Fraclr
What is this?
Fraclr is a toy for playing with line fractals!
How do I do it?
Try drawing some lines (click to start a line, click again to end a line) in the pattern area (the top part), and see what the resulting fractal looks like! Control-click to edit the endpoint of a segment.
But how does it work?
When you draw a pattern, it gets "iterated" some number of times (you can set the iteration #, or let Fraclr determine it automatically).
That means for every iteration, every segment in the pattern gets replaced...by the pattern itself!
Are there any shortcut keys?
Sure are! Press "?" to see the list of shortcut keys.
I found a cool pattern! How do I save it for later?
Awesome. You can click "store pattern as" to add it to the list of loadable presets, but that won't persist if you close or reload the page.
You an also click "export pattern", copy the pattern code, and save it on your computer in a text editor. Later, you can click "import pattern" and paste the code back in to get your pattern back.
Can I get more color in this thing?
You can change the background and line color using the color tools in the toolbar.
Also, as you select line colors, the last 5 selected colors are stored. You can switch between them by clicking on the color history buttons, or by pressing the keys 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Control/alt-click to remove a stored color, and shift-click to use the color as the background instead of the line color.
How do I move patterns around?
On non-touch devices, control-click on one of the pattern line endpoints to pick it up. Move it where you want, then click again to put it down. Sorry, changing patterns isn't supported on touch devices yet - for now just clear the pattern and start over.
How do I delete pattern lines?
On non-touch devices, control-click on one of the endpoints of the pattern line you want to delete, then press "escape". Sorry, this isn't supported on touch devices yet - just clear the whole thing for now.
What does "Handedness" mean?
Every time the pattern is iterated, the pattern can be repeated either as shown ("left" handedness), or flipped ("right" handedness).
Can I draw patterns using a grid to keep things aligned?
Yep, you can snap to grid using the "Snap" checkbox, or hold down "x" while drawing or placing a symmetry to temporarily turn on snapping. You can also alter the grid spacing, and switch between rectangular and hexagonal grid using the other grid tools in the toolbar.
This thing starts to creak when I have 77 lines, and I ask for an iteration number of 88123.
Yep, sorry, the computations get kind of expensive as the number of pattern lines increases, and as the number of iterations increases.
I have an idea/feedback!
I'd love to hear your feedback at @briankardon or e-mail
This thing is neat!
Really glad you're enjoying it! I'd love to hear what you think, and see what you've made with it, so feel free to get in touch (see above).
Please enjoy Fraclr for free, but if enjoyed it and you feel like throwing me a buck to cover hosting costs, I appreciate it: