FOTD -- April 04, 2009 (Rating 5.5)
Fractal visionaries and
enthusiasts:
There's nothing quite like a scene in a perturbed
Mandelbrot set when rendered with
Fractint's little-used '
ranges' and 'stripes' features in effect. Today's super-quick image located on the north shore of
East Valley is a typical example of a perturbed
Mandelbrot forest.
The effect of seeing a brilliant distant scene through a deep dark fractal forest in the foreground is typical of
perturbed M-sets, and can be quite striking. This effect was one of the first
I found when I began exploring fractals.
Unfortunately, by now this effect is quite old to me. It dates from about 1989, so I could rate the image no higher than a 5.5. One-half point of this rating is a reward for
my coloring. I had forgotten how the '
ranges' and 'stripes' features work, and it took a bit of research to track it down.
The name
"Sideways in Time" refers to the fact that to find today's scene we needed to go sideways in the
Julibrot in the
fourth dimension, and time can be considered a
fourth dimension.
Calculating in only 5 seconds, today's image is so fast it is almost instantaneous. Those with
Fractint-
challenged machines that panic at the sight of a
DOS program will find the finished image on the FOTD web site at:
Friday began with heavy rain showers here at
Fractal Central. The sun made a brief appearance just after noon, but within an hour the clouds re-built and the showers returned, spoiling the
fractal cats' afternoon in the sun. The duo didn't even notice the pleasant temperature of 64F 18C. My day was about average.
The next FOTD is due in 24 hours, but with another of FL's weekend antiquing trips looming on Saturday, it might not appear until 36 hours have passed. Until whenever, take care, and like today's image,
virtual particles may also move sideways in time.
Jim Muth
jamth@mindspring.com
jimmuth@aol.com
times.