03 explore
Explore is the first main tab. Use it to browse the formula catalog, generate a grid of mutated starter seeds, inspect thumbnails, and open Seed fine tune. Hearted seeds become the Seeds list on Compose.
Explore: formula selection, guided starters, and seed cards.
The top bar reflows if the window is narrow.
| Control | Exact label | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Primary button | Generate seeds Ctrl+G | Builds a new random batch from starter templates, mutated with a fresh seed. Keyboard: Ctrl+G. |
| Dropdown | Formula family | Filters which families are used when generating. Changing it regenerates the grid. Tooltip: “Filter starter seeds by formula family. Changing this regenerates the seed grid.” |
| Search box | Find formula | Searches formula names and starter titles. Tooltip examples: amazing box, mandelbulb, flame, 205. Leave Formula family on All families if you do not know the family. |
| Button | Load previews | Renders any cards still showing a placeholder. Keeps the current grid and saved hearts. |
Formula family includes All families plus every shipped family:
- 2D escape-time
- 3D raymarched solids
- KIFS folded 3D
- Quaternion 3D slices
- 2D strange attractors
- 2D FLAM3 flames
- 3D FLAM3 flames
- 2D Buddhabrot
- 2D cellular automata
- L-systems (2D/3D)
- 2D classical IFS
- 2D procedural patterns
- 2D analytic fields
- Path-traced 3D (offline)
The live catalog is 233 formulas across those 14 families.
Status text at the bottom of Explore reports generation and thumbnail progress.
See the Explore: formula selection, guided starters, and seed cards screenshot.
Below the toolbar is the Guided starter renders panel.
Heading: Guided starter renders
Subtitle: “Curated recipe paths with tuned motion, source layering, and render-risk notes.”
The toggle on the right reads Hide guided starters when the strip is expanded and Show guided starters when it is collapsed. FractalFlow remembers that choice.
When expanded, a horizontal scroller of recipe cards appears. Footer text reports how many recommended starters are available and that mouse-wheel scrolls sideways.
Each card shows:
- Recipe Name and duration
- Short summary
- Confidence / family / motion / layer badges
- Look description
- Start in Compose in the lower-right
Hover a card for Best use and Watch notes. Clicking a card starts that recipe on Compose (it switches tabs for you) instead of dumping raw seeds into Explore.
Use these when you want a known-good journey (camera + sources + risk notes) rather than a random grid.
See the Explore: formula selection, guided starters, and seed cards screenshot.
The rest of Explore is a virtualized list grouped by family. Each family header is a full-width bar you can expand or collapse (toggle shows > collapsed, v expanded).
A family header shows:
- Family name
- Seed count (
N seeds) - A 2D or 3D badge
- A one-line family summary
- A strip of small preview thumbnails
- Looks: what the family tends to look like
- Use for: when to pick it
- Animate: what seed-owned animation is good at
Click the header to expand the seed cards for that family.
See the Explore: formula selection, guided starters, and seed cards screenshot.
Each card is a compact row:
- Colored accent rail (violet normally; amber when hearted)
- Thumbnail (placeholder text rendering preview… until the image arrives)
- Title, source label, short ID
- Formula summary
- Dimension badge (2D or 3D)
- Coverage badge (CPU+GPU or GPU only)
Actions on the right:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| ♥ | Heart or un-heart. Hearted cards get an amber border and rail. Hearted seeds appear in Compose Seeds. |
| Fine tune | Opens the Seed fine tune window. Tooltip: “Open seed controls: formula, colors, lighting, post effects, and raw JSON.” |
| Copy JSON | Copies the parameter JSON to the clipboard. |
Double-clicking a card also opens Seed fine tune.
Hearts are library state. They survive restart. Un-hearting removes the seed from Compose’s Seeds list but does not delete render output.
See the Explore: formula selection, guided starters, and seed cards screenshot.
- Optionally set Formula family or type in Find formula.
- Click Generate seeds Ctrl+G.
- Click Load previews if many cards still say rendering preview….
- Expand a family, heart a few cards, or open Fine tune on one that is close.
- In Seed fine tune, adjust and Heart tuned seed / Heart animated seed.
- Switch to Compose.
Or skip the grid and click a Guided starter renders card to Start in Compose.
Path-traced formulas are slower; treat them as offline-quality stills/flights, not as the default Explore browse family.
Continue: Seed fine tune.