quadrium is an application that allows you to create artistic images, textures and background, using not a paintbrush but mathematics. All of the images made by quadrium are actually formulas that convert from a location on the screen to a specific color. Obviously, that doesn't sound very interesting, and if you had to write these things out using grammar school math, it probably wouldn't be.
However, quadrium uses some extremely sophisticated math, and rather than having to write out the formulas, quadrium builds them into a flow chart like structure. What's more, it can build these things up without you even having to see them. Instead, you can create an image much like getting your eyes checked - you decide which image is "better" (or more like what you are looking for) or "worse". You just keep picking the images that look more like you like until you're happy.
Even better, if you decide that there are two different images that have qualities that appeal to you, you can "breed" them together to produce offspring that contain traits of both parents. The same technique that can take wild dogs and produce both huskies and chihuahuas can be applied to images.
Of course, if you want more control, you can go in and directly mess with the underlying formula structure - change various settings, parameters, re-wire the structure, throw in new formula building blocks, etc... It's like taking a huskie and then being able to play with its DNA and produce a huskie with polka dots, or even with tentacles instead of legs. All from the safety of your livingroom.
Once you've got your image, you can produce high quality prints or TIFF files that you can later edit in your favorite editing program (or perhaps automatically import them into iPhoto to make a gallery of your work). You can also share you creations, allowing you to work with others both locally (via Bonjour) as well as globally (via your .Mac account.
quadrium also has support to create animations of your creations. From simple "animate between this variation and another variation" to multiple key frame movies, quadrium will seemlessly transform and morph your creations.
quadrium has also had it's user interface completely revamped. Everything fits in a single window, with drag and drop being the primary method to access the various tools. Actions are now handled by dragging images and dropping them in a series of "drop tabs" located just below the menu bar, as well as drop location in other parts of the UI.&nbps; You can even drag images from one file and drop them into the tools of another, allowing you new ways to combine images properties.
Note that some of these images take a lot of computational power to produce, but quadrium takes fullest advantange of your Macintosh to produce them. If you have a dual CPU machine, quadrium will use both CPUs to render the image. If you have a G4 or G5, it'll also take advantage of Altivec to further speed the imaging. Similarly, it will take the fullest advantage of a the Core Dual or Solo processor.