FractalExplore C++

Description

This project is the successor to my other project FractalGenerator. A simple window application that allows a user to view the marvels of fractal images in real time using shaders. The user can freely roam the intricate details of fractals by zooming and scrolling.

Getting Started

To build and run this project, you'll need to have a C++ compiler and CMake installed on your machine. Follow these steps to set up the project:

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following tools installed:

• C++ Compiler: You'll need a C++ compiler to build the project. If you don't have one already, you can install GCC or Clang.

• CMake: CMake is a build system generator that's used to configure and build the project. You can download and install it from CMake's official website.

Clone the Repository

You can clone this Git repository to your local machine using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/RohanFredriksson/FractalExplore.git

Install Submodules

This project has dependencies included as Git submodules. To ensure you have all the necessary dependencies, run the following commands in the project's root directory:

cd FractalExplore
git submodule update --init --recursive

This will clone and update all the submodules specified in the project.

Build the Project

Next, enter the build directory and configure the project using CMake. Follow these steps:

cd build
cmake ..

Compile the Program

Once CMake configuration is complete, you can build the program using make (or your platform-specific build command). Run the following command inside the build directory:

make

This will compile the project, and you should find the executable in the build directory or a specified output directory, depending on your CMake configuration.

You are now ready to run the program!

./FractalExplore

Reasoning

I started this project to learn how to build window based applications in lower level languages such as C and C++. I have always been interested in computer graphics and the technology related to it. A problem faced by the predecessor of this project FractalGenerator was the time that was required to compute just a single frame of a fractal. It would take several minutes to produce a still image even with parallelisation of the task. To improve the time taken to compute fractal images, I had to learn how to use the power of programming on the graphics card. Using GLSL shaders in OpenGL I could compute fractal images in real-time.

Contributions

Contributions are welcome! If you find any bugs or have suggestions for improvements, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.