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@@ -1,2 +1,20 @@ # happy-fractal -A study of efficient and precise fractal rendering. + +This is a casual project investigating Mandelbrot rendering. It began with the task of rendering the fractal, then achieving a smooth framerate (60+ FPS); now, I am substituting custom data types to allow for deeper zooms. + +This project is written in modern C++, using SDL2 for rendering. OpenCL has been adopted for GPU-accelerated rendering. + +The [r128](https://github.com/fahickman/r128) library was modified to provide a Q4.124 fixed-point data type. Rendering is slow, but more precise than native `double`. With Q4.124, we can get very close to the precision of [XaoS](https://xaos-project.github.io/), which I believe uses [80-bit extended-precision floating-point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_precision#x86_extended_precision_format). + +In the future, this may either see optimization for faster and smoother Q4.124 rendering, or a further increase in precision. + +## Controls, notes + +Point your mouse to where you would like to zoom from. Left click to zoom in, right click to zoom out. + +The scroll wheel adjusts the zoom speed. + +The source code has a BENCHMARK flag, which times an automated zoom to a given point. + +To switch the source code between `double` and Q4.124, change the `Float` type accordingly and set the appropriate OpenCL kernel (in `main()`, add or remove the `_r128` suffix). + |