WELCOME to the Fractint WWW pages
| What is Fractint and what's it all about? |
Fractint is a freeware fractal generator created for IBMPC's and compatible computers. It is the most versatile and extensive fractal program available for any price. The authors (of which I am not one), work very hard to keep it that way. It has many great features and it is constantly being upgraded and improved by the Stone Soup team. Keep this link as a reference to stay up-to-date with the latest developments.
| Getting Fractint |
Version 20.0 of Fractint Now available.
| New Image format on these Pages |
I've started the long process of replacing all the GIF images stored and displayed on these pages over to the PNG image type. If your web browser is having problems displaying them, it may mean you have to update/upgrade your browser. I apologise for any inconvenience, but the issue is being forced by the stance that Unisys has chosen in regard to LZW patent issues and the use of GIF images on Web servers. For more info on this topic see the Burn All Gifs site.
| The Fractint WWW pages. |
The Fractint Site at SPANKY is maintained by Noel Giffin at the TRIUMF project on the University of British Columbia Campus in Vancouver B.C. Canada.
Damien M. Jones at Fractalus has set up a complete mirror of The Fractint Web Pages at the spanky.fractint.org site. Many thanks to him for his help in setting it up.
| Bug Reporting |
Yes, even the best of software can still have bugs. If you come across a bug in the fractint program you can report it to the developers, (The Stone Soup Group), via the web.
The bug report page is:
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/robin.b2/buglist.htm
| Deep Zooming |
If you haven't seen it yet, it's time to check out Fractint's Deep Zooming capability.
| Fractint email listserver |
Fractint now has a list-server set up for general questions and discussion about the Fractint program and technical questions about fractals in general. Here's where to get instructions on how to join the Fractint email listserver
| Fractint now has a Wishlist |
| Searching Fractint's Documentation |
Thanks to the Alta-Vista search engine, Fractint's web-based online documentation now has a searchable index to make finding those hard-to-find references just a little bit easier.
| Fractint Contest |
Fractint also has a
contest page
maintained by Jay R. Hill
A new contest has started and has a webpage. Go to
Fractal Art 99 Contest for rules and guidelines for entrants.
| Fractint ScreenSaver |
| Fractint under Win95 |
I've created a short webpage with tips and instructions for running fractint under the Win95 environment. These hints were submitted at my request on the Fractint users email listserver
| Fractint Ports in Progress |
Windows NT port
Turner Rentz treyr@atr.net is working towards a
windows NT port of Fractint 19.6 for DOS. Visit his page and check
out his progress reports and maybe you might even be able to help.
Fractint for the Macintosh
by Tim Gilman tgilman@eudaemon.net
In order to graduate from the University of California at Santa Cruz,
Tim ported Fractint to the Macintosh as a project for his senior thesis.
His site at www.eudaemon.net/macfract/ is now
back on-line and he is again working on the Mac port.
I now have a copy of his
last Beta 2 release in
the Spanky archives! Thanks to Aaron Eidinger and Matt Feinstein for keeping
me up-to-date on the comings and goings of this link.
Xfractint for Linux
Scott D. Boyd sdboyd56@swbell.net
has built a
precompiled version of Xfractint that will run under
Basic Fractint for Windows
Paul de Leeuw pdeleeuw@deleeuw.com.au has written
MANPWin which is a port of the basic Fractint functionality
but is written for Win95/98/NT and handles true colour.
He is working with Tim Wegner to get a new windows version up and running.
Fractint for BeOS
Erik Eriksson ee@hernlabs.se has an initial port of
Fractint to the Be Operating System (BeOS). The current version
is 0.02 and is based on the port to the
X/Windows-system (XFractint) made by Ken Shirriff.
| More about Fractint and these pages |
There are several ports made to different environments including MS windows for the PC and xwindow systems for unix and they can be retrieved here or from various locations given in the list below. However, if you are running windows/98 or windows 95 you are probably better off running the latest DOS version under a Windows/DOS box. The last windows version was developed for windows 3.x and development on that thread has ceased.
This page is currently under construction. Not all visible links are active. The intent is to create a good representation of the Fractint program and its capabilities, drawing on selected contributions from users. To start things off, the Fractint help files have been put in html format to provide a solid foundation to build on. This was done with the blessing from the Stone Soup Group. Eventually these pages will expand, taking contributions from other Fractint enthusiasts, reflecting the dynamic and generous nature that this program generates and which makes it great. One of the first things I'd like to add is a Fractint users gallery. It would be a selection of images and pages of links to other web pages created by fractint users. Email me at "noel@triumf.ca" if you have a link that you want included here or an image that you might want to contribute. There are collections of Fractint Parameter Files , Fractint Formula Files and Fractint Colourmap Files as well as the Fracxtr6 package which is an amazing collection of add-ons for the fractint program compiled by Dan Goldwater, available in the database. Feel free to send me more of your favourites.
Dan Goldwater daniel_goldwater@brown.edu has found a new home for the Fracxtra web page.
George Martin has written a very useful formula file organizing program, along with a comprehensive collection of formulas. Thousands of parser formulas have been written by Fractint users. A new version containing more formulae is now available. A compilation of this new formula output is contained in the file ORGFRM.ZIP, and which constitutes an encyclopedia of formulas written for Fractint. The compilation includes more than 15000 formulas, arranged alphabetically by name, and with the original source file shown in each formula by comment. The package includes a utility program, orgfrm.exe, which copies the formulas of ".frm" files into the compilation, skipping those formulas which are already included in the compilation. Formula writers are urged to consult this compilation in order to avoid giving a new formula an existing formula name. George can be reached on compuserve at ggmartin@compuserve.com .
Paul N. Lee has taken over the organization of the original orgfrm files and maintains a more complete and up-to-date collection at his at ORGFORM Page website.
| Fractint Tutorial pages |
Sylvie Gallet has created a tutorial explaining how to create Psuedo High Color and Psuedo True Color fractals. Check out "The PHC Tutorial" now!
I have added a small page dedicated to High Iteration Fractals.
Bradley Beacham has kindly agreed to let me recreate a web version of his "Fractint Formula Tutorial". If you've been looking for information on how to get that new formula of yours into Fractint but couldn't figure it out, then this is the document for you. Even if you think you know all there is to know about the formula parser, this makes an excellent review. Who knows? You might even learn something. I did! If you would rather work with his original document rather then my web version then, that is also available.
William McWorter mcworter@midohio.net has created a very nice tutorial on L-systems using Fractint. It starts off with very simple systems and develops quite nicely into a variety of L-system themes, such as plants, tilings, space-filling curves, true fractals etc. I think it makes a very useful addition to the growing collection of tutorials and information about using the FRACTINT program. If you are interested in L-systems then I'm sure that you will find this a fascinating and useful study.
Damien M. Jones has put together a coloring-formula tutorial describing how to implement formula that create unique coloring algorithms for fractals.
Jim Watson has written a version of par2bat in perlscript. If you run perl on your computer and like to run fractint from batch files then this a great utility for you.
Janet Preslar created the original and now Jay Hill maintains A list of Resources for Fractint.
Theo Bakker has translated the Fractint Docs into Dutch and put them in MS Word format. They are now available at Spanky.
| Information currently available |
Thanks goes to Mike deCock (phish@gn2.getnet.com) for providing the title graphic.