Version 0.2.1 released (19/11/2012)
This version corrects a few bugs introduced in version 0.2.0. In particular:
- Fixed a significant problem that occurred under Oracle's Java SE 1.7
runtime where the View Coordinates window preview image would
fail to render and appear black. This is due to an apparent
unanticipated change in the Swing/AWT container layout algorithm between
Java 1.6 and 1.7. Thanks to Jake Carter for bringing this to my
attention.
- Made the child window positioning (view coords/fractal parameters) a
little more intelligent and useful, instead of relying on the host
windowing system to do the window placement.
- If you specify a filename without a
.png extension in
the Save Screenshot dialog, one will now be automatically
appended.
Version 0.2.0 released (5/11/2012)
Most of the changes here are "under the hood", so to speak. The
program will not appear markedly different to previous releases, however
these improvements will make it much easier to move forward with future
goals.
- Rendering engine rewritten; now supports multiple cores and partial
redraw when scrolling.
- Smoothed rendering. Currently it's permanently enabled whenever
available, but will be adjustable in future releases.
- Julia set fractals now draw an outline of the Mandelbrot set when
picking the constant point; click somewhere close to this outline to
produce interesting results.
- Keyboard shortcuts now available for all operations, including
cursor keys for scrolling the view. Thanks to David Wheeler for the
feedback and suggestion. Previously I had not gotten around to
evaluating how usable FractalToy was on a laptop with only a trackpad
pointing device.
- You can now also right-click to change between magnify and hand-drag
mouse input modes.
- Lyapunov fractal now lets you type in a custom sequence string; it
should have at least one "a" and one "b" character for interesting
results.
- Speedups for Mandelbrot escape-time fractal. Thanks to Andrew Jenner
for his
mathematical investigation into these techniques.
Version 0.1.2 released (24/8/2010)
This is a minor update that includes some performance optimisations
in the complex number handling (notably faster redraw) and also adds
some new fractal functions, namely Newton, Lyapunov and an alternate
rendering of the Mandelbrot set that grades colours according to
absolute value of each point at the last iteration. Parameters are
currently hard-coded, however GUI functionality for this will be
implemented in a forthcoming release.
Version 0.1.1 released (12/8/2010)
- Added Pickover Stalk renderings of Julia and Burning Ship fractals.
- Fixed a bug where the text field in the Julia special parameter toolbar window could not be selected.
- Changelog is now viewable from program (see "Help" menu).
Version 0.1.0 released (10/8/2010)
First release.
