So a typical fractal we're used to seeing is a Mandelbrot fractal that looks something like this:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set
Those are calculated via an orbit around a 2D plane.

Well about 20 years ago someone came up with the set of calculations that would produce a 3D fractal or "Mandelbulb", but the computational power to render one didn't exist until around 2007 (I don't know why I just discovered this).

Here's a sample of just how badass this looks:


Many more pictures here:
http://www.skytopia.com/project/fractal/mandelbulb.html

Wow.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

...god, I thought the title said: "facials"...

Mind in the Gutter Syndrome.

Must be something in the water....so did I

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I try to think, but nuttin happens.......Curley Howard
There is no past as it exists merely as a slippery bond tying the memories of the past to the dreams of the future.............Me
If we started life as an old person and lived until we were young, we would eventually finish off fucked as an orgasm.......George Carlin

whats wrong with facials?
***
as for the picture, that pretty sweet.

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

Nothing, nothing at all...

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

can you explain what the is in nice, easy words

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PSA: I am an overly sarcastic person. If you take me at my word, then i will most likely anger and offend you.

That is quite the omission.

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A fractal is basically taking a geometric shape, slicing away part of it, shrinking that and repeating (to infinity if you want).


They're interesting mathematically and physically to people much smarter than myself. The reason they interest most other people is they make pretty pictures...but that's also the weird part. It's a relatively simple repeating mathematical equation that, when plotted, could have just created random looking data, but instead created quite beautiful patterns.

Up til now we've only been able to do it in 2D

Here's a side by side of 3D vs 2D:

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Hold my beer and watch this...

you dont say...

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

...back on topic: Those 3D images are stunning. They're...voluptuous. They look like some kind of universal organic architectural elements.

Look good enough to eat; like icing on some mad cake.

Sometimes I absolutely love the future that "now" has become. Finally.

I had dreamt about such visualizations, years ago. As a student, trying to portray "flow" and "trend" and "tendency", (and other varying recurring elements) as a visual representation of fluid dynamics; eddies and cavitation and various mixing/blending dynamics.

Hand drawn (and shaded) sketches didn't do justice to the mathematics.

And, here they are. Lovely. Like logic, made crystalline.



Thanx, XC.

Fractal geometry and the infinite universe may be two of the most interesting things ever considered(combined unimaginable). Imagine how the first person to see something really small or large for the first time felt?? Probably better than someone who was abducted by an alien or spoke to Satan through his Black Lab.

Mad? Weird? Infinity? This can only mean one thing:

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mechaphil

same here sir.

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"Tis The Season, Fa la la la la LaFontaine" - Rick Jeanneret

hey, its the thing that looks like someone named it by headbutted their keyboard.

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

I first saw a 3D fractal when I was a child.

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Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

what the hell?

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

It's Romanesco broccoli, a naturally occurring fractal.

Math governs everything.

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Miles to go before I sleep

‎"Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
-Khalil Gibran

ever hear about the Golden Ratio (aka Fibonacci Ratio/Number)

some amazingly crazy stuff there.

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.

Ever hear of the Golden Rule? I think it's something along the lines of:

Don't skate with your head down.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

the golden ratio more or is found in everything.

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Check out my website: http://www.artistzero.com

"That wasn't very nice...I do believe you killed my hat."

Driver of the FIRE LINDY RUFF Bandwagon since 2008.