Apophysis ~ v2.09
OS: Win
author: Mark Townsend
url: http://www.apophysis.org
Apophysis is a program used to design flame and IFS fractals. While originally created as a utility to be used with Ultra Fractal (UF), it spun off, and became a stand-alone program in a class of its own. It’s also one of the most popular fractal generators around. It can export images in several different formats or export parameters as UPR file to render in UF. The author recommends downloaders should sign the Mailing List to keep up-to-date with bug fixes and new releases.
Latest version in SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/apophysis/
Last revision: 26 April 2013. – jrs + jlm
Apophysis 7x
OS: Win
author: Mark Townsend, Ronald Hordijk, Peter Sdobnov, Piotr Borys & Georg Kiehne
url: https://sourceforge.net
Apophysis 7x is the 64-bit brother of old (and still good) Apophysis by Mark Townsend. As such, it can do everything the old version was capable of and then some. Yet, I find it somewhat slower than the classic version –and it will get slower if you zoom in –as happened with the old one too. The program starts with a random batch of images (it’s a different set each time) that you can transform at will or begin from scratch; it’s up to you. Once a picture is done, you can render it within the program and save it in various image formats, or export the parameters as UPR file to render in Ultra Fractal, especially for larger-size outputs.
Last revision: 18 October 2014.
Chaoscope ~ v0.3.1
OS: Win & Linux
author: Nicolas Desprez
url: http://www.chaoscope.org
Chaoscope is a ‘3D Strange Attractor rendering’ program, currently in beta stage. In addition to 9 attractor types, it also has 5 different render types, which users can combine to create some extremely interesting fractals. While only in beta, it has a fairly extensive online manual (which means that images can be created fairly quickly). This new release adds some extra equations and bug fixes. Requires OpenGL. jrs + jlm
Last revision: 27 May 2006.
ChaosPro ~ v4.0.21
OS: Win
author: Martin Pfingstl
url: http://www.chaospro.de
Chaos Pro features multiple windows and multi threading (calculates multiple fractals at the same time). Can create 3D views and animations. Compatible with Fractint (including most of its formulas) and Ultra Fractal parameters, transformations, palettes and formula files. Also supports alpha channels. A most-have to those interested in Ultra Fractal, but looking for something less expensive (freeware). It will also run on any Win32-compatible operating system.
Last revision: 21 November 2011
Double Fractal ~ v2.9
OS: Win
author: Joao Paulo Schwarz Schuler
url: http://www.schulers.com
Double Fractal has grown up since its previous version. This is a greatly improved one, with more controls and access to the main parameters and coloring palettes. Also new fractal formulas. Good for simple explorations; includes new documentation. Can save pictures to BMP files and export to POV-Ray.
Last revision: after 2001.
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.
GIMP ~ v2.10.36
OS: Win/Linux/Mac
author: The GIMP Team
url: http://www.gimp.org
The GIMP isn’t exactly a fractal generator, but since it’s free and can render fractal images, I’ve included it in this list. As a graphics editor, GIMP is an excellent tool that everyone should have (it cost nothing, so it doesn’t hurt to have a copy). It’s also available for many platforms, including Windows, Macintosh and Linux. This editor comes with several plug-ins and filters that can produce beautiful fractals, among them: Fractal Explorer, to create fractals using several well-known formulas (Mandelbrot, Julia, Barnsley, Lambda, etc.); Cloud, for several types of cloud-like patterns; Flame, for fractal flames, and IFS Fractals, this one starts with the Sierpinski triangle. Look for all of them in the Filters > Render menu. The screenshot above shows the Fractal Explorer window.
Last revision: 05 November 2023.
iFractales ~ v1.2
OS: MacOS X
author: Software-DS
url: http://www.software-ds.com
iFractales is a simple program to draw Von Koch snowflake, Von Koch flowsnake, Sierpinski carpet, Sierpinski gasket, Fractal tree, Hilbert, Peano, Cantor’s castle, Sierpinski pentagon. The user can choose the color (for a simple program like this one, it has a wonderful set of color controls), the drawing mode (fill or stroke), and the fractal’s depth. You can save the picture as TIFF files. Available in French and English.
Last revision: 2006.
JWildfire ~ v8.50
OS: Win/MacOS/Linux/ + Java
author: Andreas Maschke
url: http://www.andreas-maschke.com
JWildfire is an interesting flame fractal explorer that’s packed with lots of options to play with. It’s similar to the well known Apophysis, but faster and easier to use. You can start from zero using the flame editor or use the random batch function to automatically generate a series of images that you can then tweak at will, or even pick some initial parameters and then proceed to generate a more specific batch. If you identify a nice image from that first iterated group (as is to be expected, most random images aren’t that pleasant), you can select it and mutate it to produce a new series of pictures based on the original one. JWildfire then lets you work with the flame parameters (you can input the numbers or move around some triangles à la Apophysis to alter the image) and adjust several image-processing options, such as depth of field, brightness, contrast, antialiasing level, etc., to finish your composition. Both images and parameters can be saved: the former as PNG files by default (user can specify dimensions), and the latter as .flame or .xml for later reproduction or export to compatible programs. To run it, the program needs the Java Runtime machine previously installed on your computer. The software is open source.
Last revision: 25 December 2023.