FastFractal256 is an application for rendering the Mandelbrot fractal. Like other software that you may have seen, it can produce both images and movies. However, the traditional way that programs do their calculations only uses the CPU in your computer. If your computer has a GPU that is supported by the CUDA API, then the performance may be radically improved by using FastFractal256, which supports GPU fractal rendering.

FastFractal256 supports GPU hardware using the CUDA programming API. This means that only GPUs that support this API are supported by the software. If you have one of the many Nvidia video cards that support CUDA, the API will likely to be already installed on your computer! This is because the CUDA API is included in Nvidia's standard driver installation. Your video board must have at least 128 MB of video memory.

GPU, CPU, and yes... parallel CPU + GPU renderingFastFractal256 supports both CPU and GPU rendering, so if you only have a CPU (or have an unsupported GPU), then FastFractal256 will automatically detect this and render in CPU only mode.

However, running on a high-performance GPU, the performance may be ten times better - or more for very powerful GPUs! In fact, due to it's highly threaded design, FastFractal256 can render using both the CPU and GPU running in parallel, and uses a proprietary scheduling system to coordinate the processing.
High-precision 256 bit renderingFastFractal256 can zoom DEEP into the Mandelbrot fractal, using up to 256 bits of precision for calculations. Calculations at 256 bit precision are useful for making impressive movies of zooms that go DEEP into the fractal!

The precision also allows for interactive exploring within deep regions of the fractal! The user can rapidly explore the fractal, finding regions that are interesting, save a coordinate file for their "endpoint", and then make a zoom movie into this region. With the speed and precision of FastFractal256, the user has a powerful tool for exploring and enjoying the Mandelbrot fractal!

High-quality video outputFastFractal256 supports resolutions up to 1920x1200. In addition, antialiasing can be performed to increase the quality of rendered images. When the highest quality image is desired, 8x8 antialiasing can be used. In this mode each pixel on screen is generated from an 8x8 pixel block, and rendering error (aliasing in particular) can be dramatically reduced. This allows beautiful still images to be produced.
Movies can be rendered at 1920x1200 resolution, with 8x8 antialiasing, if the user desires to do so. However, a variety of lower resolution modes are also provided. The movies are output as uncompressed .AVI files. Compression of movies is left to the user, to do if they desire, using their favorite encoder.

Creating a video of a fractal zoom1. First you must save a coordinate file for where the zoom will END at. To do this, simply zoom into the fractal and then select "File -> Save Coordinates" to save a coordinate file.
2. Select a low resolution to speed up your animation (at least until you get the hang of it!) by choosing "Rendering Resolution" ---- "160x120".
3. Select "Animate" ---- "Make Animation".
4. A dialog will open. Press the "Load" button and choose the coordinate file from step 1.
5. Press the button labeled "Select filename, begin rendering".
6. A save file dialog will open; enter a name for the AVI that will be output. Hit OK.
7. That's it - the animation should now start being output.

Limitations:
* Nag Screen
* 10 second delay at startup.
* Sessions are limited to 10 minutes.

The license of this software is Free Trial Software, the price is $19.95, you can free download and get a free trial.