README file for Iterated Function System (IFS) Viewer

  Orion Sky Lawlor, olawlor@acm.org, 11/9/2002

This little program allows you to interactively explore 
iterated function systems (IFSs), a beautiful form of 
recursive fractal.  An IFS consists of a set of maps, 
represented here by blue frames. 

A bounding volume for the IFS is created using a novel
techinque based on linear programming.

For an example, drag "sierpinski.ifs" onto "ifsview".
You should see the classic recursive Serpinski gasket.
Drag the corners of the blue frames around to change the
IFS.



This program has a terrible user interface based on keystrokes:

B        Toggles drawing the recursive convex bounding hull
N and M  Increase and decrease the number of sides of the bounding hull

+ and -  Increase and decrease the number of attractor points
A        Toggles Antialiased rendering of the attractor--nice but slow

X        Toggles the display of the map aXes (blue bars)
F        Toggles the display of the map Fixed points (small green dots)

S        Save the current IFS to a file named "points"
R        Read the current IFS from a file named "points"


WARNING:
   The Linux version (ifsview) seems to have some sort of numerical
   problem in lp_solve that occasionally causes the bounding hull to 
   flash on and off.  The windows version seems immune, despite the
   fact that they use the same code!
