A Lazy way to generate backgrounds [Archive]

paulselhi

1-24-04, 10:27 AM

I have come across this excellent flame fractal generating program calles Apophysis

Initlially it was designed to create paramater files for the program ultrafractal now it works as a very good stand alone

the neat thing is you click a button to generate 50 random fractals which render in a few secs giving you some fantastic, unique, background images to use in web pages or whatever

OK not all are great but than can all be further manipuluated if you so choose however here are some that came from the random generation with no manipluation at all, i particularly love the peacock look in number 14

My quick examples (http://black-and-white-to-color.com/stuff/apophysis/)

Here is a link to the s/w, it's free :

http://www.apophysis.org/

(jj)

1-24-04, 06:52 PM

Thanks Paul, looks like a neat program to play with.

I used to love playing with fractals and ray tracing (back in the DOS days).

Croc Hunter

1-24-04, 09:13 PM

Neat.. I like 4. Geeze it's annoying when some programs list 12 befrore 2 etc.. Xp is tragic for it. I'm now in the habit of 01, 02, 03, or start at 10. Ermmm.. yep.. okaaaay.. I'm going to download now. Nice work pauli.

(jj)

1-25-04, 08:25 AM

Here are some that I done using Apophysis

Fractured Fractals (http://www.rccomputer.net/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Fractal)

paulselhi

1-25-04, 10:58 AM

10 is good ( as they all are ) i love the dynamic look

this fractal stuff must have been invented by hard drive sales teams :(

YvetteKuhns

1-25-04, 11:44 AM

Cool! I love all fractals. They are like snowflakes. They use math to create a design, yet no two are identical. It would be difficult to choose a favorite, since one can be perfect for one application and another design would be great for another.

I do like JJ's number 7 that looks like 6 but a pink color. Number 10 looks interesting when enlarged, but small, it looks like bones! No wonder Paul likes it! :D

Jade Dragon

1-25-04, 11:10 PM

:D Fractuals always reminds me of a day back in highschool. We were supposed to be learning the basics of programing on AppleII computers. Well I've already had a few years practice. So I was paging through our text book and came across a IBM dos type program for fractuals. I then proceded to transfer the code into (I think) basic for my computer. The teacher took one look at what I was doing and said, "But you aren't supposed to be able to do that". It was the second week of class. Needless to say I received an A. :D

The above post had no significant value other than I like fractuals too.

=)
Jade

Croc Hunter

1-26-04, 12:35 AM

11 is neat jj.. kinda looks like some sort of deep sea scorpion.

muijefr

1-26-04, 05:09 AM

RE:

Needless to say I received an A.

So well said. :rolleyes:

