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GMT
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01 · Tutorial · 5 min read

Getting Started

The UI, viewport, and your first 5 minutes with GMT.

Launch the app

GMT runs entirely in your browser — there's nothing to install. Head to app.gmt-fractals.com. On first load a Mandelbulb appears in a few seconds; subsequent visits are near-instant (assets are cached for offline use).

The layout

There are four regions you'll use all the time:

  • Top Bar — logo, render tools, the Light Studio (those glowing orbs), camera icon, System menu (≡), and Help (?).
  • Viewport — the 3D fractal itself, fills the center.
  • Right Dock — the main control deck with tabs: Formula, Graph, Scene, Shader, Gradient, Quality.
  • Timeline — hidden by default. Press T to show it.
The single most useful trick: right-click anything — a slider, a button, a panel tab — and a context menu opens with a "Help" option that jumps you to in-app documentation for exactly that control.

Move the camera (quick version)

The default camera mode is Orbit — you rotate around a fixed point in space. Press Tab to switch to Fly mode, where you steer through the fractal like a spaceship.

  • Orbit mode: left-drag to rotate, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom.
  • Fly mode: W A S D to move, Space/C to ascend/descend, drag the mouse to steer, scroll to adjust speed, Shift for a 4× boost.

More on cameras in the next tutorial.

Change the formula

Open the Formula tab in the right dock. The dropdown at the top opens a gallery of thumbnails — every built-in fractal with a preview image. Click any thumbnail to load it.

Each formula exposes up to six parameters labelled A through F. Drag them and watch the fractal reshape in real time. This is the fastest way to explore the space of shapes.

Take your first snapshot

Click the camera icon in the top bar. GMT saves a PNG of the current view to your Downloads folder.

That PNG is a scene file. Every snapshot has the complete scene state invisibly embedded in its metadata — formula, camera, lighting, everything. Drop that PNG back into GMT and the scene reopens exactly. Share via Discord, email, or direct download; the data is preserved. Social media platforms strip metadata, so for those, share the file directly.

Keyboard quick reference

  • Tab — toggle Orbit / Fly camera
  • T — show/hide the Timeline
  • Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y — undo / redo parameter changes
  • Ctrl+Shift+Z / Y — undo / redo camera moves (separate history)
  • 1–9 — jump to camera slot 1–9
  • Ctrl+1–9 — save current view to camera slot 1–9
  • H — toggle in-app hints overlay
  • ` (backtick) — toggle Advanced Mode for extra controls
  • B — broadcast mode (clean feed, hides all UI). Esc to exit.

Next up: deeper camera control — slots, precision, and handling the infinite scale.