Insufficient dot density

I am trying to get opengl code to generate a gingerman fractal that is supposed to look like this

http://www.kimmielee.com/code/gingerbread.JPG

But looks like this instead

http://www.kimmielee.com/code/gingerman%20fractal%201.JPG

(You can see 30 dots but very sparsely distributed)

This is the code

http://pastebin.com/m9eb2b14

The equation for the gingerman fractal is:

http://www.kimmielee.com/code/fractal%20equation.JPG

Any advice would be great

The problem is not with openGL but rather with the use of the C “abs()” function. The abs() has a prototype “int abs(int)” – ie it returns an integer and throws away the fractional part.

Try using “fabs()” instead which returns a double. This will probably require including the <math.h> header.


#include <math.h>


point.x = 1.0 - prevPoint.y + fabs(prevPoint.x);

This should also be reflected in the drawDot function to take GLfloat arguments (x,y)
and glVertex2i to glVertex2f since you need to plot GLfloats (not plotting GLints anymore)


 void drawDot(GLfloat x, GLfloat y)
 {
   glVertex2f(x, y);
 }

Here is the entire code with the above changes and some header stuff to make it cross-platform – checked on my linux box.


#if defined(_WIN32)
#include <windows.h>   // use as needed for your system
#include <gl/Gl.h>
#include <gl/glu.h>
#include <glut/glut.h>
#elif defined(__APPLE__) || defined(MACOSX)
#include <OpenGL/gl.h>
#include <OpenGL/glu.h>
#include <GLUT/glut.h>
#else //linux as default
#include <GL/glut.h>
#endif

#include <stdlib.h>  // for rand()
#include <time.h>
#include <math.h>

struct GLpoint {
   GLfloat x;
   GLfloat y;
};
   
//<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< drawDot >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 void drawDot(GLfloat x, GLfloat y)
 {
    glVertex2f(x, y);         // draw some points (don't know how many)
 }
 
//<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< myInit >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 void myInit(void)
 {
   glClearColor(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 0.0);      // set the bg color to a bright white
   glColor3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);           // set the drawing color to black 
   glPointSize(1.0);                //set the point size to 4 by 4 pixels
   glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);// set up appropriate matrices- to be explained 
   glLoadIdentity();
   gluOrtho2D(-3.0, 8.0, -3.0, 8.0);
}

//<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< myDisplay >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
// the redraw function
void myDisplay(void)
{ 
  // displays Gingerbread Man Fractal
  glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);     // clear the screen 
  GLpoint prevPoint;
  prevPoint.x = -0.1;
  prevPoint.y = 0;

  glBegin(GL_POINTS);
  glVertex2f(prevPoint.x, prevPoint.y);

  GLpoint point;

  const int num = 10000;
  for (int i=0; i< num; i++) {
    point.y = prevPoint.x;
    point.x = 1.0 - prevPoint.y + fabs(prevPoint.x);
    glVertex2f(point.x, point.y);         // draw some points (don't know how many)
    prevPoint.x = point.x;
    prevPoint.y = point.y;
  }
  glEnd();  

  glFlush();                     // send all output to display 
}

//<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< main >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  glutInit(&argc, argv);          // initialize the toolkit
  glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_SINGLE | GLUT_RGB); // set the display mode
  glutInitWindowSize(640,480);     // set the window size
  glutInitWindowPosition(100, 150); // set the window position on the screen
  glutCreateWindow("Gingerbread Man Fractal"); // open the screen window(with its exciting title)
  glutDisplayFunc(myDisplay);     // register the redraw function
  myInit();                   
  glutMainLoop();          // go into a perpetual loop
  return 0;
}

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