At first, Frax HD may seem intimidating – it is neither a productivity app, nor a game. It’s about fractals; a mathematics-based visualization of complex equations, twisting and turning to create odd, yet mesmerizing images. The very technical explanation of how this application works will give you a headache, but luckily you don’t need to understand any of that. Instead, what you need to know is Frax HD is an incredibly talented tool to create fun and bizarre landscapes.
Frax HD is a seriously impressive graphics toy and probably the only most impressive graphics app we have yet seen on iOS.
It is available for both iPad and iPhone, but comes in separate versions and represents a full screen interactive fractal playground, featuring a straightforward and fluid interface and a slew of customization options to generate a large variety of mesmerizing fractal graphics.
Frax HD has four basic controls – texture, color, motion and light. You select the appropriate control and engage it by simply touching the screen to dynamically change the corresponding parameter. It definitely is better to experience than to watch it on youtube to fully appreciate the awesomeness of changing colors and textures and lighting and watch them come to life by swiping your finger or tapping the alive image – the action is not only engaging, it is next to hypnotic.
One of the coolest features is the infinite zoom fractals, which will engross you in their beauty and grandeur.
The app offers 42 landscapes users can interact with in the standard version, which costs $3.99 and has some limitations in the customization controls and the output resolution; the Pro version costs $6.99, and offers staggering 200 landscapes and much more intricate controls and high-end output. These landscapes can be altered as you touch them toying with their color, texture and lighting, as you create something completely new. The familiar range and zoom feature allows you to explore these landscapes in the massive scale.
Frax HD renders still images at 2048×1536, but publisher also offers a cloud-based render service via in-app purchase. The Pro version enables you to send a 50 megapixel to render, which will set you off about $0.40, that would come back to you within an hour and look amazingly detailed, perfect for large resolution output.
You don’t need to mingle with any formulas and numbers at all – the touch controls do it all for you by letting you lay your fingers right into the image to change things like texture and color manually. If you work with several different characteristics within the single landscape, you will enjoy a lot of flexibility customizing things the way you want.
The results vary from hypnotic psychedelic visions to horror images to a seizure-inducing luminescent show while the application makes it easy to save and share your creations, which make excellent iPad wallpapers.
In addition, if you connect your device to a large screen via Apple TV, Frax Flow automatic mode sends the app into an infinite slideshow-type movie changing the look and color of the fractals every 15 seconds automatically, this could very well be the perfect wallpaper for parties and romantic dinners.
The application sports a hefty gallery of presets and you can import an image from your gallery to be able to use it as the foundation for custom-made colors.
It is powerful, gorgeous and fun and it may be the only fractal generator we will ever see on a mobile platform, and if you are into visual aesthetics, you will love this one.
Check out this user-crafted fractal video:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zBCEDD4ckI[/youtube]
Frax HD will definitely not make you understand math better, but it can prove there is unrivaled beauty in the science of numbers. You can grab Frax HD on iOS here and let us know of your impressions in the comments below.
