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What are fractals? My answer is that fractals are beautiful and fascinating images! Here are some other answers. #1: A form of computer generated art making process that creates complex, repetitive, mathematically based geometric shapes and patterns that resemble those found in nature. #2: An algorithm, or shape, characterized by self-similarity and produced by recursive sub-division; more generally the branch of mathematics named and explored by Benoit Mandelbrot. #3: A geometric pattern that is repeated at every scale and so cannot be represented by classical geometry. How are fractals made? Fractals are made using computers. They are mathematically based and require significant amounts of computer processing time. I use a program called Ultra Fractal. It allows me to create fractals, zoom in on them, color them, mathematically reprocess them, combine multiple images, create new fractal formulas, create new coloring formulas and more. Ultra Fractal has a wonderful set of tools for working with fractal images. The fractals are usually printed with a color laser printer. How
long does it take to make a fractal? When I started in 1988 we
were still using 8 MHz 8088 PCs. It took awfully long for the PC to generate
a small image. Sometimes we would let the PC run for days to generate
a full screen image. Today's PCs are immeasurably faster. Most full screen
images take only seconds to create and never more than a few minutes.
However, now I render images for printing 12" x 18" posters
at 300 dots per inch resolution. These images are much larger than a full
screen. They can easily take 30 minutes to several hours to produce on
today's PCs. When
did you start creating fractals? I was introduced to fractals in
1988. A friend had been telling me about them. At a computer conference
there was a side reference to fractals and I got my first fractal program.
Using that as a guide I soon started writing my own fractal creation program.
In 1990 I found the free fractal creation program FractInt. It had many
more features, supported many more types of fractals and generated fractals
much faster than my program. I abandoned writing my own program and started
digging into FractInt. I had my first few exhibitions in 1991 and 1992.
I had a couple more exhibitions in the 1990s but didn't really do much
new work. FractInt had become too limiting in the areas I wanted to explore.
In 2004 I started using Ultra Fractal. The expansive new tool caused an
explosion in my fractal work. In 2005 I produced my first calendar "Fractal
Fantasies 2006". I also took some classes on using Ultra Fractal
from Janet Parke, a well-known fractal artist. Those classes helped me
dive deeper into Ultra Fractal's abilities and start working more seriously
on the artistic side. Although the images in my 2006 calendar were new
and interesting they were purely fractal. The images for this calendar
are based on fractal images but also use multiple layers, masking, color
formulas and other tools to make them even more interesting. Why do you create fractals? I love the brilliant colors and evocative images. Yes, the math, science and computer programming are interesting, but it is the images themselves that draw me. I enjoy photography. Creating fractals is a little like landscape photography. Instead of exploring the natural world, I am exploring worlds that exist in mathematical formulas. I have a little more artistic license creating fractals than I would with landscape photography. No one has seen with their own eyes the mathematical landscapes I explore. The coloring and certain other attributes are arbitrary. My fractal creations are windows into these mathematical landscapes. I like the idea of sharing those worlds with all of you! |