FOTD -- January 07, 2004 (Rating 2) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's image rates a horrendous 2. It is one of the lowest rated images ever to have made the status of FOTD. And to make things worse, it takes almost an hour to render. Normally, this image would have been an instant victim of the delete key, but I included it among the honored FOTD fractals for two reasons: first, I wanted to demonstrate what, IMO, makes a fractal image bad; second, I had a bad day at the fractal keyboard. (Those who work with fractals have bad days, just like those who work with everything else.) The image is an 'evaporated' one in the parent fractal that results when some Z^(-1.2) is subtracted from some Z^(-2.1) and (1/C) is added. This parent fractal has within it far more potential than would be guessed by glancing at today's image. To prove the point, tomorrow's image will be another scene in this same parent fractal, and I guarantee the image will have a higher rating. I will not dwell at length on the deficiencies of today's image. The image speaks, (or does not speak), for itself. The ring- like features hold some promise, but the muddy, unorganized colors spoil anything that the rings might hint at. I guess the best thing to do with today's image is to consider it a reminder that the many FOTD images which rate a 6 are indeed a little above average. I gave little thought to naming the image, finally deciding on the discouraging name "Total Failure". Few will want to devote nearly an hour of computer time to rendering the failed fractal, but Paul is one of the few, and the completed GIF image will be available for download on his web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> as soon as he can get it posted. The temperature on Tuesday here at Fractal Central reached no higher than 36F 2C, and to make things worse, a snow squall struck at 2:30 pm, just as the cats were starting to enjoy their time in the yard. The sudden snow and burst of wind sent them scurrying to be let inside. The snow moved out within 20 minutes, leaving a dusting on the grass, and the sun returned, but by then the duo were safely settled by their radiator, where they spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. This morning is starting sunny but windy and very cold, with a temperature of 18F -8C. These are not the conditions to make sensitive cats happy, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how the day goes for them. For me it looks like a fairly routine day. Until next time and a better fractal, take care, and if the truth were known . . . Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Total_Failure { ; time=0:50:11.74--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix2 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-1.12301102275173500/+1.063120905547293\ 00/4820.856/1/125/3.20222112715207174e-011 params=1.2/-2.1/-2.1/-1.2/0/1e+100/0/0 float=y maxiter=1500 inside=bof61 periodicity=10 colors=000kNTlMRlKQmIOmHNnXLnDKoCIoAHp8FH`fFagCciA\ ek7gm2lt5hn8eiAbdD__FXVIUPLRKNOFQLAQK0SI5UH9WFDYEH\ _CLdBPc9Tk9We8Xb7X_6YW6YT5ZQ4ZM3_J3_G2`C1`90a1n560\ aC4dH8fMBhRFkWJm`MoeQrjUtjuxoXvu8vt9ut9ttAstArtBqt\ BptCotCnsDmsDlsEksEjsFisFhsGgyDcsGfmIihKlbMoYOrSQu\ NSwPVsQYpR`lSciTfeUibVlZWoWYjXZfX`bYaZYcUZdQZfM_gI\ _n7UhE_bKdXRjRXoMbtPcsRdsUerWfrYfr`gqbhqeipgjpijpl\ konloqmnsnnxqsunnrljoiflgbjeZgbVd`RaYNZWJSY3XUF`QR\ dNahJmlGxkFvkEtkDrkCqkBojAmj9kj8jj7hj6fh3hj5ek7cl9\ amB_nDYpFWqHUrJSsLQtNOuOMvQNvSOvUPvVPvXQvZRv`SvaSv\ cTveUvgVvhVweWwbXw_YwXZwV_xS`xPaxMbxJcxHdrLemPehTf\ cKfZ`gUdgPhhKlhFpiAti8sb7sX6sQ4rK3rD2r76p69o6Dn5Gl\ 5Kk4Nj4Qi3Ug3Xf2`e2cc1gb1ja0w`0ja1mb1ec1cZ1`d2Ze2X\ f2Ug2Sh2Ph3Ni3Kj3Ik3Gk3Hf6Hb9HZCIUFIQIIMLEJLIIOMIQ\ PITTIVWIY_I_bIbfIdmIfaNhURjMVlEZnCIw6boCalI`jO_hTZ\ eZYcdXahYaiW_iUZjSXjRWkPU } frm:MandelbrotMix2 {; 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)+(p4)), 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==================================