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Mandelbulber v2 2.02

Free download (executables and source): http://sourceforge.net/projects/mandelbulber/
Website:       http://www.mandelbulber.com/

What is new?
- added importing of settings from old Mandelbulber (v1.21). It works in 95% cases.
- added 'legacy_coordinate_system' parameter to provide compatibility with old coordinate system (upside down)
- added primitive objects: box, sphere, plane, cylinder, torus, circle, rectangle, water. There is no limit for number of objects. All objects can be rotated around 3 axes and placed using mouse pointer
- added 'repeat' operator for all primitive objects and fractal
- added setting for position and rotation of the fractal
- added example setting files and 'Load example...' option
- added example textures to the package (for background, environment mapping and light maps for ambient occlusion effect)
- added crossplatform consistent random number generator based on the gsl library. See the README for new dependencies. This solution guarantee the same results under Linux and Windows (e.g. the same color palette)
- fixed bug: 'fractal_constant_factor' parameter was ignored
- fixed bug: glow effect used wrong color
- fixed bug: there was error in calculation of equirectangular projection
- fixed bug: corrected and updated list of required system packages
- fixed bug: there was wrong calculation of distance if "Iteration threshold mode" was enabled.
- fixed bug: preview was displayed even if settings weren't loaded successfully

As always every feedback is appreciated!

SVN repository: http://mandelbulber2.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/
This repository is available from Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/mandelbulber2/

Thanks to Sebastian for help in development

Even better :) :) :) Like the two primitive example settings, lots of fun ahead

Thanks Buddhi!

sounds like a lot of good work  :beer:

I'm still learning to navigate, but the rest is great

Favourite improvements would be the primitives:
 Multiple primitives
 Being able to move the primitives as a group (be great with animation later)
 Being able to rotate water effect
 Improved rotation controls for primitives

One thought is moving the RENDER and STOP buttons from Navigate to the render window as on my laptop screen they disappear out of view when I scroll down.

I attach an example of primitive grouping  and water effect turned vertical for anyone interested.

Thanks Buddhi

Hey Buddi,

I'm on a networked computer now and really wanted to check this out.  Is there anyway I can get this past McAffee?  When I try to download and install, it says that it's a "Potentially Unwanted Program" and that it contains a virus, which I know it does not and it's also a VERY wanted program as well!  Would it be just the site that I'm downloading it from, or is it the program itself that's giving me problems?   :sad1:


Jim  -  reactorman

This is a problem with many modern Antivirus programs. They flag all unknown software as potential viruses. You got message "Potentially Unwanted Program". It has "potential " word. It means that Antivirus don't know this application, but it doesn't mean that it had virus.

Hey all,

I installed the latest version on my home computer and I got a few questions.  When you first start up the program, should a fractal show up?  All I have is the menu(s) on the left side of the screen and the right side is black.  I thought maybe that it doesn't start with a fractal, so I tried to load up an example.  Still, nothing shows up on the right side of the screen.  Is there suppose to be a "Render" button somewhere on the menu(s)?  If so, I can't seem to find it.  I do like the way the menu(s) are laid out and I believe; once I figure out what I'm doing wrong; that it will be significantly easier to operate than the older version.  Thanks for any and all replies!

Jim  -  reactorman

I
Could you send some screenshot and information what operating system so you use?
Has anybody else similar problem?

The QT interface took a bit of getting use to for me, this is how my screen looks after placing the menus. Under VIEW you can save the screen settings. RENDER is at the top of the NAVIGATION window (see top right) if I scroll down Navigation I lose it from view. And yes the screen is blank until you render, as the default Mandelbulb does not automatically render upon opening.

Unfortunately, I got called into work and I'm on that dreaded networked computer that I can not even install the program on.  Ugh!  :sad1:  Anyway, I greatly appreciate that screen shot you posted and I believe I know what the problem is.  Stupid me did not realize that you can scroll the screen horizontally.  DUH!  I'm sure that's what the problem is because I never saw any of the menu(s) on the right side of the screen.  Thanks for all of your help!


Jim  -  reactorman

No cannot scroll horizontally,  the horizontal bar you see in the screenshot is for showing the render progress.

I  had trouble getting use to the QT interface , required some " trial and error". From memory you grab the menus and move them about. There are five : Navigation, Fractal, Rendering engine, Effects, and Image adjustment. I grabbed Navigation and dropped it to the right of the render window, then under View  chose "Save window state" to make it the default on opening.

As an aside, note that the Render window zoom default is Zoom 100% rather than Fit To Window.

Oh ok.  I'll have to check it out once I get home.  From how you had it, I thought there was suppose to be menu(s) on the right side.  I didn't know that you had placed them there.  I'll give an update once I get home.  I've got 2 computers and only installed on one of them.  One has Windows 7 as the OS and the other has Vista; yeah, I know!  Anyway, thanks for your input and I'll try to see if I do indeed have all of the menu(s) that it's suppose to have.  Thanks!


Jim  -  reactorman

Ok, I think something must be wrong.  You said there should be 5 windows.  Somehow or another, I only have 4:  Image Adjustment, Effects, Rendering Engine, and Fractal.  None of which have a "Render" or "Calculate" button.  I don't seem to have a "Navigation" window.  Is it possible that I did not install it correctly?  I'd made a snapshot of the screen, but I'm not sure how to do that.


