FOTD -- January 29, 2002 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's image has a pop-art look, so I named it "Fractal Pop-Art". The image is a scene in the fractal that results when 0.15 parts of Z^(-14.56) are added to 1.5 parts of Z^(-1.456), and then (1/C) is added to the whole thing. The parent fractal is an oversized, many-bayed thing with an object that vaguely resembles a main stem extending northeast from one of the bays. Today's scene is found near the end of this rudimentary stem, where it merges with a scalloped disk. Being a fractal purist, and considering equal-iteration bands to be purity, I saw it as almost a sacrilege when I turned on Fractint's 'biomorph' feature. But in this case, it adds some oomph to an otherwise bland image. As a side note, while reading the 'other' (the U.F.) fractal mailing list this morning, where I constantly lurk but almost never speak, I noticed that the question, "Can I quit my job and make a living selling fractals?", has come up once again. I suppose that nearly everyone who gets fairly good at producing fractals soon has a dream of quitting their job and becoming rich and famous by selling prints of their images. They fancy the fractal-hungry world seeing the fractals and going, "Wow! I've got to have a few of those beautiful (thousand-dollar) images!" Unfortunately, there are many reasons why this dream will not come true. To begin, the world is not fractal-hungry, it is mildly curious. Those who have the big money to pay already know this. It is possible, if the price is low enough, (ten dollars), to have a pleasant afternoon selling a few images at a local art festival, but even here, those who see the images are more interested in talking about them than buying them. As a graphic designer, I work with images every day. I know the things people want and what they are willing to pay big money for. And fractals are just not one of them. If a commercial market for fractals did actually exist, I would have found it by now. Fractals should be fun. They should not lead to the disappointment that results when one sees their dream of earning substantial money shattered. Those looking for a workable way to earn a living without being tied to a 9-to-5 job would do better stuffing envelopes at home. Today's FOTD image will earn no money for me, but I had a bit of fun creating it, and I will feel no disappointment next week when it lies filed on a disk, forgotten and worthless. Today however, it rates a 7. And the render time of one minute is an extra blessing. For those who don't want to be bothered by parameter files, the GIF image is available on the internet at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> Another perfect day Monday here at fractal HQ brought out the best in the cats, who managed to spend several hours in the yard without getting into trouble. They had such a satisfying time outside in fact that they were actually eager to come indoors when evening put an end to their romp. And believe it or not, today promises to be as perfect a day as Monday. I have no idea what the dynamic duo did to deserve such good winter weather. As for me, I have a day's work to tackle before I can think of taking it easy at the fractal computer. As always, I'll return in 24 hours with a new fractal and some words of enlightenment. Until then, take care, and enlighten- ment is enlightening only for those who believe the message. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Fractal_Pop-Art { ; time=0:01:08.93--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=+2.48527818218948/+2.369395294416768/1.\ 666966e+008/1/25/-4.0357924384268329e-006 params=1\ .5/-1.456/0.15/-14.56/0/0 float=y maxiter=12000 inside=0 biomorph=100 colors=0006ICCIMKKVRNbFz8MzO\ Rj_piIfYYzzGzzMzzRxvXnjaeZfVz0Xz8XzGXzQXnXX`euGVz8\ 0z80rACkEQbIavxzzzhzgkp`kfUk0m06eAGZOQS_RSQVOaebFa\ YO_UXYQe8zhIpjQ`k0zX0xa8meMZh6zXCz_GxaKpeQefTWjrQz\ jOzbNs_bnzWzuUwpSukQrfOpaNmzzzwzzAz22z20z20z20z2Cz\ MezbzzszzpzzmzujzehwYbpQ_hIVaAReNTfYVjgXkrYnz_pzar\ zapzYpzXpzVpzTpzRfnMYdIQSCGG8684A8AFAGICMKEROGX8mx\ RIaVKfb`jaYk_Wk_UkYSkYQkXOk0zz2zzCvzOdsnpzhezaWsQz\ 0Rz6TzGTrOVgXXYe0zr0zp8znGrmQbkzzzzsxznwzissbrkYnb\ SmpjOkeTh`YbWb_QhRzITzOTzRVzXVr_XgeXYhAe0G`0KYAQUO\ TQ_CzaKueRdheZz_SxO8xRAsVGnTzTVzXVz_VzaXueXifXYjQ8\ rTGnzzMzzRzuVum_mdbeWh2zI8zOFxTIpYOebTWh0Gz6IxCIuI\ KsOKpTNmzzuzzszzrzzpszpmsnhimaYk2z0Az4IzKQgYOUzRQz\ VOzGUzMSzQQzTOuYizXezXbzX`zXYwXUsXSpXOm4zAFzOOm_zu\ OzmVud_hWfhp0fj0eg2bbCaZM_UVYQbzbzsYzkUzbQsGGzKIzO\ KzRKzVNsKAhRGjhgrb`n_Um2d_8`bFYeIWfOShTOj0E00G2 } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================