for 4, 16, and 32-bit color, full background processing, building multiple fractals simultaneously, palettes, saving a fractal during generation and then restarting where left off (registered users), both a help dialog providing extensive online support and balloon help for quick reminders, System 7.0 features, and support for computers with and without math coprocessors. Very Brief Background: The fractals in this program are the result of pseudo code taken from Scientific American. It creates fractals using either Mandelbrot, Julia, Dragon, or Random Walk algorithms. The Mandelbrot and Julia fractals are the fractals that most people have seen previously. The Dragon fractal family is very similar to both Mandelbrot and Julia families. In these fractals, the screen is a complex coordinate grid. There is one constant complex number and one that varies. Each pixel is assigned a color by an algorithm that determines the amount of iterations needed for the algorithm to reach an escape ("freedom") value. A limit is placed on the iterations ("accuracy") which stops the calculation if it seems that the algorithm will never reach the freedom value. The lower these freedom and accuracy values are set, the faster the fractals can be generated. Colors are determined by the number of iterations required to reach the freedom value. If a pixel does not reach freedom, it is colored black. If a screen location is already beyond the freedom value, the pixel is colored white. The Random Walk algorithm places a pixel in the center of the screen. It then places one at the edge of an invisible circle and the computer moves the pixel in random directions. It stops when the pixel touches a colored pixel or goes outside the circle. This process continues until some number of colored pixels are displayed on the screen. An option exists to display the point as it wanders aimlessly. Note: This algorithm is quite time consuming. For maximum speed, do not display the walk, just display the end result. The walk is entertaining, but only for a few minutes (not a few hours or days). The circle size for Random Walk constantly changes in an attempt to limit the time required for fractal generation. This circle is not too close to the central colored pixels, but not so far that the generation time becomes ridiculous.