Fractal Explorer

Fractal Explorer is a desktop fractal viewer built with Java 17. The current UI is pure JavaFX. Rendering stays in native Java, with a default CPU path and an optional GPU path for escape-time fractals.

Features

• Browse multiple fractal types
  • Mandelbrot Set
  • Julia Set
  • Burning Ship
  • Koch Snowflake
  • Fractal Tree
  • Sierpinski Carpet
• Mouse-wheel zoom, drag pan, box zoom, double-click reset
• Viewport uses a configurable logical size and scales proportionally in the app window
• Export the current view to PNG
• Export high-resolution PNG at current size, 2x, 4x, or a custom size
• Save the current configuration and restore it on next launch
• Unified color system with presets, color slots, and advanced controls
• Automatic CPU / GPU backend selection with CPU fallback
• Windows app image packaging script

Stack

• Java 17
• JavaFX 21
• Maven
• LWJGL 3

Project Layout

• src/main/java/com/example/fractal/FractalApplication.java
  • Application entry point
• src/main/java/com/example/fractal/FractalFxWindow.java
  • Main JavaFX window
• src/main/java/com/example/fractal/FractalFxViewport.java
  • Viewport interaction, preview, and export
• src/main/java/com/example/fractal/model/
  • Fractal definitions and view state
• src/main/java/com/example/fractal/render/
  • Render backends, backend selection, and color model
• scripts/package-windows.ps1
  • Windows app image packaging script
• docs/DEV_CONTEXT.md
  • Current development context

Requirements

• JDK 17 or newer
• Maven 3.9 or newer
• Default Maven local repository: %USERPROFILE%\\.m2\\repository

Development Run

Compile first:

mvn -DskipTests clean compile

Then run this main class from the IDE:

com.example.fractal.FractalApplication

Do not rely on java -jar target/*.jar as the normal runtime path. JavaFX runtime components are not part of the standard JDK classpath experience, so running the jar directly is error-prone.

Windows Packaging

Build a Windows app image:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\\package-windows.ps1

Output directory:

target\\dist\\FractalExplorer

Skip compilation if the project is already compiled:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\\package-windows.ps1 -SkipCompile

Optionally override the Maven local repository:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\\package-windows.ps1 -MavenRepo "C:\\path\\to\\repository"

Color System

The palette area currently has three layers of control:

• Style preset
• Three high-frequency color slots
  • Escape-time fractals: inside color, main gradient color, background color
  • Geometry / recursive fractals: accent color, primary shape color, background color
• Advanced controls
  • Hue start
  • Hue range
  • Saturation
  • Brightness floor
  • Brightness range
  • Contrast
  • Vibrance
  • Exposure

GPU Notes

The GPU path currently only applies to escape-time fractals and depends on local graphics support plus available LWJGL dependencies.

The app automatically falls back to CPU if any of these conditions apply:

• No usable GPU acceleration is detected
• GPU backend initialization fails
• LWJGL jars are missing from the local dependency cache
• Driver or OpenGL support is insufficient

Export Notes

PNG export always re-renders from the current fractal type, depth, zoom, offset, and logical viewport size. It is not a screenshot.

That means:

• High-resolution export is not limited by the current window resolution
• Export output matches the current view parameters
• Default export size is the current logical viewport size

Current Limits

• The GPU path only covers escape-time fractals
• The Windows script currently builds an app image, not an installer
• If LWJGL dependencies are missing locally, runtime falls back to CPU