New features

These are the most important new features in Ultra Fractal 4:

Animation
You can now easily create fractal animations with the new built-in animation support. Every fractal is potentially an animation, and every parameter can be animated individually. Animations can be as long as you want and use any desired frame rate. Editing animations is easy with the new powerful Timeline tool window. You can render animations to image sequences or to AVI movies with optional motion blur. For more information, see Animation, Working with animations, and Rendering animations.
(Animation Edition only)
Explore
Choosing parameter values is a breeze with the new Explore feature. Experiment with new parameter values by moving the mouse cursor over a coordinate grid in the Explore window, while the Fractal Mode tool window shows a real-time preview of the result. Explore works with integer, floating-point, and complex parameters. See Explore.
Eyedropper previews
The eyedropper feature has been extended to work with integer and floating-point parameters as well as with complex parameters. In addition, the Fractal Mode tool window shows a real-time preview while you move the mouse cursor over a fractal window, just like with the Explore feature. See Eyedropper.
New render features
When rendering your fractals to disk, you can now easily split them into tiles to make sure the rendered images will not become too large. Also, there is an option to force the Linear drawing method when rendering for maximum quality.
Improved support for flame fractals
It is now possible to render flame fractals to disk efficiently. Computers with multiple processors or processors that support HyperThreading will work better with flame fractals, too. See Calculation details.
Improved formula compiler and calculation engine
The formula compiler has been improved to work much faster with complex formulas, and the compiled formulas also run about 10% faster. Working with complex fractals with many layers is easier and faster, thanks to the improved calculation engine. Network calculations (Animation Edition only) are more efficient, too, with reduced communication overhead.
Automatic context-sensitive help
The Fractal Mode tool window now automatically shows short help texts related to the control currently under the mouse cursor. This also works for formula parameter hints. In addition, some of these help texts contain links to the help file for more information, which you can follow by pressing the F1 key. See Getting help.
Improved parameter headings
The headings that separate different sections of formula parameters in the Layer Properties tool window can now be collapsed and expanded as desired. This reduces clutter and makes it easier to work with the parameters that you are interested in. In addition, headings can now also optionally contain a longer text with general directions. See Formula parameters and Compiler enhancements.
New formula editor
The formula editor has been completely rewritten and features syntax highlighting, unlimited undo and redo, easy navigation between formula sections, line numbering, smart Tab and Home keys, a Go to Line command, better printing, and better support for large formula files. See Formula editor.
Friendly folder names
Everywhere in Ultra Fractal, folders are displayed and accepted with friendly names such as 'Desktop' and 'My Documents' instead of tedious 'C:\Documents and Settings\...' paths.
Improved Fractal Mode tool window management
The Fractal Mode tool window now reverts to its original position and display state when leaving Select mode or Switch mode in the fractal window.
Improved fractal history list
The fractal history list now stores up to the last 50 states of the fractal, instead of just 32.
XP themes support
Ultra Fractal 4 fully supports Windows XP themes and visual styles.