Let me know what you want to see in future versions of Fractal Domains. I've got lots of plans for this program, enough to keep me busy for years -- and in fact that is the problem! I'd like to know what you all think is most important, to help me set my priorities for upcoming versions of Fractal Domains.
See my Future Plans page for the broad outline of what I'll be doing with Fractal Domains. That plan is provisional, though, and also leaves out mentions of minor features and spin-off products. So, take a look at that page and the following suggestions, if you like, and send your opinion to support@fractaldomains.com. Whether you are a registered user of Fractal Domains or not, I want to know what you think.
Ideas for Fractal Domains improvements
- Ability to use Fractint formulas.
- Better color editing capability.
- Ability to save color maps separately.
- Expanded library of preset color maps.
- Deep zoom.
- Animations (zoom animations and "parameter" animations, in which the fractal image "morphs" as some parameter is continuously changed)
- 3D fractals (cross sections of quaternion & hypercomplex fractals)
- Speed up algorithms (I am investigating the use of the "synchronous orbit" algorithm; this currently only works well for deep zooms, but I am researching ways of making it somewhat useful for more modest iteration levels).
- Simplified fractal exploration (automatic or semi-automatic selection of fractal parameters and color map to make it easier to start producing interesting fractal images).
- Children's version of Fractal Domains (carrying the simplification a step further to produce a program that would be engaging to children).
- Better documentation:
- Better description of program operations
- Tutorial material on fractals
- On-line help (i.e. help built into Fractal Domains)
- Availability of Fractal Domains on other platforms:
- Mac 68K version of Fractal Domains
- Windows version of Fractal Domains
- Unix version of Fractal Domains
- Java version of Fractal Domains (probably would make use of a "Fractal Engine" written in native code for various platform to do the computation-intensive parts).
Other suggestions
- Fractal Domains web site improvements
- Tutorial materials available on web site,
including:
- Pointers on producing effective fractal images with Fractal Domains
- Information on making good "hard copy" prints of fractal images
- Tutorial on the mathematics of fractals and programming fractal generators
- Expanded gallery of fractal images produced with Fractal Domains
- Image files of higher resolution than those currently displayed in the Fractal Domains gallery available for download.
- Tutorial materials available on web site,
including:
- Sale of prints or posters of images produces with
Fractal Domains.
I've occasionally received requests for prints of some images in my WWW gallery. Although I have not yet produced prints of greater than ink-jet printer quality, I will be investigating the production of higher-resolution prints as soon as I have installed speed-up algorithms that will make the production of such high-resolution images more feasible. Would any of you be interested in copies of very high resolution and quality if and when they become available? If so, what size print would be most appealing to you? - CD-ROM version, containing many pre-generated high-res image files, animations, start-up screens, etc.
