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Computer Buyer 1996 June
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FRactal ANimator 1.02 Copyright (C) 1993,94 by Ray Waldin. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet: rayw@netcom.com Compuserve: 73632,3121
Section 1 - Overview
====================
FRAN.EXE is a DOS based Fractal Animator capable of creating FLC animations
of the Mandelbrot and Julia set fractals. It requires an 80386 or higher and
an 80387 or higher numerical coprocessor. If your system does not have the
required equipment, FRAN will immediatley exit with an appropriate error
message. See Section 7 below for a complete list of error messages.
Section 2 - Usage
=================
FRAN <FracType> <ParFile> <FLCFile> [<XRes> [<YRes>]]
<FracType> indicates which type of fractal you wish to generate. Only
the first letter of the fractal type is required. The four choices are
"m" for Mandelbrot set fractals, "j" for Julia set fractals, "z" for
ZC plane fractals, or "c" for CZ plane fractals.
<ParFile> specifies the parameter file to read. Parameter files contain
two or more entries with keyframe values for the animation. See
Section 3 below for a detailed description of parameter files.
<FLCFile> is the filename of the FLC animation to create. Also, FRAN
creates temporary image files using all but the extension; it
substitutes a hexidecimal extension for temporary image files. If FRAN
is interrupted, the user must delete these temporary image files.
<XRes> is the optional animation width, in pixels. If ommited, a default
of 320 is assumed.
<YRes> is the optional animation height, in pixels. If ommited, a
default of 200 is assumed.
Section 3 - Parameter Files
===========================
Each parameter file entry is formatted as follows:
FrameNumber { KeyFrameField KeyFrameField ... }
FrameNumber { KeyFrameField KeyFrameField ... }
...
FrameNumber must be between 1 and 4096, and all entries in the file must be
sorted in ascending order. A FrameNumber with a lower value than the
preceeding one will cause an error.
KeyFrameValues are a series of Identifier=Value entries within the curly
braces "{}". Excessive whitespace (<SPACE>, <TAB>, <CR>, etc) is ignored;
each entry may span several lines. A backslash "\" followed immediately be a
<CR> and more whitespace is ignored, allowing a single floating point value
to span several lines itself. See section 5 for some sample parameter file
entries. The Identifiers and their possible values are:
corners=#/#/#/# The area of the fractal to generate. This is read as
four floating point numbers, each one separated by a
slash "/" character. The first two values indicate the
left and right side of the fractal, and the last two
indicate the top and bottom. If this entry is not
found, a default of -2.5/1.5/-1.5/1.5 is assumed.
params=#/# Fractal type specific parameters. For standard
Mandelbrot set animations, this entry should be set to
0/0. For other fractal types, params should be set to
the desired parameters. These values are read as
floating point numbers separated by a slash "/"
character (the first value as the real component of a
complex number and the second as the imaginary
component). If this entry is not found, a default of
0/0 is assumed.
maxiter=# Maximum iterations. This value is read as an unsigned
integer specifying the maximum number of iterations to
perform for each pixel value. The higher this value is,
the longer it takes to draw those portions of the image
which do not bailout. If this entry is not found, a
default of 255 is assumed.
Section 4 - FRACTINT
====================
FRAN's parameter file format is based on FRACTINT's .PAR file. FRAN,
however, has special requirements for .PAR files used as keyframe
parameters. First, FRACTINT's .PAR file entry name is used by FRAN as the
keyframe's frame number. Furthermore, if a .PAR file entry is found with a
non-numeric name, or a numeric name is found out of order, an error message
is returned. Also, most .PAR file fields are ignored. Only CORNERS, PARAMS,
and MAXITER are actually used by FRAN. The TYPE field is ignored because it
doesn't make any sense to indicate the fractal type for each frame. FRAN
uses the <FracType> command line parameter to determine the type of fractal
to generate.
To create a FRAN parameter file using FRACTINT, just generate the starting
image, then press 'b' to save the image parameters to a FRACTINT .PAR file.
Enter the .PAR filename you wish to create. For entry name, type 1. Zoom,
pan, or change the fractal image's parameters and repeat the above steps,
using a higher number for .PAR entry name than used previously. In this way,
you can use FRACTINT as FRAN's graphical user interface. Remember,
FRACTINT's .PAR entry name is used as FRAN's keyframe frame number. If
needed, edit the .PAR file to modify the parameters, using FRACTINT's '@'
command to check the modified entries. Also, the entries MUST be sorted in
ascending order.
Section 5 - Examples
====================
a) Command line examples:
FRAN m mandel.par mandel.flc 640 480
This example will generate a Mandelbrot set animation using the
parameters found in MANDEL.PAR, writing the output to a 640x480
resolution flic called MANDEL.FLC.
FRAN j julia.par julia.flc
This example will generate a Julia set animation using the
parameters found in JULIA.PAR, writing the output to a 320x200
resolution flic called JULIA.FLC.
b) Parameter file examples:
DEEPC.PAR
---------
1 { corners=-2.5/1.5/-1.5/1.5 maxiter=256 }
120 { corners=0.370253095788884/0.370253120359369/0.67149258574\
4286/0.671492604654078 maxiter=2048 }
XMASTREE.PAR
------------
1 {
corners=-2/2/-1.5/1.5
params=0.5/0 maxiter=255
}
30 {
corners=-2/2/-1.5/1.5
params=-2.0/0.0 maxiter=255
}
Section 6 - Registration
========================
If you wish to receive a registered copy of FRAN, sample parameter files,
technical support, and information on upgrades as they become available,
send your name, address, and a check or money order for US$35.00 to:
Ray Waldin Telephone: 310.826.4163
1316 Carmelina #7 Internet: rayw@netcom.com
LA, CA 90025-1975 Compuserve: 73632,3121
Section 7 - Error Messages
==========================
"80386 or higher microprocessor required!"
"80387 or higher numerical coprocessor required!"
"Unknown animation type: <FracType>!"
"FLC filename over 80 characters: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot find specified .PAR file: <ParFile>!"
"Cannot allocate memory for .PAR entry!"
"End-of-file within .PAR file entry!"
"Frame number missing in .PAR file!"
".PAR file empty!"
"An ANIMATION requires more than one frame!"
"Frame out of order: <FrameNumber>!"
"Frame Number over 4000!"
"Cannot allocate memory for Frame Row data!"
"Cannot open temporary Frame data file: <TempFile>!"
"Cannot allocate memory for temporary filename!"
"Cannot write to temporary file: <TempFile>!"
"Cannot read temporary file: <TempFile>!"
"Cannot open .FLC file: <FLCFile>!"
"Cannot write .FLC Header: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot update .FLC Header: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot write .FLC Frame Header: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot write .FLC Chunk Header: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot write .FLC Palette: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot write to .FLC file: <FLCName>!"
"Cannot allocate memory for Flic Row data!"
"Undefined status code ##!"