---------------------------------------------------------------------------- FracXtra v4.0: Fractint Extras Collection by Dan Goldwater, 2/29/93 release. distributed as FRACXTR4.ZIP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- description: FracXtra is a huge collection of .map, .par, .frm, .ifs, .l, .key, and .bat files, as well as some small external programs for the best fractal generator ever made, Fractint, by the Stone Soup Group (they want glory. they deserve glory. give them glory). version 17 or higher of fractint is needed for some of the files in this collection. The files are by no means all made by me, although i did make quite a few of the .map and .par files myself. The FracXtra collection is really just a collection of all the fractint .map, .par, .frm, etc. files i have found on the internet and on bulletin boards. intro: version 4! got a lot of new stuff (thanks to contributors), cleaned things up a little more, zipped the collection with the old pkzip v1.10, because some people don't yet have the new pkzip v2.04g (or info-zip's unzip v5.0 and zip v1.9, which support pkzip v2.04g type compression). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- getting your own Fractint extras in the FracXtra collection: If you have any good Fractint extras you would like to have included in this collection, just tell me how to get them and i will include them in the next release. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- where to get FracXtra: FracXtra can be obtained from finer bulletin boards, as well as on the Internet. If you can't find it anywhere, I can upload it to an Internet site for you. Just email me, and ask. Finer Bulletin Boards (not by any means a complete list): The Graphics Alternative BBS, 510-524-2780 Quantum BBS, 413-584-1863 Channel 1 BBS, 617-354-7077 617-354-3137 617-354-5776 617-354-8873 Internet FTP sites: Unfortunately, FracXtra does not yet have a permanent home anywhere on the Internet (anyone want to give it one? please email me if you do). However, new releases of FracXtra are often found on the following sites: wuarchive.wustl.edu in /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/graphics/ or /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/misc/ or similar. ftp.cica.indiana.edu in /pub/pc/win3/uploads/ sprite.berkeley.edu in /pub/ (this is the XFractint source. XFractint includes the full FracXtra with it. look for the file xfract172.tar.Z or similar. the FracXtra release may be here as a separate file as well). where to get Fractint: Fractint v17.2/17.3 is available in versions for dos, windows, and X. you can get Fractint on any of the above BBS systems and internet FTP sites. on wuarchive.wustl.edu, look in /mirrors/msdos/graphics/ as frain172.zip. the source code is frasr172.zip, and the X version is frpor172.zip. the windows version is in /mirrors/msdos/windows3/ as winfr173.zip. New versions of the software will presumably have similar names when they are released. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- #IFDEF LEGAL_CRAP I make absolutely no claim to ownership of most of the files or programs contained here, and some of them may be shareware, although most are freeware or public domain. Many of the files are copyrighted in the specific files by whoever made them. Due to the methods and time period over which this collection was/is gathered, it would be impossible to list all the contributors whose names are not specifically in a file contained herein. basically i think what i want to say here is all the legal stuff that gets me off the hook when you sue me for something. just insert any and all disclaimers here. i am not trying to make any money from this, anyway. if any author of something in this collection doesn't like what i am doing, just email or real-mail me and i'll correct the situation. #ENDIF LEGAL_CRAP ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- using the collection: .par files are fractal parameter files. press '@', then 'f6' to load a parameter file. .map files are fractal color maps. load them with 'l' when in color cycling mode (press 'c' to go to color cycling mode when an image is displayed). .frm files are fractal formula files. press 't', choose 'formula', then press 'f6' to load a formula file .ifs files are IFS type fractal formula files. press 't', choose 'IFS', then press 'f6' to load an IFS formula file. .l files are L-system fractal formula files. press 't', choose 'L-system', then press 'f6' to load an L-system formula file. .bat files are for running fractint with command line options from dos. .key files are fractint macro keylists, for demos and such. other files are external programs, .txt files describing files in the collection, or other things. note that all the extras files contained in the release Fractint v17.2 are in fracxtra. while the various types of fractint files are separated into their own directories in this archive, you may want to put them all in your fractint main directory, because using them is easier that way. but, if you really don't want all 300 files in one directory, unzip this file with -d to recreate the directory structure. note that the .frm, .bat, and possibly some of the other files in the collection may not work as expected if they aren't in the same directory as fractint.exe. maybe newer versions of fractint will allow a