Jade Dragon

1-26-04, 01:25 PM

*pokes muijefr* :p

~~~~~~~~~~
I'll have to do some experimenting with that program, looks like you could do a lot of interesting things with it.

=)
Jade

paulselhi

1-26-04, 08:31 PM

ok some experiments animating these, you will notice that apophysis has an option to do an animation batch, this creates a parameter file that can be used in another fractal program ( i used ultrafractal) to render out..well.. a batch of images

i dropped these into vmach and added a horizontal mirror then made an animation

next inside cinema 4d i used 2 techniques

first i simply used the animation as a backdrop with some lights coming out :

fractal backdrop 744kb DivX (http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com/stuff/fracani1.avi)

Then i used the fractal animation as a gel for a light, the effect is not much different but i will play with this some more to show you how this can do some neat tricks as the fractal animation is noe being projected from a visible light, much like you get streaming sunlight through trees due to motes of dust

light gel 874 kb DivX (http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com/stuff/lightani2.avi)

i think there is something spooky here, can you see the demonic face emerging at the end of the second one ? no it's just my reflection on the monitor:D

YvetteKuhns

1-26-04, 09:07 PM

That looks like something cool to watch while songs are playing. Much more interesting the the volume bars or the dancing sheep. Well, may be not the dancing sheep. ;)

muijefr

1-27-04, 02:37 AM

could these be fractals (http://www.the-ebiz.net/UleadFractals/)

TERRELL

1-27-04, 12:39 PM

Wow,those look cool!!! Nice work Pauly & JJ...I'm gonna get into that and throw those in some of my backgrounds...Thanks for the tip!!!

paulselhi

1-28-04, 08:44 AM

Originally posted by (jj)
Here are some that I done using Apophysis

Fractured Fractals (http://www.rccomputer.net/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Fractal)

can we flame in your flame fractals gallery comments

http://www.rccomputer.net/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=Fractal&id=frac_11 :p

(jj)

1-28-04, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by paulselhi
can we flame in your flame fractals gallery comments
:p

Sure, I have a well used "Del" key to put out any bad fires. :D

YvetteKuhns

1-28-04, 12:06 PM

JJ, that image reminds me of playing with sparklers at night. It is supposed to be "illegal" to purchase fireworks in PA, but not NJ, but you can't tell in July!

(jj)

1-28-04, 09:12 PM

Originally posted by muijefr

could these be fractals (http://www.the-ebiz.net/UleadFractals/)

Hey muijefr, those are really neat, love the bubble effects that some have. Were those created with a Ulead program?

On a side note, for some reason that page does not open in Firebird or Netscape 7. Works fine in IE though :)

(jj)

1-28-04, 09:15 PM

Originally posted by YvetteKuhns
JJ, that image reminds me of playing with sparklers at night. It is supposed to be "illegal" to purchase fireworks in PA, but not NJ, but you can't tell in July!

<off topic>
Hey Yvette, if you want some GOOD fireworks come on up here around the week before the 4th of July. It's legal here to sell most all fireworks for that week.
</off topic>

YvetteKuhns

1-28-04, 09:28 PM

I said it wasn't legal. I didn't say people didn't do it!

A friend of mine did home improvements for an elderly woman who couldn't pay cash. She gave him three cases of fireworks. He shot a rocket into the air and it got caught in a tree next to his home. The tree was on fire and the side of his home had burn marks.

His mom was on a cruise, so he had a few days to repair the damage before she came home. :D

Gee, I saw fireworks and I didn't even kiss you! JJ, you have some effect on me! ;)

paulselhi

1-29-04, 10:59 AM

here is alink to v2 apophysis in beta that supposidly makes animations without ultrafractal

http://www.apophysis.org/v2beta.html

i am installing it now and will let you know how it works

muijefr

1-29-04, 12:15 PM

RE:

On a side note, for some reason that page does not open in Firebird or Netscape 7. :rolleyes:

I thought your fractals gallery is so great I'd look at Ulead and see if it would generate Web galleries, which it does, which is what I posted, but does not do a very good job of updating the gallery (does great from scratch but not near as neat as yours). The gallery wizard offers several display options but all are based on frames and it has some very unusual href links such as:
<a href="image9.html" OnMouseOver="window.status='Prev'; return true">image or text</a>
Setting the window.status has no relevance for the option I selected and the first time I've seen return true used in vanilla HTML.

Thanks for the comment I was beginning to wonder if one needed special permission to participate in this section of the forum or what. I guess it's the or what option.

http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/hapy0007.gif

http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/exct0002.gif

paulselhi

1-29-04, 02:05 PM

ok i had a look at the v2 and the animation renders are lightning fast !!

load a fractal and then load the render animation script, don't forget to edit the script to render to a dir of your choice, default is c:/renders

the default setup is v fast 90 frames in under a min but i would suggest tweaking the script params to get a bigger file with more detail

