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            By: David Wright 6/96
          wgwright@mnsinc.com

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----> What is it?

A Fractal Experience is an instructional program
designed to give students a basic understanding
behind the amazing phenomenon of fractals.

It may be freely distributed as an educational
resource. Additions to the package are appreciated,
but please send all additions to the below address
so they will be included in later releases.

--------------------------------------------------
----> Who is it for?

While anyone can use the program and get an
appreciation of the beauty of fractals, a strong
math background is required to understand the
mathematics taking place behind them.

Any student who has taken Algebra I or
higher should be able to get a basic understanding
of the process. Students who have taken Algebra II
should be able to understand all the math that
is used.

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----> Who wrote it?

It was written during the '95-'96 school year
by Computer Science I student David Wright.
It is 99% pascal and 1% ASM.
The source code may be obtained upon request if
you are interested. You may contact David at:
wgwright@mnsinc.com or

David Wright
c/o C.D. Hylton High School
14051 Spriggs Rd
Woodbridge VA 22193

Any other comments are appreciated as well.

--------------------------------------------------
----> What do I need to run it?

If it runs, it runs, but here is what is
recommended:

* A 486 DX or faster PC with a Math-Coprocessor
* 640K RAM
* A VESA Compatible Video Card
* A 2 button Mouse
* DOS 4.0 or later (6.22 or 7.0 are OK)
* An open mind

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----> How does it work?

To use the program, simply copy all the program
files into a directory and run frac11.exe
It is a DOS programs, but should run in Windows 95
and OS/2, although it will run slower.

After the title screen you are presented with
a list of options:
-Teach Me
        Used to display lessons relating to fractal
        topics. Several lessons are included, but
        others can easily be added. Simply create
        a .ftf file in the format described below
        and place it in the directory. Select
        "other" from the teach me menu to load it.
-Show Me
        Used to display interactive slide-show
        type presentations of fractals. Other
        lessons can easily be added by adding
        on to the existing .fee files or
        creating new ones. See the .fee format
        described below.
-Let me Play
        Allows the user to display a fractal
        and interact with it. They are given
        choices including:
                Fractal type
                Resolution
                Number of iterations (if applicable)
                Complex constant (if applicable)
                Window size
        Each option has a default value. Hitting
        [ENTER] will use the default.

        Once the user is in the drawing screen,
        the following options are available:
         While the fractal is being drawn:
                Any key: Stop the fractal graphing, You will be left at the interactive screen
         At the interactive screen:
                Left Mouse: A box will be started at the
                            current cursor position, drag to the size of
                            the area you want to zoom to and release.
                Right Mouse: Quit to main menu or proceed
                             with example file.
                [ESC] or [Q]: Quit
                [BACKSPACE]: Zoom out by a factor of 10x
                ']': Zoom out by a factor of 5x
                [ENTER]: Load another palette, every fourth palette is random.
                [SPACE]: Change the mouse cursor.
                [C]: Start color cycling mode
         In color cycling mode:
                [+]: Speed up
                [-]: Slow down
                [ENTER]: New palette
                Any other key: Stop cycling        
-Exit

--------------------------------------------------
----> I meant, how does it draw the fractals?

Be sure to see the included lessons on fractals to
learn how.

--------------------------------------------------
----> How far can I zoom in?

A LOOOOONG way.
Let me put it this way:
You can zoom in on an ELECTRON sized portion of the
original fractal until it is the size of THE ENTIRE
VISIBLE UNIVERSE (obviously you would be viewing only a
small portion of it on your screen)

How can you tell you have reached the zoom limit?
The screen will get very blocky and will not be
refined any more as you zoom in.
If you continue to zoom in, you may get a program
error. So don't.

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----> What file formats are used?

The primary formats used by the program are .pcx .map .ftf and .fee

.pcx - PC Paintbrush graphics format, Version 5 (256 colors RLE compressed)
       Can be displayed as part of a .ftf or .fee file.
       Must be one of the following resolutions:
       320 x 200, 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768
       NOTE: Higher resolutions may take 15-30 seconds to display,
       be patient!

.map - Color palette file, 256 lines each with 3 numbers 0 - 255
       representing the red blue green values of each color.

.ftf - Fractal Experience instructional/informational file.
       It is an ASCII text file using the following extended codes:

        |c : Change color to c, c can be:
       r - red
       g - green
       w - white
       a - gray
       y - yellow

        @PAUSETEXT : Insert a pause with PAUSETEXT displayed

        \file.fee : Load example file file.fee

        ~file.pcx : Display a PCX graphic file. 

        ` : Use forward apostrophe for a literal character
            (i.e. don't interpret next character - `@, `\, etc.)

        Be sure to see the included .ftf files for clarification.

.fee - Fractal Experience Example/Slide show file.
       The .fee file is a text file with the
       descriptions of fractals to be displayed.
       Each .fee file can have 1-10 examples, each
       with 1-10 slides. You can have as many .fee
       files as you wish. The following is the format used:
---BEGIN FILE---
@ - Begin record
[SHORTNAME]
# - # is the field delimiter
[LONGNAME]
#
[Description
As many lines as you want.
You may use the .ftf format extended
codes to enhance readability or embed .pcx files
Then up to 10 slides in the following format:]
#
interactive (1 = yes, 0 = no)
color map file (default.map or other)
type (m,j,p) top-left-X top-left-Y bottom-right-X bottom-right-Y real-part complex-part maxiterations
#
[Slide text
As many lines as you want
Displayed on graphic screen after fractal is drawn]
#
Begin next slide here with 1 or 0 for interactive
 After 1-10 slides in this format, conclude with
#
---END FILE---
        Be sure to see the included .fee files for clarification.

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----> Is creating .fee files really that tough?

Unfortunatly, right now, it pretty much is.
Later I hope to have an interactive editor for
them to ease creation.

There is one included tool to help in creation
If you run fexp11.exe with the -debug parameter

e.g.> fexp11.exe -debug

It will create a file called debug.out (or append
it if it already exists) which contains a record
of all the Let Me Play! explorations you did
It looks like this:
#
m -2.50000000000000E+0000  1.50000000000000E+0000  1.50000000000000E+0000 -1.50000000000000E+0000  0.00000000000000E+0000  0.00000000000000E+0000 40
#
m -1.05799373040752E+0000  4.29648241206030E-0001 -4.93730407523511E-0001  7.53768844221106E-0003  0.00000000000000E+0000  0.00000000000000E+0000 40

These are the exact lines that are used in the .fee file.
You can then insert those lines into the .fee file
you are writing. All you have to do is fill in the
other information.

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----> Could you repeat that?

No, try the program, then read it all again.
It will make more sense the second time.

--------------------------------------------------
----> Where can I go for further information?

You local or school library is sure to have many
different books on fractals.
If you are looking for online resources, check
out the Fractal Experience Page at:

http://www.mnsinc.com/wgwright/fracexp

---------------Copyright 1996---------------------
----------------David Wright----------------------
-------------wgwright@mnsinc.com------------------

