Software by ciotog

wmMand

Main app window Large image 800x800 showing region info in title bar (click to view full size)

wmMand is a WindowMaker applet originally written by Michael G. Henderson in 1999 and updated by Pieter-Paul Spiertz in 2002. I found several important features to be not yet implemented, and also found that the memory usage was rather large for such a simple little program, so I decided to try updating it in 2005. I think the current version is rather nice.

I added additional features like extra command line arguments, keyboard control of the applet, auto-zooming with the mouse and some coding enhancements.

Current version can be found at SourceForge.net Logo

For Debian users you can get a relatively recent (if not the most recent) version in the unstable branch. For more info about the Debian wmmand package, please go here. Much thanks to Sandro Tosi for maintaining the Debian package.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the man page for version 1.3.1 of wmMand.

NAME
       wmMand - Dockable Mandelbrot browser


SYNOPSIS
       wmMand  [-h,  --help] [-z, --zoom <factor>] [-i, --iterations <number>]
       [-l, --largesize <number>] [-d, --delayzoom <number>] [-x, -xv]



DESCRIPTION
       wmMand is a dockable Mandelbrot fractal browser or explorer. The window
       initially  comes  up  with  the whole Mandelbrot set in view. The mouse
       buttons can be used to zoom into or out of the set. Use the left  mouse
       button to zoom in, and the right button to zoom out. The view window is
       recentered to a point roughly half way from the  center  to  the  point
       clicked.  You  can  also  zoom  in  and out without recentering using a
       scrollwheel.

       Pressing the middle mouse button or 'b' on the  keyboard  brings  up  a
       button  bar  that allows the user to change color tables (button 'C' on
       the bar), change the maximum number of iterations (the button with num-
       bers in it), reset to initial view (button 'R'), and show a larger ver-
       sion of the image with imagemagick's "display" or  "xv"  (button  'V').
       The 'M' button is currently unused. When clicking on buttons that iter-
       ate through a range of values (such as 'C' and  the  "iterations"  but-
       ton), the left button moves in one direction and the right moves in the
       other.

       When the mouse is over the window, pressing certain keys  on  the  key-
       board will also have some effects, as follows:

       arrow and NumberPad keys
              Move the view based on the zoom factor

       z, +, NumberPad 5
              Zoom in

       o, -, NumberPad 0
              Zoom out

       c      Cycle colour table (palette)

       v      View  large  image with ImageMagick's "display" program (or "xv"
              if started with the -x or --xv command line option)

       r      Reset to initial view

       i      Change max iterations (double in value up to 2048, then back  to
              64)

       b      Show/hide button bar

       x      View current view with XaoS (if installed), using the size given
              by the largesize value. Note that due to rounding  off  at  high
              levels  of zoom the image displayed may be somewhat offset. Also
              differences in the palette can be striking.

       q      Attempt to "ungrab" the mouse if something bad  happens  and  it
              won't release automatically

       A  higher  number  of  iterations  will allow you to look deeper in the
       fractal. However, if you feel yourself limited by wmMand, check out the
       'XaoS' program by Jan Hubicka (http://xaos.sourceforge.net). Personally
       I think they complement each other nicely.


OPTIONS
       -h, --help
              Display list of command-line options.

       -z, --zoom <factor>
              Set zoom factor. Default is 1.2.

       -i, --iterations <number>
              Set initial maximum iterations (default  256).  Possible  values
              are 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048.

       -l, --largesize <number>

              Set  the  size  of the large image displayed. The large image is
              always square, so only one number is required. Default is 540.

       -d, --delayzoom <number>
              Set the amount of delay when autozooming. The higher the number,
              the greater the delay between updates. Default is 10.

       -x, -xv
              Use  the  program  "xv"  instead  of "display" to view the large
              fractal image.  Please note that the  resulting  image  will  be
              exactly the same either way.


BUGS
       It has been known to "swallow" the pointer,and not release it. This can
       usually be rectified by pressing 'q' or 'ESC', or the combination CTRL-
       ALT-'/'  (the  numberpad  divide key), unless that option has been dis-
       abled on your system.


TODO

       Enable 'M' button to change fractal type.   Use  antialiasing  for  the
       large image (and maybe the small)



AUTHORS
       Michael G. Henderson <mghenderson@lanl.gov>, 15 February 1999

       Updated by Pieter-Paul Spiertz <pspiertz@sci.kun.nl>, 14 April 2002

       Last updated by Chris Craig <wmmand@ciotog.net>, 16 October 2006