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Welcome to NextFractal's Wiki! The Wiki provides the documentation about NextFractal.
NextFractal is an application for creating fractals and other algorithmically generated images. Images are generated from instructions contained in a script. NextFractal provides tools for rendering fractals, creating time-based and event-based animations, organising images, and exporting images and animations.
NextFractal is free software, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Download the latest release from GitHub.
No installation is required. Just download the distribution, decompress the archive, and run the application.
NextFractal is very easy to use. Watch the video about NextFractal on the YouTube channel for a demonstration. See the examples or the tutorial for information about the scripting language.
NextFractal supports few keystroke commands. Those commands are:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Change zoom speed to 1 |
| 2 | Change zoom speed to 2 |
| 3 | Change zoom speed to 3 |
| 4 | Change zoom speed to 4 |
| 5 | Change zoom speed to 5 |
| T | Show or hide traps |
| O | Show or hide orbit |
| P | Show or hide preview |
The Fractal Geometry discovered by Benoit Mandelbrot and the homonymous Mandelbrot set are one of the scientific subjects which has inspired the creativity of many people since the diffusion of personal computers capable of advanced computer graphics. Fractals has become very popular on the Internet, and there are many different ways of producing beautiful images.
NextFractal follows that tradition and provides tools for exploring the Mandelbrot set and its variants (the Julia and Fatou sets). Each fractal is generated from a script, which contains the instructions for computing the image. The instructions are written using a domain specific language for computing orbits and colors.
The language is quite simple but powerful. We can define color palettes and orbit traps, we can use expressions to compute colors, we can use rules to create layers with variable opacity, and we can define time dependent values. You don't need to learn the scripting language to enjoy the examples provided with NextFractal, but if you do, then it is a lot of fun creating your own fractals. The only limit is your imagination.
We have created a simple tutorial which shows the various techniques for generating images. You only need to have basic computer programming skills and some math knowledge. Get started reading the documentation of the scripting language and looking at the examples.
The most advanced users can find the complete grammar specification in the repository.
ContextFree is a popular software for creating algorithmic art from scripts. The CFDG language describe an iterative process for drawing geometric shapes. NextFractal provides an implementation of a CFDG interpreter and rendering engine.
Please note that the CFDG interpreter and the rendering engine are still under development, they are incomplete, they have bugs, and they don't perform well for all scripts. Also, the rendering engine doesn't support animations at the moment.
NextFractal is able to interpret CFDG scripts since version 2.0 and it support a grammar which is very similar to the grammar of ContextFree 3.0.10. You can find a comprehensive documentation about the CFDG language on www.contextfreeart.org. Please report any discrepancy you find between the two grammars.