Animated console Mandelbrot in C#

gistfile1.txt

// Parse command line arguments for width, height, frames, and maxIterations
int width = 80; // Default width
int height = 40; // Default height
int frames = 100; // Default number of frames
int maxIterations = 100; // Default max iterations

// Check if args is not null
if (args != null)
{
    // Parse width if provided
    if (args.Length > 0 && int.TryParse(args[0], out int parsedWidth) && parsedWidth > 0)
    {
        width = parsedWidth;
    }
    
    // Parse height if provided
    if (args.Length > 1 && int.TryParse(args[1], out int parsedHeight) && parsedHeight > 0)
    {
        height = parsedHeight;
    }
    
    // Parse frames if provided
    if (args.Length > 2 && int.TryParse(args[2], out int parsedFrames) && parsedFrames > 0)
    {
        frames = parsedFrames;
    }
    
    // Parse maxIterations if provided
    if (args.Length > 3 && int.TryParse(args[3], out int parsedIterations) && parsedIterations > 0)
    {
        maxIterations = parsedIterations;
    }
}

// Zoom target coordinates (interesting area of the Mandelbrot set)
double targetX = -0.7436447860;
double targetY = 0.1318252536;

// Initial view coordinates
double xMin = -2.0;
double xMax = 1.0;
double yMin = -1.0;
double yMax = 1.0;

// Animation parameters
double zoomFactor = 0.9;

for (int frame = 0; frame < frames; frame++)
{
    // Clear console before drawing new frame
    Console.Clear();
    
    // Calculate actual zoom level compared to original view
    double originalRangeX = 3.0; // -2.0 to 1.0
    double originalRangeY = 2.0; // -1.0 to 1.0
    double currentRangeX = xMax - xMin;
    double currentRangeY = yMax - yMin;
    double actualZoomLevel = originalRangeX / currentRangeX;
    
    // Display frame information
    Console.WriteLine($"Frame {frame + 1}/{frames} - Zoom level: {actualZoomLevel:F2}x - Max iterations: {maxIterations}");
    
    // Draw current frame
    for (int row = 0; row < height; row++)
    {
        for (int col = 0; col < width; col++)
        {
            double x0 = xMin + (xMax - xMin) * col / width;
            double y0 = yMin + (yMax - yMin) * row / height;
            
            double x = 0;
            double y = 0;
            int iteration = 0;
            
            while (x*x + y*y < 4 && iteration < maxIterations)
            {
                double xTemp = x*x - y*y + x0;
                y = 2*x*y + y0;
                x = xTemp;
                iteration++;
            }
            
            // Choose a character based on how quickly the point escaped
            char displayChar = ' ';
            if (iteration == maxIterations)
                displayChar = '#'; // Point is in the set
            else if (iteration > maxIterations * 0.75)
                displayChar = '@';
            else if (iteration > maxIterations * 0.5)
                displayChar = '*';
            else if (iteration > maxIterations * 0.25)
                displayChar = '+';
            else if (iteration > maxIterations * 0.1)
                displayChar = '.';
            
            Console.Write(displayChar);
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
    
    // Adjust the boundaries to zoom in toward target
    double rangeX = xMax - xMin;
    double rangeY = yMax - yMin;
    
    xMin = targetX - (rangeX * zoomFactor) / 2;
    xMax = targetX + (rangeX * zoomFactor) / 2;
    yMin = targetY - (rangeY * zoomFactor) / 2;
    yMax = targetY + (rangeY * zoomFactor) / 2;
    
    // Pause between frames to make animation visible
    Thread.Sleep(100);
    
    // Increase max iterations slightly as we zoom in to reveal more detail
    int initialMaxIterations = maxIterations;
    if (frame % 10 == 0 && maxIterations < initialMaxIterations * 5)
    {
        maxIterations += initialMaxIterations / 10;
    }
}