Ultra Fractal

Digital art comes under various forms. Whether it's a 3D polished object that gets the audience's attention or a bunch of pixels placed in a retro style poster, these are created with powerful applications and beefy computers. Dedicated to a form heavily based on math and strong algorithms, Ultra Fractal lets you create images or animations from variations of the Mandelbrot set.

Some time needs to be spent going through all the application puts at your disposal. Starting from a simple representation of the Mandelbrot set you can zoom in on any region for an infinite number of times. Colors can be managed, with a side panel holding various tools and general options. You also find a progress bar which is used to create animations by defining each frame.

File support is pretty impressive, both for import and export. Formats you can add are not only images and fractals, but also parameters, gradients, transformations, formulas and more. On the other hand, export is a bit easier, with options for pictures and even video.

If you've never taken the time to enjoy the unlimited images that can be generated from a Mandelbrot set, then this is mostly how you get to spend the first few minutes. If not, there's a rich panel fitted with properties that let you thoroughly manage layers, properties, mode, statistics and even a color cycling feature.

As mentioned above, you can use the application to create animations. Don't expect characters and interactions, not even sound. The overall effect is fully based on color and emerges you in a visual psychedelic experience, constantly zooming in or out of the set.

This is further enhanced by an option to cycle colors either in or out, which you set for multiple levels of zoom. The main window timeline can be enough for short animations, but you can bring up an advanced one to increase total time, manage layer placement and effects.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Ultra Fractal is packed with a lot more than can be said in a few words. A lot of time is required, not to get acquainted with the abundance of features, but rather to experiment with all possibilities and decide on just the right frame, position and color option.