FracThunder

Sure enough math may seem like just a bunch of numbers with little practicality in real life while in school. However, math is behind most activities performed on a daily routine. It can even be used to generate art, and there's no better example than fractals, with applications like FracThunder to prove a point.

You can go ahead and check out the application's set of features from the moment download is done, and this is all thanks to the lack of an installer. It enables you to store it on a thumb drive in case you want to show it to others. Runtime has no impact on the health status of the computer you use it on because it doesn't bind itself to system registry entries, leaving no traces.

The application starts off in a blank environment and you need to create a new file. A creation window shows up, letting you choose the formula based on which the fractal is generated, mapping properties, colors, resolution, as well as parameters. You can choose to use all these values as default.

On the bright side, the new fractal opens inside a window, making it possible to generate multiple fractals in a single instance of the application. Note that fractals rely on incredibly complex math operations, and might put quite a strain on CPU the further you zoom in.

On the other hand, you can access the fractal properties menu to tweak performance. This window provides options to adjust outside and inside sensitivity rendering, strength, as well as some general aesthetics properties for colors used, maximum depth, and more. Just like operation properties, values you modify can be used as default for future fractals.

Zooming in and out is done by selecting corresponding tools. You can draw specific points of interest and create polygons. For more variety, the application can generate the Julia set from the current Mandelbrot configuration. You can save the current fractal and position to file, but there's no option to export a picture, which is pretty disappointing.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that FracThunder is a neat application you can use to explore the beauty of math through a visual representation. Functions can be configured and tweaked, as well as visuals to prevent CPU overload, but it would have been extremely useful to be able to take a snapshot and export pictures of interesting locations you encounter.