JAME

The way a computer function relies a lot of math operations, even though it’s not the classic type of practice you learn in school. But math can come in artistic variants too, with the Mandelbrot Set for instance, which is an infinitely generating sequence of images as you zoom in, which you can explore with applications like JAME.

A cool advantage is that you can take the application with you on a thumb drive to explore the Mandelbrot Set and show it to your friends. However, the computer you use it on needs to be equipped with Java Runtime Environment, otherwise you can’t make it run. On the other hand, portability ensures that registries remain intact.

The visual design is minimal, with most of the space dedicated to the preview area, and a toolbar with intuitive buttons for all functions you can trigger, as well as balloon tooltips for more details, in case you get stuck along the way. Moreover, you can quickly switch to the Julia Set, by simply clicking on the floating selection box.

Navigation can either be done through the mouse or keyboard, with the possibility to zoom in and out, with focused centered on the mouse cursor, as well as the option to rotate the set. If you want more variety, the application lets you apply effects like motion blur or area fade, but there aren’t any settings to change the expression used to build the set.

Apart from simple navigation, JAME can also help you build media content. For instance, you can capture frames each step of the way, and have them saved to file, or use the built-in recorder to create a clip, but be sure to configure effects right before recording if you want to include them too.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that JAME is a neat way to explore the Mandelbrot or Julia set, with simple, intuitive controls to zoom and rotate. What’s more, you can record your whole experience, either in pictures of interesting formations, or an entire clip as you make your way to deeper levels.