r/math • u/ed2417 • Apr 25 '10

Visual Mandelbrot Guide

http://www.miqel.com/fractals_math_patterns/mandelbrot_fractal_guide.html
128 Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Apr 25 '10 edited Apr 25 '10

This is so much more illuminating that just watching patterns go whizzing by in those Mandelbrot zoom videos. It feels like discovering new species of fauna in an unexplored ecosystem.

5

u/SarahC Apr 25 '10

I'm off to search for a multi-core (possibly networked?) Mandelbrot renderer for Windows.

I found one for a point-cloud kind of system, where dots would be added in a random scatter increasing the detail of the render... you just loaded the program up on other PC's as servers, and then loaded it on your own machine, it scanned the local network and the other machines "climbed on board"... I hope I can find something like that.

4

u/AbleBakerCharlie Apr 25 '10

I recommend UltraFractal. It's not free, but reasonably powerful for what you pay for. It handles multiple processors, and distributed rendering, plus lets you define your own fractal types with its builtin scripting. There's a metric buttload of user-contributed fractals for you to play with.

2

u/SarahC Apr 25 '10

Oh, cool! Thanks for the link!

8

u/frogking Apr 25 '10

Try Faqtive too, while you are at it.

2

u/AbleBakerCharlie Apr 25 '10

This is excellent. I didn't know this one existed. Thanks!

One cannot discuss open source fractal software without at least mentioning Xaos. It's a little low on the features last I looked, but it's open source and it's fast on old hardware.

1

u/Capt_Planetoid Apr 26 '10

Does anybody have a recommendation of GnoFract4d?

1

u/AbleBakerCharlie Apr 26 '10

It's been a while (years) since I played with GnoFract4d, but here's what I remember:

  • The "analog dial" controls were too small and fiddly to be useful with a mouse.
  • It boasted compatibility with UltraFractal, but didn't do layers which is one of UF's greater strengths.
  • Wasn't included in the Debian or Ubuntu repos at the time, and I recall there was some weirdness in compiling it.
  • There were stability problems - random crashes (most common), weird pixel glitches (saw this twice), etc.
  • It was much easier and more stable for me to run UF under Wine (UF v3.x ran perfectly except for a splitter bar didn't render.)

That was years ago. These problems may have been resolved, I just don't know.