Notes on IFS file format April 24, 2006 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IFS files use the filename extension ".ifs". They're text files that provide Fractint-compatible fractal definitions. The following sample IFS file contains three entries that define three corresponding iterated function systems: Heighway {; Heighway Dragon ; Edgar, "Measure, Topology, and Fractal Geometry" ; Page 19 0.5 -0.5 0.5 0.5 0 0 0.5 -0.5 -0.5 0.5 -0.5 1 0 0.5 } Fern {; Barnsley's Black Spleenwort fern 0 0 0 0.16 0 0 .01 0.85 0.04 -0.04 0.85 0 1.6 .85 0.2 -0.26 0.23 0.22 0 1.6 .07 -0.15 0.28 0.26 0.24 0 0.44 .07 } Levy {; The Levy Dragon 0.5, -0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.0, 0.0 0.5, 0.5, -0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 } For each entry, the first line contains the corresponding fractal name followed by a left curly brace. Anything after a semi-colon is treated as an IFS comment, and is ig- nored for computation purposes. However, some programs can display IFS comments. Note: Programs may impose a limit on the number of comments, the number of comment lines, and/or the length of individual comments. The lines containing numbers are data lines. Each data line defines one affine transformation. There should be six or seven numbers on each data line. The first four numbers specify entries in the trans- formation matrix. The next two numbers specify entries in the trans- lation vector. If there's a seventh number on the line, it specifies a probability value. The numbers in each data line should be separated by spaces, tabs, or commas. A right curly brace [on its own line] indicates the end of the current IFS entry. Note: Programs may impose a limit on the total number of IFS entries and/or the total number of transformations per entry.