What's the best software to play with IFS ?

[chris-]

I'd like to efficiently experiment with IFS fractals, changing the Affine-transformation parameters (ideally with a knob-type interface (moving the mouse to smoothly change the parameter) rather than typing in numbers) and instantly watch how that changes the shape of the attractor on the screen. What's the best software to do that, or to get as close to that type of efficient exploration of IFS, as possible?

thanks in advance for any answers

Chris

[xenodreambuie]

XenoDream works that way, with all numbers being mouse draggable. It does general 3D IFS plus primitive shapes and nonlinear transformations, with 3D shading applied after the initial render. The trial version has limitations on saving pictures and exporting 3D formats, but no limits for exploring IFS and saving parameters.

[chris-]

Thanks very much for the recommendation of Xenodream, which as you say, does what I want, but with 3D IFS. I should have said that I want to work with 2D IFS . . . is there anything that has the same mouse-draggable interaction for 2D IFS?

thanks

Chris

[taurus]

I should have said that I want to work with 2D IFS . . .

This would have been my first question on your initial post - 2d or 3d...
I think Ultrafractal should be your choice, while I'm not up to date with its current features. It costs a few Bucks, but before you spend them you can test it. UF has an excellent demo version, that provides the full functionality except saving. So you should give it a try...
ChaosPro has almost the same features, but the gui is not very luxurious. Flipping sliders will not work there.
Good luck!

[lycium]

Chaotica is marketed as "next generation" IFS software, and so hopefully can do what you want

http://chaoticafractals.com

[thargor6]

I think JWildfire would perfectly fit your needs. It is completely free, runs on any platform and you can explore any parameter by just dragging the mouse.

There is a short promotion video at the official site (http://jwildfire.org/) were you can see the software in action.

Have fun!

[chris-]

Thanks for the suggestions, I couldn't get JWildfire to work at all. Chaotica is beautiful, thanks. But I still haven't got something that does what I want . . . I want a simple 2D IFS, such as Fractint does, but I want the parameters to be mouse-draggable so I can quickly and efficiently explore and IFS and create the type of images that I want (I'll then be using those particular IFS attractors to create a list of points (which is easy to get done using my own script), which I will then use for another system). If there's anything like that, let me know, if not, I might have to get one made myself as the first stage in my project

thanks for the suggestions

Chris

[lycium]

There's a beta version of 1.5 available if you'd like to try it out (please send me a note), with lots of improvements big (animation support) and small (mouse-draggable parameters).

Additionally, as far as exploration goes there's a video by Baka Arts showing the basic process:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QLT1huibKHc?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;hd=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/QLT1huibKHc?fs=1&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;hd=1</a>

[blob]

I want a simple 2D IFS, such as Fractint does, but I want the parameters to be mouse-draggable so I can quickly and efficiently explore and IFS and create the type of images that I want (I'll then be using those particular IFS attractors to create a list of points (which is easy to get done using my own script), which I will then use for another system). If there's anything like that, let me know, if not, I might have to get one made myself as the first stage in my project

What about Janus Fractal?

 http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20081016145039/http://www.enzedblue.com/JanusFractal/JanusFractal.html

[chris-]

Thanks for the recommendation of JanusFractal . . . it's nice and very quick to work with, but not the simple 2D IFS system that I want to work with.

thanks anyway

Chris

[thargor6]

Thanks for the suggestions, I couldn't get JWildfire to work at all.

Damn, didnt knew that this is possible :-) - but thanks for this feedback (I seems, the time for some simple-to-use-installers has come now ).
Ok, later, in the meanwhile I would suggest to use chaotica or Apophysis ;-)

Andreas

[JohnVV]

On Windows ?
Apple Mac ?
or Linux ?

on a linux OS i like:
Mandelbulber
and
Fragmentarium

[chris-]

I am using Windows7. I've got MandelBulb3D, which has IFS, but it's 3D IFS and not mouse-draggable parameters. Does Mandelbulber or Fragmentarium do simple 2D IFS with mouse-draggable paramaters?

Re: JWildFire not working, I downloaded 2 different versions, and for each, unzipped the initial Zip file into a directory. Double-clicking on the .exe itself did nothing, and Windows.bat resulted in an error of a missing file, which I looked for in the other sub-Zip files but did not find. I tried unzipping the sub-Zips into the same directory, that replaced some files with others, but the same errors still happened every time.

thanks everyone

Chris

[thargor6]

Re: JWildFire not working, the .exe itself did nothing, and Windows.bat resulted in an error of a missing file

OK, then you probably have no Java 7 runtime. Should be easy going otherwise :-)

[chris-]

Re: Java . . . OK, thanks, I'll try that sometime

Chris