Making really big pictures

Question

Hello, I have written a program that saves the Dragon Fractal to a file. The fractal is iteration based but I can only go up to the 26th iteration before I run out of heap space when I try to create the BufferedImage. How can I either use another image object or better manage my memory? I have extended my default heap space to 6 gigs when I run it from the terminal. My specs for my PC are: i7 920 @2.66*4, 6 Gb DDR3 2000, 1TB 7200 RPM HDD, Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Mobo, and a GTX 275. Here is my code, all in one class:
package fractal;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.math.RoundingMode;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
@author Chris Philip
*public class DragonFractal {*
*private static boolean[] iteration;*
*private static int lineLength, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, width, height;*
*public static void main(String args[]) {*
*int iterations=Integer.parseInt(args[0]);*
*calcTurns(iterations);*
*calcSize(iterations);*
*draw(iterations);*
*private static void calcTurns(int iterations) {*
*boolean old[];*
*iteration = new boolean[] {true};*
*for(int i=2;i<=iterations;i++) {*
*old=iteration;*
*iteration=new boolean[old.length*2+1];*
*iteration[old.length]=true;*
*System.arraycopy(old, 0, iteration, 0, old.length);*
*System.arraycopy(old, 0, iteration, old.length+1, old.length/2);*
*iteration[old.length*3/2+1]=false;*
*System.arraycopy(old,old.length/2+1,iteration,(iteration.length-3)*3/4+3,old.length/2);*
*private static void calcSize(int iterations) {*
*double angle=Math.PI/4*iterations;*
*lineLength=2+(iterations%2);*
*int xStart=0,*
*xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle)),*
*yStart=0,*
*yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));*
*xMin=xStart>xEnd?xEnd:xStart;*
*xMax=xStart>xEnd?xStart:xEnd;*
*yMin=yStart>yEnd?yEnd:yStart;*
*yMax=yStart>yEnd?yStart:yEnd;*
*for(int i=0; i<iteration.length; i++) {*
*angle+=Math.PI/2*(iteration?-1:1);
xStart=xEnd;
yStart=yEnd;
xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle));
yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
xMin=xMin>xEnd?xEnd:xMin;
xMax=xMax<xEnd?xEnd:xMax;
yMin=yMin>yEnd?yEnd:yMin;
yMax=yMax<yEnd?yEnd:yMax;
width=xMax-xMin+1;
height=yMax-yMin+1;
+}+
+private static void draw(int iterations) {+
BufferedImage image=new BufferedImage(width,height,BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
Graphics g=image.getGraphics();
BigDecimal counter=new BigDecimal("1"),
max=(new BigDecimal("2")).pow(iterations);
double angle=Math.PI/4*iterations;
int xStart=-xMin,
xEnd=xStart(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle)),
yStart=-yMin+1,
yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
for(boolean turn:iteration) {
g.setColor(new Color(Color.HSBtoRGB((counter.divide(max, 3, RoundingMode.UP)).floatValue(), 1, 1)));
counter = counter.add(BigDecimal.ONE);
g.drawLine(xStart,height-yStart,xEnd,height-yEnd);
angle+=Math.PI/2*(turn?-1:1);
xStart=xEnd;
yStart=yEnd;
xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle));
yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
g.setColor(new Color(Color.HSBtoRGB((counter.divide(max, RoundingMode.UP)).floatValue(), 1, 1)));
g.drawLine(xStart,height-yStart,xEnd,height-yEnd);
try {
BufferedImage bi = image;
File outputfile = new File("C:\\Users\\Chris\\Desktop\\NewDragonCurve-"+iterations+".png");
ImageIO.write(bi, "png", outputfile);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("YOU FAIL");

Answer 1

Sorry about that, but you really don't have to read the code. Still here is another try:
package fractal;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.math.BigDecimal;
import java.math.RoundingMode;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
* @author Chris Philip
public class DragonFractal {
    private static boolean[] iteration;
    private static int lineLength, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, width, height;
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int iterations=Integer.parseInt(args[0]);
        calcTurns(iterations);
        calcSize(iterations);
        draw(iterations);
    private static void calcTurns(int iterations) {
        boolean old[];
        iteration = new boolean[] {true};
        for(int i=2;i<=iterations;i++) {
            old=iteration;
            iteration=new boolean[old.length*2+1];
            iteration[old.length]=true;
            System.arraycopy(old, 0, iteration, 0, old.length);
            System.arraycopy(old, 0, iteration, old.length+1, old.length/2);
            iteration[old.length*3/2+1]=false;
            System.arraycopy(old,old.length/2+1,iteration,(iteration.length-3)*3/4+3,old.length/2);
    private static void calcSize(int iterations) {
        double angle=Math.PI/4*iterations;
        lineLength=2+(iterations%2);
        int xStart=0,
            xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle)),
            yStart=0,
            yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
        xMin=xStart>xEnd?xEnd:xStart;
        xMax=xStart>xEnd?xStart:xEnd;
        yMin=yStart>yEnd?yEnd:yStart;
        yMax=yStart>yEnd?yStart:yEnd;
        for(int i=0; i<iteration.length; i++) {
            angle+=Math.PI/2*(iteration?-1:1);
xStart=xEnd;
yStart=yEnd;
xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle));
yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
xMin=xMin>xEnd?xEnd:xMin;
xMax=xMax<xEnd?xEnd:xMax;
yMin=yMin>yEnd?yEnd:yMin;
yMax=yMax<yEnd?yEnd:yMax;
width=xMax-xMin+1;
height=yMax-yMin+1;
// System.out.println("Iteration "+iterations+
// ":\tWidth: "+(xMax-xMin+1)+
// "\tHeight: "+(yMax-yMin+1)+
// "\tXMax: "+xMax+
// "\tMMin: "+xMin+
// "\tYMax: "+yMax+
// "\tYMin: "+yMin);
private static void draw(int iterations) {
BufferedImage image=new BufferedImage(width,height,BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB);
Graphics g=image.getGraphics();
BigDecimal counter=new BigDecimal("1"),
max=(new BigDecimal("2")).pow(iterations);
double angle=Math.PI/4*iterations;
int xStart=-xMin,
xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle)),
yStart=-yMin+1,
yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
for(boolean turn:iteration) {
g.setColor(new Color(Color.HSBtoRGB((counter.divide(max, 3, RoundingMode.UP)).floatValue(), 1, 1)));
counter = counter.add(BigDecimal.ONE);
g.drawLine(xStart,height-yStart,xEnd,height-yEnd);
angle+=Math.PI/2*(turn?-1:1);
xStart=xEnd;
yStart=yEnd;
xEnd=xStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.cos(angle));
yEnd=yStart+(int)(lineLength*Math.sin(angle));
g.setColor(new Color(Color.HSBtoRGB((counter.divide(max, RoundingMode.UP)).floatValue(), 1, 1)));
g.drawLine(xStart,height-yStart,xEnd,height-yEnd);
try {
BufferedImage bi = image;
File outputfile = new File("C:\\Users\\Chris\\Desktop\\NewDragonCurve-"+iterations+".png");
ImageIO.write(bi, "png", outputfile);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("YOU FAIL");