Fractals

Maybe math gave you a lot of trouble in school, but it’s used in much of the activities you perform today, even if you don’t realize. One practice in particular uses specific algorithms to continuously build structures, and applications like Fractals allow you to experiment with this method and understand how it works.

On the one hand, you need to make sure that .NET Framework is installed on your computer for the application to work. On the other hand, you can take it with you on a thumb drive to use on other PCs as well, because it requires no installation. Moreover, registries remain intact, so there’s no need to worry about affecting the target computer’s health status.

Note that the application is not a fractal exploration program, so if you’re expecting to go through the Mandelbrot set, it’s best to look for alternatives. What the application does is actually provide a set of fractals, which use fixed math algorithms to infinitely generate the same pattern on an increasing, or decreasing scale.

Most of the space represents the preview area. In fact, all controls you get to work with occupy only a small portion of the main window. The mouse can be used to pan the view, or rotate the object. Sadly, zoom is not supported, regardless of the key combination you use, or scrolling with the mouse wheel.

You select the fractal type of interest from a drop-down menu, and there are quite the variety of options at your disposal, representing a tree, branch, bush, dracon curve, tornado, vortex, and more.

A few parameters can be toggled to draw base lines, or deepest lines only, show coordinates, or enable the grid. Color of the drawing can also be changed. The depth level is manually adjusted through a slider, but be careful, because fractal generating uses a lot of CPU, and chances are the application ends up in a crash.

In conclusion, Fractals is a neat application with which to experiment with different types of fractals, which you can slightly customize with a different color. Depth is slightly sensitive, since it can break the application, and there aren’t any export options to at least save a picture of appealing fractals.