not sure if setting the detail in the program i/f is overidden by the animation script or not

a single render takes some time as density is set to 200 by default, the default for the animation script is 10 try setting this to 50 or even 100

use something like vmach to stitch the renders together into a movie

Here's is some more fun..

890 kb DivX (http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com/stuff/dra1.avi)

muijefr

1-29-04, 09:16 PM

After dinking around with Ulead's automatic web gallery generator I pick up Jasc/PSP Photo Album's same function and with a few tweaks was pleasantly surprised. It have a generous number of themes one might use professionally and some creative layouts. Real estate and travel agency comes to mind off the top.

Jasc PSP Photo Album Automatic Web Gallery (http://www.the-ebiz.net/Fractals/)

http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/hapy0007.gif

(jj)

1-29-04, 10:30 PM

Much nicer album muie, even loads in NN and Firebird :)

Some of your images tend to remind me of how I felt "the morning after a long night out" though :D

YvetteKuhns

1-29-04, 10:47 PM

muijefr, your fractals are so beautiful! I love them. I made a few like them a few years ago, but had no practical use for them. They just look cool. :cool:

Some look like the satin or other patterns in Photoshop with filters such as twirl applied. They are really neat. :)

muijefr

1-30-04, 03:32 AM

RE: YvetteKuhns

http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/hapy0007.gif

your fractals are so beautiful!

Thanks for you comments Yvette, I know nothing about fractals except that perhaps my contorted pixels might qualify and I will take your word they do. I know if they were on canvas they would be art but digital art has not established itself as a viable medium. If they were on standard medium they'd at least qualify for a Motel 6 room. Ulead has a great MagicGradient that creates great depth/satin finishes and my favorite filter is FlamingPear/Designer Sextet/Swerve. I'm not saying I'm an artist but what these computer images tools create is art. I ran across a firm that will convert digital to canvas but they have not answered my inquiry. That's the way of most art. Not much good until after you die or can convert it to bread and butter.

jj, RE: "the morning after a long night out" , one nice thing about that, that's as bad as you'll feel all day long.

Canvas Reproductions (http://www.artrans.net/-Home )

YvetteKuhns

1-30-04, 10:06 AM

Fractals are images created mathematically by design. Some of your images may qualify as they could occur that way, although you didn't create them that way. They still look cool.

http://mathforum.org/alejandre/applet.mandlebrot.html

This link shows a Java applet that creates fractals.

paulselhi

1-30-04, 11:33 AM

Here is a neat free fractal screen saver http://www.fractalus.com/juliasaver/

it actually generates fractals and not fractal slide shows

muijefr

1-30-04, 01:33 PM

Thanks Yvette and Paul I bookmarked your provided fractal URLs. It seems fractals are as much a process as a product or the product is the process. In either case my efforts are not fractals. Far too contrived and by design but I am going to take the best 12 and modify my current free calendar offering with my almost fractals (I'll make some lemon aid with my lemons). I now understand what jj was saying about fractals and his DOS days.

http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/hapy0007.gif

paulselhi

1-30-04, 01:57 PM

A fractal is an object which has at least one of the following characteristics it has detail at arbitrarily large or small scales, it is too irregular to be described in traditional geometric terms, it is exactly or statistically self-similar, its dimension is greater than its topological dimension, or it is defined recursively. In simple english, a fractal is repetitive in shape but not in size; for example: a spiral.

There are three broad categories of fractals that are commonly studied at this time:

Iterated function systems. These have a fixed geometric replacement rule (Cantor set, Sierpinski carpet, Sierpinski gasket, Peano curve, Koch snowflake).

Fractals defined by a recurrence relation at each point in a space (such as the complex plane). An example of this type are the Mandelbrot set and the Lyapunov fractal. These are also called escape-time fractals.

Random fractals, generated by stochastic rather than deterministic processes, for example Fractal landscapes.

Of all of these, only Iterated function systems usually display the well known "self-similarity" propertymeaning that their complexity is invariant under scaling transforms. Fractals such as the Mandelbrot set are more loosely self-similar: they contain small copies of the entire fractal in distorted and degenerate forms

paulselhi

2-1-04, 01:45 PM

I have set up a section in our forum for Apophysis

http://www.wanbridge.net/cgi-bin/bw/ikonboard.cgi

hopefull the apopysis gang will frequent, perhaps you could all post a few links to you work here ?

muijefr

2-1-04, 02:31 PM

Nice forum Paul, all it's needs is some traffic. Something like that might fit with this segment of this forum...c_h are you there.

http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/hapy0007.gif

paulselhi

2-1-04, 02:42 PM

unlikely to get the gurus from PW to cross over but perhaps they may show there faces ( and of course all previous disagreements are wiped from my forum :D )

muijefr

2-1-04, 03:00 PM

RE: Paul's
http://www.the-ebiz.net/Smilies/hapy0007.gif

