Mandelbrot And Julia Set Explorer

This Java applet calculates the portion of the mandelbrot set defined by the variables on the right and displays the image on the left. The calculation can be a long process, especially on slower machines. However, if you have a nice machine or lots of time, you can zoom in on parts of the mandelbrot set that you want to see. The detail is really amazing. The Mandelbrot Set is an example of a fractal. It exists in the complex plane and is the set of all points that, after any number of iterations, do not diverge.

The black pixels on the inside represent points that are in the set. All other points are outside of the set. The coloring of the points reflects the speed at which they begin to diverge. Those pixels that are green or light brown diverge more slowly than the pixels that are a more muddy and dark brown.

There are two modes for use with this applet:

Zooming mode - indicated by "Mouse Zooms in" option. To zoom in on some box, click on one point in the image and then another. These two points will define the box on which you want to zoom. If you would like, you can also specify the coordinates of the sides of a rectangle on which you want to zoom by entering them in the boxes to right and then pressing "Start Generation." This mode is the only mode that the Julia Set Explorer has.

Julia Set mode - indicated by "Mouse Click Makes Julia Set" option. In this mode, when you click on the Mandelbrot set, a similar window will pop up that will let you view the Julia Set generated by using the complex point on which you clicked as the seed.

You will notice that if you select on a point that is in the Mandelbrot Set, the corresponding Julia Set is continuous, but if you select a point that is not in the Mandelbrot Set, the corresponding Julia Set is disjointed...

The Checkbox is a failsafe measure to try to ensure your machine won't lock. If it is checked, the program will sleep in addition to yielding to let the other programs work. It is a trick I saw on www.franceway.com - I hope it's useful. Personally, I always have it off when I'm exploring.

Problems

In Netscape pre 3.0beta5, and on computers in palettized, 256 or 16 color modes, the image is dithered, which stinks and ruins the nice smooth colors the graphic deserves

-David