FractalMorph
Last updated at 12:29 am UTC on 17 January 2006
the SqueakMap package is here
a rookie attempt at Fractals in Squeak!
some collected images
FractalForm can exist on its own, but for all the parameters which go into a given Form, FractalMorph is a cool interface.
- Update: 6/28/04 New to FractalMorph is an "animation" feature. I'll get the changes on SqueakMap soon. Basically now there is a button you press that prompts for a file name. The current state of the fractal is iterated over for about 45 frames, each increasing in "depth" of the fractal. These frames are used to make JPEGMovieFile - which as far as I can tell is only usable by the Squeak Movie Player - I would like to find out how to get these to something I can view as an MPEG. It is pretty cool I guess, but definitely is slow as Christmas, and those durn JPEG's are not at the same color depth as the Squeak ImageForm, and I don't know what's up with that either...
Well, it is still pretty fun even with the limitations and its slowness, and is still very simple to use…
Get started by evaluating: (FractalMorph open).
Notes on Usage
- To change the iterations you must submit the value (shift-cmd-s, alt-s, etc)
- It is pretty slow overall. I was more interested in the interaction capabilities. I do not have the mentality for tweaking the algorithm for speed and performance. Please be patient.
- Zooming: The zooming is automatic, but sometimes you don't want to zoom, perhaps accidentally moved the cursor over the fractal form. To cancel a rectangle request just make a rectangle whose ending corner is "behind" the origin (a good rectangle starts from the top-left corner and you end with the bottom-right corner).
- Export function allows you to save out images.
- The filename prompt will have soemthing like "FractalForm.bmp" initially. Leave This! Just put some kind of identifier around "FractalFrom" –> "myfirstFractalForm.bmp".
- files with this convention will be picked up and moved into a "fractals" folder. I had to have this because my default directory is way too cluttered to handle a bunch of random fractal images as well.
I must cite my main source for a C implementation, which I transformed into the #createFractor method for FractalForm.
If you are playing with this in Squeak and see something that can be easily improved, let me know. I realize I should probably study up on fractals more because at this point I am stuck with this one algorithm (though I suspect there are a whole class of these and would like to make this aspect of the process into a parameter as well - that is something to consider - an algorithm parser).
Webb
