Mandelbrot Generator, version 1.0

My first attempt to program a Mandelbrot generator proved easier mathematically than I had first anticipated, but with complication such as a limit on the resolution due to the accuracy of Pascal's real variable type. Nevertheless, the eventual product is fast and produces attractive, mysterioussly aesthetic images is still on of my favorite methods of generating fractal images. Although my susbequent versions made use of a (considerably) more accurate and elegant algorithm, this original implementation limits the iterations in such a way as to produce smooth, vague, softened Mandelbrot images, that are surprisingly refrshing after the crispt shatterings produced by my later, and more accurate programs. Some of my favorite images have been fabricated using this program: although much of the breathtaking detail is obscured, the softening of the edges of the pattern lead to fuller, more substatial patterns that respond very well to false colouring and other imaging techniques that can be applied to the captured screenshots. The simple generator also includes a simultaneous Julia set generator, and due to the limits on the iteration and the speed on the SVGA graphics engine, mandelbrot navigation is very quick. Most of the bugs have been ironed out of this version, but it was eventually abandoned in the cause of devoting more time to the more technically spectacular Delphi version, that produces the more familiar sharp-edged pattern. Nevertheless, I will forget the first time the pattern came floating out of the depths when I first implemented this simple algorithm; and the code is refrshingly straitforward, with little confusing optimisation procedures. Available for download with full Pascal source code.

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