FOTD -- August 07, 2003 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Is nothing sacred? When I opened my e-mail box this morning, I found two letters from the Fractint programmers list. This is unusual, since normally, the list is considered active if it has one letter per month. But I was soon disappointed. The subject of the first letter was 'hey wgtjvjh...' This letter contained total gibberish and was likely posted only to determine if it would actually be sent out to list members. The second letter, which was sent from the same address a short time later, directed the reader to a web site selling 4-percent mortgages. I didn't bother visiting the web site. I'm sure the 'list member' who sent the spam will soon be deleted from the list. Today's unusually brilliant image rates a 7, but most of the rating is due to program features, not to an exceptional scene that I discovered and rendered. The feature that made the image is the 'fmod' inside fill option of Fractint, which was used to render the 'inside' parts of the image. This option produces an effect of overlapping bubbles. A good part of today's scene consists of trapped 'inside' points, and it is these areas that create the frothy, bubbly effect. The frothy areas of the image remind me of the egg case of a praying mantis, which is the reason for the name "Mantis Cases". The parent fractal, which was created by subtracting Z^(0.2) from 2 parts of Z^3, is so convoluted that it is impossible to describe. But it does have a 'Mandelbrot Molecule', or midget, at its northern extremity. The 'East Valley' of this midget is split into two parts. Today's scene is located in a spiral on the shoreline of the western branch of the split. Those who suspect that the colors of today's image are not quite natural are correct. I gave the original bland color palette a huge boost in contrast in a separate graphics program. This is no cause for concern, because when I run Fractint images through a separate program, I always make sure the changes can be encoded accurately into a parameter file. Running today's attached parameter file will take 10 minutes and will reproduce the enhanced image as it appears on my screen. Not all fractalists enjoy sitting back and watching images slowly appear on their screens. Those who desire instant fractal satisfaction can find it on Paul's web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and on Scott's site at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> Wednesday was fair enough here at Fractal Central, with lots of sun and a temperature of 81F 27C. The problem was that a brief but heavy shower passed over at 1pm and again made things too wet in the holly thicket for the intrepid duo. They spent the afternoon on the porch, their moods questionable. Today is starting cloudy and threatening to bring more showers, so the moods of the duo have yet to be determined. I've got a bit of work to do and some fractals to find. Until the next FOTD appears, take care, and retain your enthusiasm. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Mantis_Cases { ; time=0:10:55.81--SF5 on a p200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=+0.45558038289711040/+0.654666421634426\ 80/7.187779e+009/1/32.5/-7.89103793002315923e-006 params=-1/0.2/2/3/0/0 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=fmod proximity=0.1375 periodicity=10 colors=0000Rr0Nr0Kr3HrUKz6Hr0HH0H00000H00D00D00D0A\ DARDRkAhzAyzAzzAzzAzz6zz3zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0u\ z0rz0kz0hz0dy0Yu0Ur0Nn0Kk0Dh0Ak000000K00kH0za0zu0z\ z0zz0zu0zn0zh0zR0zAHz0Yz0nz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz6zzRz\ zkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzyzzuzz\ rzzkzzhzydzyazyYzyYzyUzuUzuRzuRzuNzrNzrKzrz0zKzraz\ dnzRzzDzh0zK0z00z00z00z00z00z00z00z00z30z60zA0zD0z\ K0zN0zR0zY0za0yd0uh0na0kY0hR0dN0aK0YD0UA0R66N0DK0N\ H0UD0aA0k60r30y00z00z00z00z00z00z00z03z0Az0Dz0Kz0N\ z0Uz0Yz0az0hz0kz0rz0uz0uz0yz0zz0zz0zz3zzAzzDzzHzzK\ zzNzzRzzYzzazzdzzhzzkyznvzrrzrnzugzu_yuVnyTdyURz0H\ v06s00m03d06U0DH0H63K0DR0RU0dY0nd0zh0zk0zy00aDKKAA\ U00X00_00b00e00h00k00m03o03r06t0Pv3Uw0Zx0cy0hz0myR\ rzzzkzynzuryruzzzzzzzzzzzzyzzxzzwzzuzzszzqzzozzmzz\ kzzizzgzzezzczzazz_zzXzzUzzDzz0zz0zz0zz0zu0zn0yr0u\ r0rr0nr0kr0hr0dr0ar0Yr0Ur } 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==================================