This is how I earned the name Fractalman - Part 1

My interest in fractals began close to 20 years ago. I started with a basic, yet powerful program called Fractint. At the time, this program didn't allow for much customization and parameter adjustment. So, I searched the web and found Iterations. It used to be freeware, but Stephen Ferguson has done many other programs since and now charges for downloading. I have also used Chaoscope; a 3D strange attractor renderer. Much more recently I took to fractal landscapes using Terragen 0.9.43.

The 2 main reasons that I am still interested in fractals 20 years later is because I like both abstract art and math. I have a strong math background. In fact, after 9 semesters of college, I was only about 3 courses away from a major in math. This would have been in addition to my major in Physics. However, I was burned out and never went back to complete the second major. My first love has always been music --which is also very mathematical. One day, back in 1997, I stumbled upon a program called ArtSong. It originally used RGB values and recursive fractal mapping to create notes. That right! ArtSong created music from fractals! This fascinated me. I did quite a few fractal songs. Some of which I will post here in the future. I will also post some of my early fractals done with Iterations. Unfortunately, the really early stuff with Fractint was lost due to hard drive failure. Nevertheless, I have done plenty over the years and continue to do more. I usually do them in spurts with variable length hiatuses in between.

For the first image below, I used Iterations. Unlike what some people say in online forums and such, Iterations is a very powerful fractal generating tool with a lot of features --including custom equations. Lots of parameters can be adjusted, but there is a bit of a learning curve. In fact, I like it better than some of Stephen's more recent programs.




This fractal was generated 2 years ago. I used a custom equation. The only editing I did was resizing to 800x600.

Some people might say that "artifying" a fractal is overkill. That's not necessarily true. check out the 2 artified versions below.




I call this one the "Cave Art Edit". In hindsight, that might be a bit of a misnomer. However, you can see that by using PhotoShop or other image editing applications the look and feel of the fractal can change dramatically. Since it has been 2 years, it's tough to give you details on what I did. Nevertheless, I can tell you that I: 1) adjusted the levels, 2) used selective coloring, 3) added brush and texture effects.




I call this one the "Topography Edit". As you can see, it is quite different from both the original and the previous edit. I still adjusted levels and used selective coloring. I also used a lighting effect in the lower right. A craquelure effect was used to produce the "topography".

This is only one of hundreds of fractals I've done over the years. If you like it, keep an eye on this site. I will post many more in the weeks, months, and years to come --including some I did with Chaoscope and Terragen.