Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some short answers to common questions to help quickly get you on your way.
To go a bit deeper into specific topics see the F.A.Q in Depth page.

If your question hasn't been covered then please contact us for more help.

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General Questions

What is the difference between Frax and Frax HD?

Frax is for iPhone and iPod touch, whereas Frax HD is for the iPad and iPad mini.

Essentially they both have exactly the same feature set and output capability. Internally there are device specific optimisations and slight alterations to the user interface tailored to the different screen sizes. Having specific versions also significantly reduces the app download size, especially for the iPhone.

Frax HD on the iPad is slightly more expensive because we feel it offers a richer experience due to the larger screen.

What devices does Frax run on?

Frax will run on an iPhone 4S or newer and 5th generation iPod touch.
Frax HD will run on iPad 2 or newer, including the iPad mini.

The older devices are too limited with their memory, GPU or simply don't have the low level support required by the render engine. You can read more details in the devices page of the help.

What about Android and Windows devices, or even the desktop?

At the moment we are focusing iOS, but we may consider other platforms based on demand.

As for the desktop, we developed various OS X prototype apps to help during the development of Frax and are considering various options to make a user friendly version.

Keep an eye out on the website for news ;)

Troubleshooting

Tilt steering is the wrong way around or isn't responding

To invert the tilt steering motion:

1. Open the Settings app
2. Select Frax or Frax HD
3. Toggle Invert Tilt Navigation

Sometimes the gyroscope within the device can stop responding needs to be recalibrated or reset. The easiest way to do this is to press and hold the power button to completely shut down the device, wait a few seconds and then turn it back on again.

Tell me more…

Why is there a zooming limit?

As you zoom into the fractal the math requires smaller and smaller numbers to resolve the fractal shape. Eventually the required numbers become smaller than the 'double float' precision limit supported by iOS. At this point rounding errors become significant and the fractal shape starts breaking apart (mathematically there is no limit to how deep you can zoom!)

We have set the zoom limit to be just before this happens so you should still see a nice clean image. However, even with the zoom limit you have a depth range of more than a trillion to one!

Read more about the zooming limits…

How to change the Hyperzoom speed

The hyperzoom function is triggered with a three finger tap.
It's a great way to gracefully zoom in and out of the fractal based on your current position.

1. Open the Settings app
2. Select Frax or Frax HD
3. Drag the Hyperzoom Speed slider.
   Left is slower, right is faster.

Is Frax running my batteries down?

When you zoom in it constantly recomputes the entire fractal, as well as all the textures and the lighting and such, which is a very intricate dance between the CPU and GPU, pushing the device to extreme limits. Frax may well be one of the most processor intensive apps for iOS :)

That such huge effort requires juice goes without saying, we can hardly apologize for that, really :)
It would be a bit like building a Formula 1 race car… and then complain about bad mileage.

That said, we do conserve power when possible: if you are not animating or rendering it will drop to the standard idling state.

Frax Flow is the most intense: here everything is running all the time, constantly and relentlessly… better to stay plugged in when running Flow for prolonged periods.

Frax Cloud

How to sign up to the Frax Cloud

Take a look at the Frax Cloud page.

How to change your Frax Cloud details

1. Tap the Save & Share icon (top right corner) then select High Resolution Cloud Render or Frax Pro Cloud
2. Login to the Frax Cloud using your email and password if prompted
3. Scroll to the bottom of the resulting page and select Edit your Frax Cloud settings
4. Update your username or email. You only need to enter your password if you want to change that too.

Forgotten your password? How to reset it

1. Tap the Save & Share icon (top right corner) then select High Resolution Cloud Render
2. The app with connect with the Frax Cloud and you should see the login page.
   If you see the high res. render page then you are already logged in.
   See this question for changing your password details.
3. Tap the Forgotten password? link
4. Enter your email address you used when signing up to the Frax Cloud

You will receive an email with a special link to let you reset your password to something else.
You can visit this link on your iPhone or iPad, or desktop email client, but you will only be able to log back into your Frax Cloud from the mobile device.

Other queries about your Frax Cloud account

If you have any other questions about your Frax Cloud account, or you want your account reset or removed then please contact support.

High Resolution Rendering

How does high resolution rendering in the Frax Cloud work?

See the section on high resolution rendering.

Differences between interactive and final high res rendering

The interactive renderer you see when you play with Frax is an approximation of the final fractal and doesn't show the fine details with the same clarity as a high resolution cloud render. Because of this the two versions of the image can differ slightly.

It is a good idea to first try the medium resolution cloud render to make sure you are happy with the final result before trying the high or ultra resolution versions.

How to buy more credits for high res rendering

Your account will start with 5 free credits. To get more just scroll down on the high resolution render page and tap the button for the number of credits your want. Then follow the prompts to complete the in-app-purchase with Apple.

