Fractal visionaries:

I don't recall having yet posted a really deep fractal.  The reason is that I do little exploration in the ultra-deep areas.  I avoid these areas for two reasons -- first: the obvious reason that it's too slow, second: I find it gets a bit dull and monotonous down there.

True, the thought is awesome when one realizes that the scene they are looking at is part of an object many times the size of the known universe, but in my experience, when the awe rubs off, a certain sameness starts creeping in.  Today's fractal, sunburst, at a relatively conservative magnitude of 10^28, (ten-octillion), is a typical example.

At first glance the image is striking, with its radiating arms of solar energy, but notice the circular nature of the surrounding pattern.  This tendency for the features around midgets to become so intricate that they blend together into circular bands of colors is perhaps the greatest disappointment when one goes deep into a Mandelbrot fractal.

Another problem, especially with the straight-rayed midgets along the negative x-axis of the Mandelbrot set, is with moire patterns.  These annoying artifacts appear when the magnitude nears 10^50, and grow progressively worse the deeper one goes.  At a magnitude of 10^500, the screen becomes one big moire pattern even before the x-axis midget becomes visible.

As long as the escape-time bands are used to define coloring, these problems appear insolvable.  Perhaps other coloring methods, such as those currently being discussed in connection with true color, could avoid such problems.  I'm eagerly waiting to see where we go from here.

Other types of fractals, such as Newton's, might not be plagued by these problems, but I've explored beyond 10^14 or so only in the Mandelbrot-Julia family of fractals.  So I can say nothing about this.

Since today's fractal runs under the Fractint Mandelbrot formula, only the parameter file is attached.  As always, the finished image is posted to a.b.p.f. and a.f.p.  Tomorrow, I'll return to one of those ridiculous but fun test formulas I've got stored away, and see what kind of outlandish fractal I can come up with.

Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com


BEGIN PARAMETER FILE=============================================

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  symmetry=xaxis
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END PARAMETER FILE===============================================