Mountain Fractals
Version 1.1
Instructions

This is a small program that generates three-dimensional mountain 
fractals.  These fractals can then be saved on disk as CAD-3D 1.0 
objects, and loaded into that program for further manipulation.

To use this program, run FRACTALS.PRG from any resolution.  The 
initial alert box will provide you with two choices, Begin or 
Quit.  Selecting Begin allows you to generate a fractal, and 
selecting Quit exits the program.

After selecting Begin, you must select the depth of the fractal.  
The depth is the amount of detail to be included; it would also 
take more time, but since the time is so short (the most detailed 
fractals take about 5 seconds) that doesn't really amount to 
much.  Level 5 is the least detailed fractal; these objects have 
only 256 faces and 153 points.  Level 7 is the most detailed; 
these objects have 4,096 faces and 2,145 points.
To select the fractal depth, click on the left and right arrow 
buttons in the alert box to change the value in the center box.  
When you are happy with the value selected, click on the center 
box.

After choosing the fractal depth, you must choose the rockiness 
for the fractal.  Lower values here make rockier fractals; a 
value of 3 (the lowest allowed) creates very chaotic fractals.  A 
value of 8, however, creates fractals that are very smooth (not 
flat, smooth).  Select the rockiness in the same manner as you 
selected the depth.

Now you are given a last chance to bail out.  An alert box will 
appear, telling what depth and rockiness you have selected, and 
presenting you with the options of Proceed and Cancel.  Selecting 
Proceed will generate the fractal;  selecting Cancel will abort 
the operation and return you to the initial alert box.

Once the fractal has been generated, it will be drawn on the 
screen in a manner similar to CAD's "hidden" mode.  The drawing 
will automatically be scaled to fit on the screen; since it is 
only two colors, however (white on black) I would suggest running 
this program in the highest resolution possible.  After looking 
at the fractal for as long as you like, click the mouse button 
and select the .3D file to write the object to.  You will need 
CAD 3D to look at these objects.  Selecting Cancel will abort the 
save. After saving the fractal (or not), you will be returned to 
the initial alert box.

Load the fractal objects into CAD as you would any other object.  
For some reason the lighting information and shading of the 
object are not saved properly; reshade the object ("Mountain") to 
a brightness of 7, and switch light source A to intensity 7.  
Move the camera to approximately +70 degrees vertically and 180 
degrees horizontally, select 14 shades, and view the object in 
Solid mode.  Voila!

This was the first program I wrote that generated CAD 3D objects.  
Although not perfect, it does work for the most part.  Future 
programs dealing with CAD will be a function plotter and a 
Mandelbrot Set generator (3D Mandelbrot sets!)

Some of the other (non-CAD-related) programs I have written are 
DOUBLER, the program that turns single-sided disks into double-
sided disks, without erasing the data, and PURGER, a program that 
erases an entire disk in less than five seconds.

     -Damien Jones


Fixed from version 1.1:  A minor bug in the fractal display only drew
half of the triangles that make up the fractal.  It has been fixed.
Also a bug in the fractal generation (dealing with the edges of the
fractal) was fixed.