forcefully defined directory for each type of file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- upgrading old fracxtra releases: upgrading from version 2 or version 1: everything in the previous releases of fracxtra is in this release, but some files have been renamed, some conglomerated to reduce the number of files, and some deleted if they duplicated other files. as a result, you can delete every file in the old version and then unzip this collection. the problem is that if you have made any fractint files of your own, you will have to avoid deleting them (heh heh). to help you do this, the following files existed in version 2 but have been deleted in this version: all .l files except fractint.l, penrose.l, tiling.l moreifs1.ifs black.map, white.map (what were these all white and all black maps for?!?) upgrading from version 3, 2, and 1: the /txt directory was eliminated. the .txt files are now in /other. erase the following files, which were either duplicates or were renamed: rain4x3.map, smooth2.map, smooth4.map. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- notes on specific files: many of the .txt files in /other correspond to a .par and/or .frm file, and describe how to use it or who wrote it or something like that. fractint.frm and improved.frm have many of the same formulas in them, but they have been organized so that fractint.frm is a subset of improved.frm. the formulas in fractint.frm have many of the variables preset, such that they require less parameters than the corresponding (and similarly named) formulas in improved.frm. many of the improved.frm formulas in turn have a comment which gives example values to try in a formula, and these are often the values used to preset that formula in fractint.frm. note that the fractint.frm included in the collection is different from the one included in Fractint v17. you may want to rename improved.frm to fractint.frm, and fractint.frm to oldfract.frm, because many of the .par files expect certain formulas to be in fractint.frm which are now only in improved.frm. some of the .par and .bat files are directory dependant, and may not be able to find the .frm, .map, or .par files they need to work properly. in general, most can be made to work if your fractint.exe is located in c:\fract\ and the .frm, .map, .par, and/or .bat files in question are also located in c:\fract\. you could also fix this problem by editing the files in question, or by adding your .map, .par, and .frm files on the path. the following files were made by me: about half of the .map files, including almost all the various rainbow and volcano and fade ones. i made the dgeneral.par and the dcontpot.par files, both are (c), but you can use them for any non-profit purpose you wish, as long as you don't claim you made them. i also wrote part of the 24bit.txt info file on making 24bit fractals, and the frachead.ray rayshade header file. also many of the .txt and .bat files describing various stuff (in /other). also made fraccfg.2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- version history: version 1: - the initial release. totally undocumented and disorganized and incomplete. everyone kept bugging me and bugging me to re-upload it everywhere . version 2: - got a whole bunch of new .par, .frm, .l, and .bat files, and a few .map's - made this readme file, and the file_id.diz. - discovered that none of the .ifs files were in the correct format. i fixed them, and consolidated all the new ones into one file, moreifs.ifs. - consolidated a few of the .par files that had only a few .par's in them into the misc.par file. - eliminated duplication in a few of the .par files (like wohlers.par and all of the .par files i made myself), and i consolidated my own .par's. version 3: - got a few new .map and .par files - nuked a ton of .l and .ifs files because they were dups - changed the zip-exe dir to an other dir, and put in some new stuff. - removed duplication from the remaining .l files. - removed duplication between fractint.frm and improved.frm, and reorganized those files (see notes). - fixed one of the formulas in improved.frm which had a syntax error (jm_23). - made a .txt file about making 24bit fractals - used pkzip v2.04e to compress - made a .ray file header for rayshade output files - misc. editing of files version 4: - made fade*.map - deleted rain4x3.map, renamed smooth2.map and smooth4.map - got select.frm file, and burt.par file - got a .map file making program, map100.zip. - moved the /txt stuff into /other - used the old pkzip v1.10 to compress, for compatibility - misc. editing of files - made/added .txt and .bat files on animating fractals. - got about 20 new .map, a .par, and a .ifs file - got fbat102.zip, a par-to-bat converter - got a .cfg file and .ini additions and other misc. files in /other ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- --Dan Goldwater-- ----------------- preferred (internet) email: daniel_goldwater@brown.edu alternate (internet) emails: dgold@math.umass.edu dgold@lems.brown.edu st202013@brownvm.brown.edu Compu$erve users: I have been told that you too can send me email at my internet email address, though i can't tell you how to do it. since i'm a student, feel free to send money if that's your desire: Dan Goldwater 9 Forest Edge Rd Amherst, MA 01002-1533 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------