Fractal colors, textures and effects
A striking fractal image is usually a pipeline rather than one filter. MandelKit keeps the mathematical source, color mapping, texture, effect and lighting stages separate so a look remains understandable and reproducible.
Color source: which mathematical signal?
Smooth iteration counts are the familiar starting point, but distance estimates, potentials, angles, domains and orbit-derived values expose different structures. Interior coloring is a separate choice because points that remain inside the set do not have a normal escape iteration.
Choosing a source changes where variation appears; it does not yet decide the final palette.
Gradient: how values become color
The gradient maps a normalized source value to color. A cyclic gradient repeats continuously and should remain cyclic when another palette is selected. Scale, offset and direction control how quickly the palette travels through the fractal without changing its geometry.
Interference rings can use their own remembered gradient, allowing the ring structure and the underlying fractal to carry distinct color relationships.
Textures and effects: shaping local structure
Contour lines, curvature edges, distance bands, field lines, orbit traps and ambient-occlusion-like distance shading emphasize different features of the calculated field. Parameters can be prepared while an effect is disabled, but only enabled effects alter the image or count as active in the collapsed inspector summary.
Relief and light: turning a field into a surface
Normal maps convert local changes in the scalar field into surface directions. Directional light then applies one consistent direction across the view; a point light also depends on the light’s position and distance. Contour depth controls how strongly contour structure contributes to the relief instead of merely drawing a line over the image.