1.2 Plotting Commands
Function keys & various combinations are used to select a video mode and
redraw the screen. For a quick start try one of the following:
If you have MCGA, VGA, or better: <F3>
If you have EGA: <F9>
If you have CGA: <F5>
Otherwise, monochrome: <F6>
<F1>
Display a help screen. The function keys available in help mode are
displayed at the bottom of the help screen.
<M> or <Esc>
Return from a displayed image to the main menu.
<Esc>
From the main menu, <Esc> is used to exit from Fractint.
<Delete>
Same as choosing "select video mode" from the main menu. Goes to the
"select video mode" screen. See Video Mode Function Keys (p. 36).
<h>
Redraw the previous image in the circular history buffer, revisiting
fractals you previously generated this session in reverse order.
Fractint saves the last ten images worth of information including
fractal type, coordinates, colors, and all options. Image information is
saved only when some item changes. After ten images the circular buffer
wraps around and earlier information is overwritten. You can set image
capacity of the history feature using the maxhistory=<nnn> command.
About 1200 bytes of memory is required for each image slot.
<Ctrl-h>
Redraw the next image in the circular history buffer. Use this to return
to images you passed by when using <h>.
<Tab>
Display the current fractal type, parameters, video mode, screen or (if
displayed) zoom-box coordinates, maximum iteration count, and other
information useful in keeping track of where you are. The Tab function
is non-destructive - if you press it while in the midst of generating an
image, you will continue generating it when you return. The Tab
function tells you if your image is still being generated or has
finished - a handy feature for those overnight, 1024x768 resolution
fractal images. If the image is incomplete, it also tells you whether
it can be interrupted and resumed. (Any function other than <Tab> and
<F1> counts as an "interrupt".)
The Tab screen also includes a pixel-counting function, which will count
the number of pixels colored in the inside color. This gives an
estimate of the area of the fractal. Note that the inside color must be
different from the outside color(s) for this to work; inside=0 is a good
choice.
<T>
Select a fractal type. Move the cursor to your choice (or type the first
few letters of its name) and hit <Enter>. Next you will be prompted for
any parameters used by the selected type - hit <Enter> for the defaults.
See Fractal Types (p. 43) for a list of supported types.
<F>
Toggles the use of floating-point algorithms (see "Limitations of
Integer Math (And How We Cope)" (p. 166)). Whether floating point is in
use is shown on the <Tab> status screen. The floating point option can
also be turned on and off using the "X" options screen. If you have a
non-Intel floating point chip which supports the full 387 instruction
set, see the "FPU=" command in Startup Parameters (p. 122) to get the
most out of your chip.
<X>
Select a number of eXtended options. Brings up a full-screen menu of
options, any of which you can change at will. These options are:
"passes=" - see Drawing Method (p. 86)
Floating point toggle - see <F> key description below
"maxiter=" - see Image Calculation Parameters (p. 126)
"inside=" and "outside=" - see Color Parameters (p. 128)
"savename=" filename - see File Parameters (p. 133)
"overwrite=" option - see File Parameters (p. 133)
"sound=" option - see Sound Parameters (p. 137)
"logmap=" - see Logarithmic Palettes and Color Ranges (p. 93)
"biomorph=" - see Biomorphs (p. 95)
"decomp=" - see Decomposition (p. 93)
"fillcolor=" - see Drawing Method (p. 86)
<Y>
More options which we couldn't fit under the <X> command:
"finattract=" - see Finite Attractors (p. 185)
"potential=" parameters - see Continuous Potential (p. 95)
"invert=" parameters - see Inversion (p. 92)
"distest=" parameters - see Distance Estimator Method (p. 91)
"cyclerange=" - see Color Cycling Commands (p. 23)
<P>
Options that apply to the Passes feature:
"periodicity=" - see Periodicity Logic (p. 166)
"orbitdelay=" - see Passes Parameters (p. 150)
"orbitinterval=" - see Passes Parameters (p. 150)
"screencoords=" - see Passes Parameters (p. 150)
"orbitdrawmode=" - see Passes Parameters (p. 150)
<Z>
Modify the parameters specific to the currently selected fractal type.
This command lets you modify the parameters which are requested when you
select a new fractal type with the <T> command, without having to repeat
that selection. You can enter "e" or "p" in column one of the input
fields to get the numbers e and pi (2.71828... and 3.14159...).
From the fractal parameters screen, you can press <F6> to bring up a sub
parameter screen for the coordinates of the image's corners. With
selected fractal types, <Z> allows you to change the Bailout Test
(p. 98).
<+> or <->
Switch to color-cycling mode and begin cycling the palette by shifting
each color to the next "contour." See Color Cycling Commands (p. 23).
<C>
Switch to color-cycling mode but do not start cycling. The normally
black "overscan" border of the screen changes to white. See Color
Cycling Commands (p. 23).
<E>
Enter Palette-Editing Mode. See Palette Editing Commands (p. 25).
<Spacebar>
Toggle between Mandelbrot set images and their corresponding Julia-set
images. Read the notes in Fractal Types, Julia Sets (p. 44) before
trying this option if you want to see anything interesting.
<J>
Toggle between Julia escape time fractal and the Inverse Julia orbit
fractal. See Inverse Julias (p. 46)
<Enter>
Enter is used to resume calculation after a pause. It is only necessary
to do this when there is a message on the screen waiting to be
acknowledged, such as the message shown after you save an image to disk.
<I>
Modify 3D transformation parameters used with 3D fractal types such as
"Lorenz3D" and 3D "IFS" definitions, including the selection of "funny
glasses" (p. 110) red/blue 3D.
<A>
Convert the current image into a fractal 'starfield'. See Starfields
(p. 97).
<Ctrl-A>
Unleash an image-eating ant automaton on current image. See Ant
Automaton (p. 79).
<Ctrl-S> (or <k>)
Convert the current image into a Random Dot Stereogram (RDS). See
Random Dot Stereograms (RDS) (p. 102).
<O> (the letter, not the number)
If pressed while an image is being generated, toggles the display of
intermediate results -- the "orbits" Fractint uses as it calculates
values for each point. Slows the display a bit, but shows you how clever
the program is behind the scenes. (See "A Little Code" in "Fractals and
the PC" (p. 164).)
<D>
Shell to DOS. Return to Fractint by entering "exit" at a DOS prompt.
<Insert>
Restart at the "credits" screen and reset most variables to their
initial state. Variables which are not reset are: savename, lightname,
video, startup filename.
<L>
Enter Browsing Mode. See Browse Commands (p. 37).
<Ctrl-E>
Enter Explorer/Evolver Mode. See Evolver Commands (p. 38).