*** Now with faster Zoom feature *** This is a Mandelbrot fractal generator program with a zoom feature. Instructions are presented to you as you use the program - just wait a while and a reminder will pop up. When this program is started you are presented with a view of nearly the entire fractal. A "zoom-box" cursor follows your mouse. Using the mouse, select an area you would like to zoom into and click to begin the render process. The new fractal is generated in low-resolution at first, then in increasing resolutions and detail. This is a "preview" version of the fractal and is generated quite quickly, allowing you to choose which areas to zoom into further. You can continue to select new zoom areas even before the preview has completed. Problem: Scratch uses a round-ended style when drawing using the "pen", a fact I only discovered late during development. To begin a full-resolution render of the current preview, press the "R" key (which takes some time). The current colour-depth (loop iterations) is fixed at 40. The high-resolution images do not suffer from the round-ended pen-style. At any time during the preview process, you can press the "S" key to enter slideshow-mode in which several zoomed images of the Mandelbrot set created with this program are presented in sequence. Press "S" again when in slideshow-mode to return to preview-mode. I have a habit of writing a fractal generator whenever I discover a new programming language and I thought I'd try it in Scratch. I have tried to optimise the program as much as possible for speed, but Scratch still takes a long time to render a complete full-resolution zoom screen. I have tried it on different computers and it does speed up a little on a fast machine (though not as much as I expected). If you are interested in discovering more about fractals, there are many other free fractal-generators available. If you are wondering what a fractal is and how these beautiful images are created, a good source of information is the Internet.