unlikely to get the gurus from PW to cross over but perhaps they may show there faces

After I made my post about your board I thought the same thing. I think they know not what drives their new customer base and how it is maintained. Not a clue. They probably will check your borard out to insure it is politically correct or zip there goes another zip there goes another well you as a heavy hitter of the 'open segment of the forum' you know.

paulselhi

2-2-04, 11:10 PM

i have been experimenting with apophysis flames that i d/l and tried to reverse engineer them and redo them to see how they are put together.

Some of these are a bit bland but others i think are quite neat, there is omething very rewrding in draging a frw triangles around hitting a button and getting these :

My second attempts at apophysis fractals (http://www.black-and-white-to-color.com/stuff/apophysis2/)

(jj)

2-3-04, 01:50 AM

Those look really great Paul :)

(jj)

2-3-04, 05:03 AM

Have you ever played with mandelbrot fractals?

Anyone wanting to try their hand at them can find a neat *Free* program called Quat at:

Quat 3D Fractals (http://www.physcip.uni-stuttgart.de/phy11733/quat_e.html)

Here are a few of my first attempts at them:

Mandelbrot Gallery (http://www.rccomputer.net/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Mandelbrot)

paulselhi

2-3-04, 05:17 AM

I have seen this program and i like your renders but though you may have used mandlebrot formulas in there the actual fractals generated here are known as Quaternions

I do find them interesting but to be honest i think quats lack the beauty of flames maybe i need to get into them more i have a few free quat progs that i will fire up and see what i can get

Croc Hunter

2-3-04, 05:53 AM

www.google.com.au has even gone fractal crazy..

Heres the banner links if you missed it.
Image: http://www.google.com.au/logos/julia.gif
Link: http://www.google.com.au/images?q=julia+fractals

(jj)

2-3-04, 11:36 AM

Paul,

While I didn't know they were called "Quaternions", I knew that they did have another name. Thanks :)

I've always referred to them as Mandelbrots because of the mathmatical formulas used to create them.

The one thing I like about Mande..... errr Quaternions is that they have form and can easily be put to use in other applications.

I enjoy the flames and I can come up with all kinds of neat designs, but other than eye candy they have little use, for the most part.

I enjoy playing with both types, and I thank you again for pointing out Apophysis, it's a kewl program and fun to use. Just wish I could get the annimation version to run on my computer :(

paulselhi

2-3-04, 11:50 AM

i have frtee quat progs thata nimate but none of the frebies export a 3d mesh for 3d progs ( thst i know of"

the top of the leauge quat stuff is do be found in the "quarternionn package"

http://www.hypercomplex.org/quasz.htm

Have you got apophysis v2 the beta ? with it you choose the animate batcch scriipt and it then will produce..er.. a batch of stills for stitching together as an animation

(jj)

2-3-04, 12:15 PM

Yes, I got the Apophysis V2 Beta, but it won't run on my computer :( So I'm stuck running the V 1.01 version.

paulselhi

2-3-04, 12:22 PM

have a lookm at the apophysis.org site, at the bottom of the page you can join a list which will allow you to post questions

I hate e-mail lists which is why i set up the section in my forum, though v2 is not officially supported on the forum by mark townsend you could post the problem there maybe someone will help ?

what is your configuration ?

(jj)

2-3-04, 01:40 PM

AMD 1.5G
512M memory
64M Nvidia GeForce 2 video
Win 98se

YvetteKuhns

2-3-04, 02:57 PM

I've always referred to them as Mandelbrots because of the mathmatical formulas used to create them.

Me, too! Remember the program that ran in DOS that would go one forever like a psychedelic screen saver? In the 80s, it was one of the neatest programs. :)

paulselhi

2-3-04, 03:19 PM

yes Yvette i rember them the early fractals were based on the mandlebrot and julia set of fomulae howver things have progressed since then and now these forumlae are incorporated into a variety of graphics manipulation tools, they are wll used in cretaeing textures and even 3d landscapes

the newer fractal types such as quats and flames as well as holons are based on this early work but i think are becoming far more interesting than those continuously repeating swirls and circles

that is not to say that they are bad, with the newer software amazing images can be made from them it's just that i am getting blown away by the beauty of these flame images.

JJ it could be an issue with win 98 i will try to find out the min specs needed to run v2 for you

satis

2-3-04, 07:31 PM

Are you talking about Fractint? I used to play with fractint for hours in dos... just zooming in and zooming in and zooming in some more... then doing the color cycling. Ermm...I may not have been totally "sober" at the time. :D

I love fractals. Speaking of which, has anyone seen today's google? Is it the birthdate of fractals or something? That's a Mandlebrot set on the G, and I think a Julia on the O, no? Not sure what the L is.

Croc Hunter

2-3-04, 08:50 PM

Originally posted by satis
I love fractals. Speaking of which, has anyone seen today's google? Is it the birthdate of fractals or something? That's a Mandlebrot set on the G, and I think a Julia on the O, no? Not sure what the L is. Yes, its Gaston Julia's Birthday. Click the banner satis.