Fractal Zoom

Apophysis flame fractal...zoomed in a bit.

linear variation

Taken from a random batch using linear variation, and tweaked to bring out details and clarity. Not sure what to name this...maybe something like "Thatched". :)

Tiled flame

Added a few more flames to my Picasa album, mainly traditional spirals. This one is a tiled flame...

Winter Gradient

A nice mix of deep hues make this a winter-time flame fractal. I think I'm ready for spring though. :)

More script goodness

Same script, used on a different flame, and tweaked to bring out the woven basket-like frame. Script provided by Daniel Eaton.

Busy Time

Haven't posted in a while...and haven't been doing fractals in a while either. Just been busy with work, travel, and now all the frenzy normally associated with the holidays.

Simple flame fractal, containing mostly linear variation transforms.

wavy flame

Started in Gimp, imported to Apophysis, and tweaked and re-colored. One of my favorites...

Strands

More catching up, as work gets in the way. Going on a day-trip in a couple of days...taking my friend Patty to Portland for a trip to our favorite asian grocery "superstore", Uwajimaya...then to a nearby Trader Joe's! Shopping bliss here we come!

Classic Spiral

I've always had an affinity for the classic spiral fractal, and flame spirals are no exception. I find them to be light, refreshing, and comforting. This flame was the result of some transform and gradient tweaking from Liz's Perfect Spiral script.

Gimp Import

Another flame created in Gimp, thanks to Scott Drave's plug-in and Mark Townsend's import feature.

Summer is here...

107 degrees in the shade on the 5th. Glad I didn't have to be outside for work. Meanwhile, it was a little "warm" down at my old stomping grounds, Phoenix...checking in at 116. But it's a dry heat. Saw Transformers the other day, and though it has gotten mixed reviews, I found it to be a lot of fun. CG animation rocked, and so did the soundtrack.

Catching up on some flames. New version out, 2.06...actually now 2.06c. Things change quickly, don't blink like I did, otherwise you'll be pulling your hair out trying to figure what went wrong.

Another one

Using a script which combines mods from several fractal artists, and tweaking it a bit.

Fractals for desktops?

I've been into windows customization for a while now...since around 2000. I have always been the one at work that had to be different. I still am today, making and using my own icons, and using whatever limited software is allowed. One of the easiest, and most acceptable, ways to customize one's desktop is through wallpapers. I have gone through many, both at work and at home. My wallpaper folders are crammed with so many interesting and beautiful images. About half are photographs, some of mine, and most from caedes.net. The rest constitutes a mixture of screenshots from Myst/Uru, works from some great artists like vlad and David Lanham, as well as the great new selections from Windows Vista.

As much as I love fractals, I don't have very many of them in my wallpaper directory. Not sure why. I suppose most fractal art can be too busy for my taste, at least to have glaring at me when I don't have a window or program open. I have used my own renders as wallpaper at work, and have actually received some nice feedback from co-workers. Now, when working through Apophysis, and choosing flames to tweak and render, I keep the desktop in mind. Some flames are meant to be displayed in such a manner, some not. The search continues...

Who Goes There?

My first combination of Apophysis and Uru. The flame came first. It sat on my hard drive for well over a year before I did anything with it. When I saw it amongst the random batch, I just knew it was something special, just wasn't sure how. One day, while looking through some Uru screenshots, it suddenly hit me. Took some tweaking in PSP, and a re-render of the original flame (higher res), but I'm happy with the outcome. :) The title is from one of my favorite books, which later became one of my favorite horror movies, "The Thing".

Merging two art mediums

Two things I love to do the most, on my off-time, are making flame fractals and playing Myst Online:Uru Live. Creating flames is therapeutic, almost meditational, helping me to focus on an object or space. It helps me to move away from the stress, structure, and chaos of daily life...to a more open, slower-moving, almost fluidic thought process.

Uru Live parallels fractal art in many ways. It is not the typical FPS MMORPG. It can be intense though, and it does have its technological foobar moments. But, like fractals, it is a mostly relaxing and enjoyable escape from real life, especially when meeting friends online. I enjoy the beautiful, exotic and vast landscapes that Cyan feeds us every other week. It is a good experience to exercise one's senses, with wonderful sites and sound, and the familiar brain-crunching puzzles. I have all of the soundtracks from the Myst series, and have taken gigabytes of screenshots.

I am starting to experiment with combining fractals and Uru art. I tend to not create just for the sake of combining images, but instead wait to be presented with a compelling flame image, or a scene in Uru that needs the magic of an orb or flame.

err...let's try this again

Nothing like experimenting with a new blog...then forgetting about it. I suppose I wasn't in the right mindset when I started this...but, now that I've rescued this from the depths of Blogger, I'll try to be better. I promise. I hope.

My life isn't exciting or interesting enough to warrant filling these pages with readable material, at least nothing fit for the average joe's consumption. However, fractals have always been one of my favorite forms of expression. Each one is different, unique unto itself, like fragments of thoughts and ideas. Fractals appear in many forms in our daily lives, and in nature itself. They are classified by various types such as Mandelbrot, Julia, and Iterated Function System (IFS).

I find flames, and their creation, to be unpredictable, but in a pleasant way. Math has never been my forte, however working with the program Apophysis helps me to appreciate its capabilities. There seems to be an almost therapeutic value to flame creation...a Zen of mathematics, art, and nature. Anyone can do it, given the proper tools and an open mind. It is, after all, what you make of it.