AmBk €#åData Render Screen: This is where the fractal is eventually rendered to in order to be saved. It is also where colour cycling takes place. Clicking anywhere on this screen removes the control panel so you can view the whole picture. Click again to bring the panel back. Preview Screen This shows a quarter sized preview of the fractal where all work is done, to speed up working rendering times. Click anywhere on this area, and this point will become the centre of an expandable rectangle. Click again to fix a size, and the area contained will be magnified. Move the cursor onto the control panel or right click to stop this operation. Another good way to speed up working times is to work in 8 or 16 colours, then change the format to 32 or 64 colours to render. Palette button: Brings up a standard palette requester. Cycle Colours: Cycles the colours on the rendering screen, producing plasma effects. See the cycle menu help for more details. Fractal Type: Swaps between the mandlebrot and Julia sets. Mandlebrot Set: A single fractal, only changeable by the number of iterations. The best fractals lie on the border of the large blank area in the centre. Zoom in for a better look... Julia Set: A set of an infinite number of images calculated using the real and imaginary parts of a user defined complex number (if this means nothing to you, don't worry). The best Julia sets are found if you use about 100 iterations, and look for images that have some detail within the normally blank area in the centre. These look good on their own (if you use clip to remove the border), or zoom in on them. Disk button: Brings up a menu allowing access to the disk and system options, and the screen format. Restore/New: Restores an image to it's original size if it has been zoomed in upon, or creates a new fractal if the image is already at it's maximum size (Julia set only). Cycle Menu: Brings up a menu allowing precise control over the appearance of colour cycles. Render: Renders the contents of the preview screen to the render screen. This can take a little time... Info Screen: This gives information on the fractal type, the number of iterations, and the seed for the Julia set. This also acts as a text entry screen when ever user input is required. Clip: 'Clips' a layer of iterations off the fractal. This helps to remove the unsightly borders that form around the edges of an image. There are three buttons controling this effect. The one on the right increases the effect (removes a layer), while the one on the left decreases it. The centre button removes the entire effect. Data button: This allows you to enter the number of iterations, and the seed for the Julia set. If you enter the iterations on an un-zoomed fractal, this becomes the base for future fractals, to prevent you having to change it each time. To leave a value as it is, simply press return without entering anything. Entering only the number of iterations changes this, without losing the present magnification. Quick Screen: Allows you to view a selction of Julia fractals at one sixteenth normal size to allow you to cycle through very quickly with very short rendering times. The present base number of iterations is used. Load: Loads a data file with specific data on how the fractal is to be rendered, allowing the saving of images during working. Pick one of the .inf files on the file selector. The file selector works as follows: Main screen: Shows a list of all files on the present disk. Click once to select a file, and double click to operate it. OK: Leaves the requester, and loads the file selected. Cancel: Leaves the selector, canceling any operation carried out. Devices: Allows selection of storage device. Assigns: Allows selection of files from assigned directories. Sort: Sorts the files into alphabetical order. Sizes: Shows the sizes of all files. Get Dir: Reads the directory of the currently selected disc. Store: Stores the directory of each disc - turn it off to save memory. Save: Saves a data file of specific information about how the fractal is to be rendered. A .inf and a .pal file will be created, any .* post-fixes you put after the name will be automatically removed. See Load Help for details on the file selector. Save Iff: Saves the image currently stored on the rendering screen to disk in standard IFF format, so you can edit them on your favorite art program. See Load Help for details on the file selector. Delete: Deletes a specified file from the disk. WARNING! There is no going back. See Load Help for details on the file selector. Quit: Quits the program. There is a requester to make sure. Screen Format: Brings up the screen format menu. Exit: Leaves the menu and returns to the main control panel. Red Slider: The red colour slider. Colours are mixed in the normal way, with the three colours of light (red green and blue) mixed to create each colour. The bottom of the slider represents minimum intensity, and the top the maximum. Green Slider: The green colour slider. Colours are mixed in the normal way, with the three colours of light (red green and blue) mixed to create each colour. The bottom of the slider represents minimum intensity, and the top the maximum. Blue Slider: The blue colour slider. Colours are mixed in the normal way, with the three colours of light (red green and blue) mixed to create each colour. The bottom of the slider represents minimum intensity, and the top the maximum. Colours: Shows a rectangle for each colour. To select a colour, click on it, you can then change it using the sliders, or perform an operation on it using the operations buttons. Copy: Select a colour from the colour chart, and click on copy. The pointer will change to a cross hair, then select a destination colour. The colour you first selected will be copied to the destination colour, or click anywhere apart from the colour chart to abort. Swap: Select a colour from the colour chart, and click on swap. The pointer will change to a cross hair, then select a destination colour. The colour you first selected will be swapped with the destination colour, or click anywhere apart from the colour chart to abort. Spread: Select a colour from the colour chart, and click on spread. The pointer will change to a cross hair, then select a destination colour. The interveening colours between the two colours you selected will form of a spread of colours, providing a smooth gradiation of colours on the fractal, or click anywhere apart from the colour chart to abort. Stop: Leaves the palette and cancels any changes that have been made while in use. OK: Leaves the palette and transfers the changed palette to the render screen. 8 colours: Changes the format of the screen to 8 colours. This operation requires up to 93K of free chip memory. 16 colours: Changes the format of the screen to 16 colours. This operation requires up to 93K of free chip memory. 32 colours: Changes the format of the screen to 32 colours. This operation requires up to 93K of free chip memory. 64 colours: Changes the format of the screen to 64 colours (Extra Half Bright mode). This operation requires up to 93K of free chip memory. Change Resolution: Swaps the screen between Lowres (320x256) and Laced-Hires (640x512). Don't use Laced-Hires unless you have a very good moniter or want to ruin your eyesight (the flicker on interlaced screens is very disturbing). Due to a bug in CRAFT AMOS, it is impossible to support the medium res modes. I'll rectify this A.S.A.P. Exit: Leaves this menu and returns to the main control panel. Next Fractal: Draws another fractal with a random base.Transfer: Transfers the fractal to the preview screen for further editing. Exit: Exits without transfering the fractal. Quick Preview Screen: Shows 1/16th size Julia fractals that update very fast, allowing you to quickly find one that suits your purpose. To keep the speed up high, keep the number of iterations low (about 16 is a good compromise, depending what you're looking for), and the colours at 8 or 16. Decrease Start: Decreases the starting colour of the cycling range (see the slider bar below these gadgets). Increase Start: Increases the starting colour of the cycling range (see the slider bar below these gadgets). Decrease End: Decreases the ending colour of the cycling range (see the slider bar below these gadgets). Increase End: Increases the ending colour of the cycling range (see the slider bar below these gadgets). Edit Colour 0: When cycling with colour 0 not included, you often get a band of uncycled colour within the fractal. This menu allows this to be rapidly removed. Exit: Exits this menu and returns to the main control panel. Main Screen Having selected a colour, you can draw out the unwanted areas of colour 0. All colours apart from 0 are masked off, so that the effect is not spoilt. It is easiest to see the areas for editing if the colours are already cycling. Colours: Select the colour to draw over colour 0 with, or use colour 0 if you make a mistake. Quit: Leaves this menu. Drag: Click and hold the mouse button here, and then move the mouse to reposition the screen.