Fractal Window Menu

A fractal window's menu bar contains commands in eight menus: File, Edit, Location, View, Options, Render, Window, and Help.

If no fractal windows are open, a subset of these menus and commands are available. These menus and commands are indicated by a asterisk (*).

File*

New...* Displays the New Fractal dialog box, from which you can select a new fractal to explore. CTRL+N
Duplicate Opens a new fractal window with the same type and location as the current fractal window. This makes it easy to continue exploring an interesting region without losing your current picture. CTRL+D
Duplicate As Not Julia/
Duplicate As Julia
Performs the same operation as Duplicate, but toggles the type of fractal (from the non-Julia type to the Julia type or vice versa). This makes it easy to see, side by side, the differences and similarities between the related families of fractals. Duplicate as Julia takes the center of the non-Julia window as the initial value of the Julia seed. CTRL+SHIFT+D
Open...* Displays the Open Fractal dialog box, from which you can select a previously saved fractal to open. The selected fractal's colour palette may be loaded in as the new global palette, depending on your preferences settings. CTRL+O
Close Closes the current fractal window.  
Save Stores the current fractal to disk using its current file name. The fractal coordinate information is stored inside a BMP file, which other programs should be able to load as an image. CTRL+S
Save As... Displays the Save Fractal dialog box, from which you can save the current fractal to disk using a different file name.  
Save bitmap Only... Displays the Save Bitmap Only dialog box, from which you can save the current fractal as an uncompressed BMP file usable in other programs. This option is supplied because some programs do not properly read the BMP files saved by the Save command. Note that files saved with this command cannot be opened in Fractal eXtreme.  
Save As Wallpaper Saves a copy of the current fractal to the windows folder as FXWallpaper.bmp and sets the current wallpaper settings to use this image.  
print... Displays the Print dialog box, from which you can control how to print the current fractal. CTRL+p
Print Preview Displays a preview of how the current fractal would appear on paper using the current print settings.  
print Setup...* Displays the Print Setup dialog box, from which you can specify how the current fractal appears on the printed page.  
Preferences* Displays the Preferences window, from which you can adjust global settings that affect the program and all open fractal windows.  
n List of recent projects* Displays a list of the eight most recent fractals that you worked on.  
Exit* Quits the program.  

Edit

Undo action Restores the current fractal window to the state it was before the last action you performed. The undo has multiple levels. CTRL+Z
Redo action Performs the last undone operation in the current fractal window. CTRL+SHIFT+Z
Copy Copies the current fractal to the Windows Clipboard for use in other programs that can paste bitmap images. CTRL+C
Image Comments Open a window for editing comments that will be stored with the image. This can be used to insert explanatory or copyright information.  

Location*

Zoom In Increases the magnification of the current fractal relative to the center of its window, increasing the fractal's zoom level by 1.00 and its magnification by a factor of 2. To zoom in on a particular area of the current fractal, double click with the left mouse button. CTRL+=
Zoom Out Decreases the magnification of the current fractal relative to the center of its window, decreasing the fractal's zoom level by 1.00 and its magnification by a factor of 2. You can also zoom out by double clicking with the right mouse button. CTRL+-
Reset Zoom Restores the zoom level of the current fractal to 0.00, magnification 1.00. CTRL+R
View Location Opens a new fractal window with a duplicate of the current fractal at no magnification (zoom of 0.00), and showing the current fractal's location as a red box. This is a convenient way to remind yourself of your location in the infinite fractal landscape. CTRL+SHIFT+L
Show Location Contains a submenu of options that control which of the other open fractals' locations to indicate in the current fractal window.  
Current Toggles the displaying of the locations of other fractal windows in the current window. CTRL+L
All Graphically displays the locations of fractal windows in all windows.  
None Turns off the graphical displaying of fractal locations in all window.  
Set Location... Displays the Set Location window, from which you can view and edit the current fractal's location, zoom amount, and rotation.  
Set Julia Seed... Displays the Set Julia Seed window, from which you can view and edit the current Julia fractal's seed value.  
Favourite Spots...* Displays the Favourite Spots window, from which you can graphically select a fractal to open. CTRL+F
Auto Explorer... Displays the Auto Explorer window, from which you can control the automatic exploration of interesting spots in the current fractal (as selected by the program).  

View*

Toolbar* Shows or hides the row of buttons along the top of the program window.  
Status Bar* Shows or hides the area along the bottom of the program window.  
Status Window Displays the Status window, from which you can view detailed information about the current fractal and the location under the pointer. CTRL+A
Edges Shows or hides the edges between iteration values. CTRL+E
Coordinate Grid Shows or hides a cartesian grid overlayed on the fractal. * Grid lines give you another way to zoom in on - or find - significant locations at simple coordinates, like (0,1), (-2,0), (-.75,0), (.25,0), (-1.75,0), or the 0.25 radius circle at (0,-1). Give these coordinates a try. CTRL+G
Antialiased Toggles antialiasing.  

Options

Iteration Control Displays the Iteration Control window, from which you can balance the competing needs of fractal level of detail and rendering time by adjusting the maximum iterations per pixel. CTRL+I
Colour Palette Displays the Colour Palette window, from which you can adjust the global colour palette used to display your fractals.. CTRL+T
Colour Mapping Displays the Colour Mapping window, from which you can adjust how iteration bands are mapped onto colours. CTRL+M
Advanced Settings Displays the Advanced Settings dialog box, from which you can control various advanced settings.  
Fractal Size Displays the Fractal Size dialog box, from which you can change the dimensions of the current fractal window.  
Plug-In Setup... Displays the Plug-In Setup dialog box, from which you can adjust parameters specific to the current fractal plug-in, if applicable.  
Plug-In About Displays the Plug-In About dialog box, from which you can display miscellaneous information about the current fractal plug-in, such as its version number and copyright notice.  

Render*

pause Suspends and resumes calculation of the current fractal. This is useful if you are running another program which needs more CPU power, or if you have multiple fractals calculating in Fractal eXtreme and want to give one of them all of the processor time. Pausing a calculation can also be useful if you are zoomed in so far that the fractal calculations are making the user interface unresponsive. p
Make Zoom Movie... Displays the Save Zoom Movie As dialog box, from which you can specify the location and name of the zoom movie on disk.  
play Zoom Movie* Starts the FX Movie Player and, if a zoom movie has been rendered, opens it.  
Make Iteration Movie... Displays the Iteration Movie Creator window, from which you can view and control then animated appearance and disappearance of iteration bands, and create an AVI movie of the animation.  
Play Iteration Movie* Starts the default Windows movie player for AVI files and plays the most recently rendered iteration movie.  
Make poster Displays the Poster Rendering dialog box, from which you can create poster size or antialiased fractals.  

Window

Cascade Staggers the open fractal windows so that you can access their title bars  
Tile Arranges the open fractal windows so that they don't overlap each other  
Arrange Icons Positions the minimized fractal windows so that you can easily access them  
n List of open fractals Lists the titles of all open fractal windows  

Help*

Help Topics* Displays the Contents tab of the Help Topics dialog box, from which you can display online help for the program F1
Tip of the Day* Displays the Tip of the Day window, from which you can view tips on using the program  
About Fractal eXtreme* Displays the program's About dialog box, from which you can see the program's version number and copyright notice  
Check for New Version Check on the Internet to see whether a new version is available. This also happens automatically at startup, but can be controlled with the preferences dialog.  
Fractal eXtreme on the Web Takes you to the Fractal eXtreme web site, where you can view our gallery or read about future updates.  
purchase Fractal eXtreme* Displays the instructions for purchasing the Fractal eXtreme program