FOTD -- October 02, 2004 (Rating 5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's fractal takes us to the second escape-time fractal of the large built-in library of Fractint, the barnsleyj2 formula, which like yesterday's formula, the barnsleyj1, first appeared in Barnsley's book "Fractals Everywhere". The fractals produced by the barnsleyj2 formula are quite like those produced by the barnsleyj1 formula, at least this is how it appears to me. I have done only an insignificant amount of exploration however, and have almost certainly missed the most interesting fractals these formulas can draw. I might have done better if I had started with the Mandelbrot versions of the Barnsley formulae. Then I would have formed some idea of the variety possible before jumping right into the Julia sets. But my intention is to work through all the escape-time formulas in order, and this clueless rambling is how it goes at the start. Like yesterday's image, today's image is centered on one of the points of symmetry that fill the parent fractal. And once again I could give a rating no higher than an average 5. The coloring helps a little, the blue background giving the impression of bits and pieces of fractal debris swirling in infinite space -- one of my favorite themes. After a short consideration, I named the image "Broken Symmetry". After short trips into the first two of Barnsley's Julia formulae, I am only mildly impressed by their potential. I have seen similar and even far more interesting 'bits-and-pieces' images created by the MandelbrotBC2 branch-cut formula when it is used to investigate the Mandeloids that result when powers of Z between 1 and 2 are iterated. Perhaps the best feature of today's image is its lightning speed. Less than 28 seconds to render a fractal is unusual, even in this day of gigahertz machines. And this speed raises the humble rating of 5 to a whopping overall value of 1087. I can already see the world's fractalists rushing to their computers to render the image. But unfortunately, some modern computers do not support the old DOS video modes used by Fractint. Those with such new-fangled, over-featured, under-performing machines can still see the image however by downloading it from the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> The weather was totally perfect here at Fractal Central on Friday. What could be better than light winds, a cloudless sky, and a temperature of 77F 25C? The fractal cats fully agreed. They spent the afternoon lounging in the holly thicket at the bottom of the yard, not showing themselves until I rang the dinner bell (a spoon on a can of cat food) at sundown. Today is starting cloudy and drizzly, with heavier rain due in a few hours. The fractal duo have not yet seen the deteriorating conditions. Hopefully, they had such a pleasant time yesterday that they will not mind a few drops on their ears today. With about three hours effort, I should be able to empty the in-shelf beside my desk of all waiting work. Then I will have no excuses for submitting less-than-perfect fractals. Until tomorrow, take care, and when a fractal goes sour, sprinkle a little sugar on it. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Broken_Symmetry { ; time=0:00:27.63--SF5 on a P200 reset=2003 type=barnsleyj2 passes=1 center-mag=+1.09808811220341800/+1.103806763054818\ 00/75.43892/1/62.5/-1.14117049143658278e-013 params=0.52/1.22 float=y maxiter=500 bailout=100 inside=0 logmap=19 periodicity=10 colors=000YA_XAZWBYVCXUCWTDVSDUQKTOQSMTRKXQF`LRdHb\ hCnm8zu4vnArgGn`LkVRgOXcHa_AgX4lU8kSCjPGiNKjKOkISl\ FWmD_nAco8gp6jq8irAisCitEhuGhvIhwKgxMgyOgzQfzSfzUf\ zSdzRbzP_zoZzmZzkZziZzg_ze_zc_za_z_`zY`zW`zU`zS`zQ\ azOazMazKazIbzGbzEbzCbzBbzD`zE_zGZzHYzJXzKWzMUzNTz\ OSzQRzRQzTPzUNzWMzXLzZKz_Jz`Iz_Nz_RzZVzZZzYbzYgaXk\ gXomWssWwycdqkNir5al6df7g`7jV8mP8pJ9sD9uCAvCBvCBvC\ CvCDvCDvCEvCFvCFvCGvCHvCHwCIwCJwCJwCKwCLwCLwCMwCNw\ CNwCOwCOwEQxGRxISxKTxMUxOVxQXxSYxUZxW_xY`x_axacxcd\ xeexgfxigxkhxmixu9AvGLvMVwSewYowcyvdwveuvfsvgrvgpv\ hnvimujkukiukgulfumdunbunatmcslerkgqjipjkoimnhomgq\ mgskhtjhtiithiugjufjuejudkvckvblvalv`mw_mwZmwYnwXn\ xWoxVoxUoxRlzPizNfzLczJ`zHYzFVzDQzBMzAHz8Dz68z54zE\ MzNczWtzXrzXqzYozYnzYlzZkzZjzZhz_gz_ez_dz`bz`az``z\ a_zaZzaYwaXtaWqaVnbUmbTnbTobSpbRqbQrcPscOtcNucMvcL\ wcLwWGzOCzG8zHGzHOzHVzOAz } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================