Fract-o-Rama ~ v1.7.1
OS: Win/UNIX
author: John F. Dumas
url: http://fractorama.com/
Fract-o-Rama is an application for power fractalists or for those who have some mathematical background about fractals because this is a tool to generate any kind of fractal figure users can imagine. You have to literally write down the formula directly before going any further. In that sense, it’s very flexible. Source code and documentation available.
Last revision: 12 December 2007.
Fractal Explorer ~ v2.02
OS: Win
author: Arthur Sirotinsky and Olga Fedorenko
url: Softpedia http://www.softpedia.com
Fractal Explorer is an excellent generator that can render 2D and 3D images and animations of various fractal types, including Mandelbrot, Julia, Newton, IFS, landscapes, 3D strange attractors, and quaternions. Three-dimensional renderings use OpenGL technology. Sterling-ware and POV-Ray support, batch rendering, AVI animations, and more. The home page of this generator is no longer available and the developers stopped working on it since last revision, so expect no more updates in the future.
Last revision: 27 July 2004.
Fractal Forge ~ v2.8.2
OS: Win
author: Uberto Barbini
url: https://sourceforge.net
Formerly known as True Mandel, Fractal Forge is an excellent Mandelbrot and Julia set exploration tool that stand out for its fast calculations, even of deep zooming shots. This version improves the amination tool.
Old home page: http://uberto.marguz.net
Last revision: 25 August 2002.
Fractal Therapeutic Project ~ v0.4
OS: Win
author: Stephen C. Ferguson, Joseph Trotsky, and Petrus van Pelt
url: http://www.wack.ch
FTP has tried to hide all the scary things about fractal creation behind a very user-friendly interface. Because it’s also intended to be used as a therapeutic tool, it only comes with a minimal set of formulas and filters. Yet, beneath it lies the same power as all other Ferguson’s software: with brilliant color algorithms and tools. Beyond its medical finality, it’s also a good fractal generator for beginners and children because it’s extremely easy to use. As such, it has surpassed its initial goal.
Last revision: February 2001.
Fracton ~ v3.0.3
OS: MacOS X
author: Michael Frazier
url: http://www.fracton.org
Fracton is a very nice freeware generator for MacOS that lets you design your own fractal formulas, but it can also import FractInt formulas, parameters and colors, in case you come from the FractInt camp or are willing to try the thousand of FractInt-related files out there. I actually like the coloring window (not shown) since it lets you edit the color palette in a very easy and intuitive way, somewhat similar to that of GF4 and PowerFrac, which I also like a lot. It can also export some 3D parameters to be used in 3D rendering programs. Deep zooming anyone? Yep, Fracton can to that too. The included documentation is pretty good, and it’s in PDF format.
Last revision: 25 January 2022.
FractSurf ~ v2.0.1
OS: Win98/Me/XP
author: Julian Bischof
url: http://www.fractsurf.de
FractSurf can generate seven different types of fractal images, including mandelbrot, julia, dragon and quaternion. It also has the ability to work with layers, and save parameters as bookmarks. It also comes with a screensaver mode, so it can keep generating new images while your computer is idle.
Last revision: 27 November 2001.
Fraqtive ~ v0.4.8
OS: Win/MacOS/Linux/FreeBSD
author: Michał Męciński
url: https://fraqtive.mimec.org
Fraqtive is as small but interesting and fast generator that can render several different variants of Mandelbrot and Julia fractals, on 2D and some simple 3D views. Its interface is pretty simple and quite intuitive, so you can start working like a “pro” right away. It doesn’t come up with a lot of parameters or filters to play with, but you can still input some variables directly. The coloring settings are super easy to understand, and it comes with some basic animation options as well. Images can be generated at any size, and you can apply anti-aliasing from within the program. Parameters are saved as bookmarks with thumbnails for easy identification; color parameters can also be saved as presets. Use the mouse to zoom in or out, and the arrow keys to move up/down, left/right. Undo and Redo are also available using the Navigate Back or Forward in the toolbar.
Last revision: 2015-01-29.