Jim  -  reactorman

Nevermind my last post, I finally found the "Navigation" window!


Jim  -  reactorman

Thanks to your feedback, I have just done some changes (they will be in Mandelbulber 2.03):
- reduced all margins and spacing to have better access to interface on smaller screen resolutions
- added automatic tabify (stack) of dock widgets when application is started first time. This will reduce mess in interface at the beginning

@Jim,  yep that's exactly the issues I had when getting use to the QT interface that I had never used before. I found if you open a menu up and drag it into the middle of the screen, you can just flick it to the side when you have finished, and it miraculously clicks back in, well kind of.

The new navigation allowing target and camera to move independently takes a bit of getting use to as well.

For a screen shot :

- just hit PrintScr on your keyboard, then open up some photo editing software and paste it into a new blank file,

- or in Win 7 go to all programs - accessories - choose "snipping tool" and select the area of the screen you want to copy and save

remember if you are uploading an attachment like a screen shot to a fractalforums post (under Additional Options), the file must be less than 256kB

@Buddhi - Can you tell  me how to convert V2.01 files to V2.02, I thought it should be just making the fractal constant 0.00f but that does not seem to work (I was rendering menger mandelbox hybrids in V2.01).

However it is not real important, so only bother if it is easy for you to do so.

It could be still some bug in the program. In version 2.01 this parameter was ignored (by mistake). Could you send settings file which has this problem? I will test it with 2.01 and 2.02 to see the difference. It could be also some small difference in Mandelbox or IFS calculation (if you use some of rotations). Here there was also some small bug.

Thanks for the new version! Just installed and configured Qt5 to compile Mandelbulber and it worked right away.

First decent render in version 2.02:

(http://i.imgur.com/D6A7iJg.jpg)

@ Buddhi

I have attached parameter file & jpg from V2.01

As I thought. It's the problem with mistake in rotation calculation. You have to swap Mandelbox main rotation between alpha and beta (alpha = -42.65, beta = 0). Then the shape will be the same.

Thanks Buddhi, that's an easy fix for me :) :) :)

Forgive my noobie-ness. I downloaded Mandelbulber v2.2 and was taken by how powerful and logically laid-out it seemed to be. I was able to understand how to move the camera, navigate the generated fractals and create some .png images in Fulldome format, but was unable to understand how animations are created. Is this a feature that has yet to be added?

Thanks,

Animations are not available. It's under development now. For animations you have to use old Mandelbulber 1.21

Thank you for your help. Do you have a link available to download v1.21?

Thanks,

Here's the link to download all files related to the Mandelbulber project, all versions.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mandelbulber/files/?source=navbar

@ Buddhi

Here's another for the wish list.

Simple fog contained in a primitive block ( to enable rotation and positioning). With a maximum and minimum vertical dimension control to produce a layer of ground level fog. With a fudge factor or control to make it less dense as you approach the top surface of the fog.

It is my understanding that you will add animations to QT version in the future and I assume the same will go for openCL as well?
also does this mean that there is no more bug fixing or development of the GTK version?

I'm working now to develop animations in Qt version. OpenCL will be also. You have to be patient, because it needs a lot of work. All work progress you can watch here: http://code.google.com/p/mandelbulber2/source/list

About GTK version, it is no longer developed.

OK that's great thanks for answering so quickly. I just want to take this chance to say thanks for all the work that you do, composing images and animations with the software you have written is one of the great joys of my life. Thank you once again :)

Since I've been diving into 3D fractals, Mandelbulber is about the only program I have some experience with. At the moment I've used version 2 more than the previous one. The switch from GTK to QT has probably something to do with programming/compatibility/cross-platform ease ... but I have to say I prefer the old GUI. To achieve a quick and easy work flow I try to switch between keys and mouse as less as possible. The TAB key to switch between input fields really helps for this method. But since there seems to be no logic in the TAB-order of many fields in the new version, I am forced to switch between keys and mouse more often than I like. This one little thing, which probably means nothing to most users, is really frustrating me.

While I do like more features (like animation), I think priority should be on a good working basic (G)UI.

Other than this minor issue .... thanks for this wonderful piece of software!

Latest creation with v2.02

(http://i.imgur.com/E09Nyxw.jpg)

I haven't played with the sources for this one (mandelbulber) but if the QtDesigner program is used for maintaining the gui in .ui files (if not it should be) then...
this link explains how to set the order to whatever you like :)

http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/designer-tab-order.html

load the ui file
set tab order
save ui file
recompile

done

yeah ive noticed that while working with Qt also, the tab order will be wacked out until you go in and make it what you want it to be.  probably just got overlooked until now

@youhn.  Cool image, the lighting is amazing :) :) :)

yeah the tab order is just the order you constructed the widgets in.  i meant overlooked as in overlooked by krzysztof, not overlooked as in something wrong with Qt

Thank you for pointing this. I will correct tab order in next release.

it looks like we may be seeing animation soon??   :D

Mandelbulber 2.03 is released so I close this topic.