I want to create renders larger than 50 Mpx!

That sounds like you might have a special project applicable to Frax…
If so please contact us to discuss how we can help.

Can I create animations?

At the moment we don't support rendering of animations from within the app.

An interim solution is to use something like Reflector, which allows you to stream your iPhone or iPad screen via AirPlay to a Mac or Windows desktop and record the result live.

Are the images I make with Frax license free for personal and commercial use?

Absolutely - you can use anything that comes out of Frax for your own purposes, no restrictions or copyrights on our part whatsoever. Make wallpaper for your screens, or run Frax Flow at a party, design your guitar body with cool textures or find weird next-gen tattoo shapes. You own it.

The same goes for the private images you create via the high resolution cloud render, personal or commercial use, it's all yours!

The only restriction is for images that are shared by Pro users in Frax Cloud and gallery.
They are automatically covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License:

We are always interested in how people are using Frax, so do let us know :)

Obviously we also have a few extra tricks up our sleeves if you have an idea for a commercial project using Frax that you want to take that little bit further…

Frax Pro Upgrade

What do I get when I upgrade to Pro?

If you have the app handy, launch it then tap the Frax logo at the top and then the Why Upgrade to Pro? to watch the little teaser animation.
But since you are already on the website, you can just watch it here…

Still not convinced? Then take a look at the Pro help pages that are unlocked when you upgrade.

How to unlock the Pro upgrade

1. Tap the screen to show the Frax interface
2. Tap the logo and select Upgrade to FraxPro
   You will then see a screen showing the price of the Pro upgrade in-app-purchase (IAP) in your local currency.
3. Tap this and follow the prompts for your Apple ID to complete the purchase.

Once successfully unlocked the Pro welcome page will popup. You can also read this here…

If you have other iPhone or iPod with Frax or another iPad with Frax HD installed then you can unlock Pro on those too without having to pay again. More about that here.

How to unlock Pro on other devices that use the same Apple ID

The Frax Pro IAP upgrade is stored against your Apple ID, so if you buy it on one device with Frax installed then you can install it on another that uses your same Apple ID without having to pay again.

Note: the Pro upgrade bought for Frax HD can not unlock Pro on Frax, and vice versa (as they are considered to be completely different apps by Apple)

To unlock Pro on another device:

1. Tap the Frax logo, then the Upgrade to FraxPro button
2. At the bottom of that screen there is a link to Restore a previously purchased upgrade…
   Tap that and follow the prompts to enter your Apple ID login to register and unlock the Pro upgrade.

My Pro upgrade seems to have reverted back. Is that possible?

You are fine. You probably played with the "Design" room in Pro (where you have tabs on all sides in a tree structure) and thought "oh so that is Pro". And next time you ran Frax, you woke up in the "Explore" room (with the four main buttons) and then figured "Oops, my Pro died?"

Simple answer is: Pro consists of a long list of many added functions and features, that includes the Design room, but also the Shape room - and: the "old" Explore and Flow rooms are also still there - but now with new enhancements!

In Explore you now have the hidden Edge Sliders - which are killer useful once you get the hang of it (many people work with those for 80% of the exploring and then tweak the final 20% in Design).

In Flow you find options in the upper left, such as using your own user presets as the source :)

One easy way to tell Pro: if you tap the logo, you whould get four rooms, Explore, Design, Shape and Flow. In the basic version if you tap the logo, there are only Explore and Flow.

A double tap on the logo switches instantly between Explore and Design - the quickest way to test.

Sharing Presets

How to send a preset to a friend

You can send your preset directly to a friend who also has Frax or Frax HD via SMS, iMessage or email. This is a great way to share ideas or play 'Frax tennis'!

Tap the Save & Share icon (top right corner) and select your sharing option.
Your preset parameters are saved in the Frax Cloud and a special link is created, which will load your preset into Frax on your friend's device.

How to share a preset with other Frax users

You can share your presets (and browse those from other Frax users) once you have unlocked the Pro upgrade.

More details are in the section about the Frax Pro Cloud.

How to get a preset featured!

Create something original, interesting or just aesthetically gorgeous and share it in the Frax Pro Cloud!
Every few days we will look through the latest uploads and pick the best for the featured gallery.

We are constantly surprised with the images Frax can produce, and we feel we have only scratched the surface so far!

Frax Flow

How to change settings for Flow

There are various settings that can be tweaked for Flow:

1. Open the Settings app and select Frax or Frax HD from the list of apps
2. Customise the settings as required

Synchronizing Flow with music

Getting Frax to dance to the beat is an obvious feature. At the moment it isn't possible to synchronise Frax to music from your iTunes library or an external input.

However, this is only the first implementation of Flow and is an area we are keen to really develop in the future, so stay tuned…!