FOTD -- December 01, 2008 (Rating 9.5) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: I sometimes receive e-mails asking how I find the fractals I post in the FOTD. I wish the question were not so difficult to answer. In a recent posting to the Fractint List, Mike actually had it right when he said I must have developed an intuition for fractals, and the ease with which I find them causes me to under- rate them. When searching for fractals, I simply get a feeling that a particular set of parameters or a particular spot in a certain parent fractal will yield something worth the effort. And as often as not I am right. Even more surprising, at least to me, is the fact that I some- times have little idea of the connection of the math to the shape of the fractal. This is quite the case in the images I make with formulas like the HyperMandelbrot2, where I can see no connection at all between the infinitesimal parameters I enter and the images that appear on the screen. When I was considering today's image, I had an instinctive feeling that the Julia aspect of yesterday's image might hold something interesting. As today's FOTD shows, I was right. The unexpected result, which is due entirely to the coloring, is quite striking, even though it hardly looks like a fractal. I named the image "Julia Surprise". After all, that's what it was to me. The rating of a 9-1/2 is exceptionally high. It includes 1/2 point for my serendipitous coloring, but still leaves room for improvement. The coloring took less effort than one would expect. Actually, I colored the image with a single strike of the <enter> key and one ot two register tweaks. The image is a ghostly one. It is not evaporated, since it started with nothing to be evaporated. Regardless, the 'bof60' inside fill once again worked its magic on a blank screen, and today's image is the result. The other inside fills work with much less success, with the 'bof61' being the best of the lot. I think the 'bof60' fill colors the bands according to how close the trapped points come to the origin in their limited wanderings, while the 'bof61' fill colors the bands according to which iteration brings the points closest to the origin. Perhaps the best feature of today's image is its faster-than- light calculation time of 8 swift seconds. This speed will give no one reason for impatience. But those with over-qualified machines that panic and freeze when booted with a DOS program will still need to view the finished image on the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> Sunday began with sleet here at Fractal Central, but by noon the sleet had changed to a cold rain that, together with a temperature of 34F +1C, made the day quite unpleasant. The fractal cats divided their time between searching for the warmest places they could find, chasing each other up and down the 40-foot (12-meter)-long hallway, and asking for food. My day was spent doing little of value. (Except for the fractal fun.) The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and when things go wrong, shift the aspect of your attitude from the Mandelbrot to the Julia. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Julia_Surprise { ; time=0:00:08.09-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=basic.frm formulaname=DivideBrot5Julia float=y symmetry=xaxis center-mag=0/0/0.1435945 params=-3/1.5/-0.987/0 maxiter=1500 inside=bof60 logmap=yes periodicity=10 colors=000zzzvvvrrrmmmhhhcccZZZUUUKKK000znUvlTrjTm\ hShfSeeR`dR_cQZbQXaQW`PV_PUZOTYOSWNRVNQVNOUMNSMMRL\ LQLKOKJNKIMJHLJFKJEJIDIICHHBGHAF0000L3gJ5dH7`F8WDA\ RBBN9DJx5zw6vv6ru7mt7hs7cr8Zq8Up8Uo9Un9Um9UlAUkAUj\ AUiBUhBUOASNCQLCPJCOHDMFDLDDKBEI9EH8th8rg8qf8oe8nd\ 8lc8kb8ia8h`8g_8eZ8dY8bX8aW8_V8ZU8YT8WS8VR8TQ8SP8Q\ O8PN8OM8ML8LK8JJ8II8GH8FG9GR8FQ8FQ8FP8FP8FO8FO8FN8\ FN8FM8FMW4fX4fZ4e_4e`4da5db5cc5ce5cf5bg6bh6ai6aj6`\ l6`m7_n7_o7Zp7Zq7ZpCYoGYoKYnPXnTXmXXlaWleWkiWknVjr\ VjvVmoaohgrantVtvPzsQwqQuoQsmRqkRoiRmgSkeSicSgaTe_\ TcYTaVU_TUYRUWPVUNVSLVQJWOHWMFWKDXIBXG9XE7XCCVFHTI\ MRLRPOWOQ`MTeKWjIZoGatFcuHcuJcuLcuNcvOcvQcvScvUcwV\ cwXcwZcw`cxacxccxecxgcxhcuiasj`qjZnkYllXjlVhmUenTc\ nRaoQ_oPXpNVqMTqKQrJOsIMsGKtFHuEFuCDvBBvAEuCGtEItF\ LsHNsIPrKRrLUqNWqOYpQ`oSboTdnVfnWimYkmZml`olalj_jh\ ZhfYfeXdcWaaV__UYZTWXS9EH } frm:DivideBrot5Julia { ; Jim Muth z=pixel, c=(p2), a=real(p1)-2, b=imag(p1)+0.00000000000000000001: z=sqr(z)/(z^(-a)+b)+c |z| < 1000000 } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================