Written and compiled by Gerda van Rossem, translated by Irene Muehldorf.
What this tutorial will cover:
Lesson 1: Browsing and zooming
Lesson 2: Choosing a formula
Lesson 3: Colors
Lesson 4: Working with layers
Lesson 5: Mapping – the Kaleidoscope transformation
Lesson 6: Mapping – the Lake effect
Lesson 1: Browsing and zooming
When you start Ultra Fractal (UF), the screen will display a default fractal. In our case, this is a is basic fractal called the Mandelbrot set (figure 1.1).
You can’t see any fractals?
If the screen is blank when you start UF, open the Mandelbrot set as follows:
Click the new document icon . Select mandelbrot.ufm in the “Default” folder.
Select the Switch mode icon to search for interesting fractals.
Clicking on this icon will cause the image on the lower right-hand corner of the screen to change as you move the cursor over the fractal (figure 1.2).
The small window shows you what the fractal will look like when you click the left mouse button. The new fractal will open in a new window once you click the left mouse button.
Once you have found a fractal you would like to work with, you can zoom into the fractal to enlarge part of it. You can use one of two methods to zoom in.
Zooming: First method
- Click on the “Select” icon .
This creates a zoom box over your fractal that looks just like the box on the Select icon (figure 1.3).
- Moving the zoom box
If you move the cursor over the zoom box, the arrow will change into a Move icon .
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the zoom box to the area of the fractal you find interesting.
In this mode (Select mode), you will see a window at the bottom right of the screen showing the new fractal.
- Increasing or decreasing the size of the zoom box
When you move the mouse over the outline of the zoom box, the cursor arrow will change into a double arrow.
The direction of these arrows depends on where the mouse is placed.
At the left and right edges of the box, you will see a double arrow pointing left and right .
At the top and bottom edges of the box, you will see a double arrow pointing up and down .
At the corners, you will see a diagonal double arrow .
By pressing and holding the left mouse button when the cursor shows a double arrow and then dragging the edge, you can make the zoom box larger or smaller. The arrows indicate the direction into which you can move the outline of the zoom box.
4. Activating the selected area
If you are satisfied with the result, double-click the left mouse button (or click enter on your keyboard).
No new screen will be opened for this new fractal. So your first fractal will be overwritten.
Zooming: Second method
Only the first step is different from the first method:
Move the mouse so the cursor is in the middle of the area you want to zoom. Click and hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor. This will create a zoom box, just like with the first method. This box shows the area that will be magnified. When you let go of the mouse button, you can reposition and enlarge or reduce the zoom box just like with the first method.
Figure 1.4 shows my zoomed sample fractal.
We have covered two operations in lesson 1:
- Browsing the basic fractals (Mandelbrot set) with the Switch mode to find a fractal;
- Zooming part of a fractal using the Select mode.
Time to move on to the next step: formulas.