Interactive Fractal Generator

Interactive desktop application for generating and exploring fractal trees in real time.

Built with Python and PyQt5.

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Preview

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Demo

Real-time parameter editing:

Additional generation example:

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Features

Fractal generation

• Interactive fractal tree generation.
• Live parameter editing through a PyQt5 GUI.
• Controls for recursive depth, branch angle, branch ratios, zoom and positioning.
• Branches that would become smaller than a few visible pixels are skipped to reduce unnecessary rendering load.

Rendering options

• Antialiasing toggle.
• Optional left/right branch distinction.
• Brush thickness control.
• Painter modes:
  • line,
  • circle,
  • rectangle,
  • triangle.
• Optional HSV-based color control.

Positioning

The generated fractal can be positioned on a 9-point canvas grid:

Top Left	Top Center	Top Right
Middle Left	Center	Middle Right
Bottom Left	Bottom Center	Bottom Right

Export

• Export generated fractals to SVG.
• The SVG canvas is intentionally large, so very large fractals can fit inside the output.
• When opening exported SVG files in a browser or vector editor, the fractal may not appear centered at first. Pan/zoom to locate it and crop or adjust the SVG manually if needed.

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Performance note

The generation count has the biggest impact on performance. Higher values can create a very large number of branches and may freeze the application or slow down the computer.

Start with a low generation count and increase it gradually while watching for lag. Around 10 generations is a reasonable neutral starting point for exploration.

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Download

The latest packaged Windows build is available on the Releases page.

1. Download the latest windows-x64.zip archive.
2. Extract the full archive.
3. Run:

main.exe

Do not extract only main.exe. The bundled dependencies from the ZIP archive are required.

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Run from source

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• PyQt5
• NumPy
• SciPy
• pandas

Setup on Windows

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

The project was originally developed and tested on Windows. Linux/macOS builds were not tested.

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Project structure

Simplified top-level structure:

Interactive-Fractal-Generator/
├── docs/
├── examples/
├── screenshots/
├── FractalTreeClass.py
├── main.py
├── requirements.txt
├── release-notes-v1.0.0.md
├── README.md
└── LICENSE

Main files:

• main.py — application entry point and PyQt5 user interface.
• FractalTreeClass.py — fractal tree rendering logic and drawing behavior.
• screenshots/ — preview images and GIF demos used in this README.
• examples/ — exported fractal examples.
• docs/ — archived development notes.

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Development notes

Early design notes are archived in docs/development/whiteboard.jpg.

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.