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I'm starting to make some 3D fractals (maybe 2,5D) playing around with Variations and Variables in the Transform Editor. I don't know how this Variations and Variables work exactly, so I'm experimenting, and getting some results, some completely wacko, some nice and beautiful.

So... sometimes I don't know what I'm doing. I play around with 3d variables, and I don't know if I'm making 3d or not, because the preview doesn't correspond to the actual render.

And there is another problem with render... What's the best render? What does "Density" means? When should one use more or less density?

I,ve been searching 3d tutorials around the web. I found some for Apophysis 3d Hach, but they are incomplete, and somewhere in the middle don't make sense, or the variable doesn't exist... I cannot find a decent tutorial to learn something useful... maybe I've been searching in the wrong place   :embarrass:

Is there any help for 3D fractals in Apophysis 7x?

There are transforms, the triangles. Each transform is exactly what it's called: a transform. It transforms, gives a different shape, to the fractal. The variations determine the way in which the transform affects the shape of the fractal. Each variation can be seen as a formula that transforms the fractal.

The higher the weight of a transform, the more dominant the transform will be in the whole fractal, but you can use weight in the transform itself as well. All variations have a certain weight, that is you increase it, the particular transforming effect of that variation becomes stronger.

The weight of transforms is a ratio, so if you have 2 transforms with a weight of 2 and 4, or 3 and 6, it gives the same result as the ratio remains the sqame. The weight of the variations of a transform is not a ratio, so a weight of 1 for linear and 0.5 for sinusoidal is not the same as 2 for linear and 1 for sinusoidal. The value there merely determines how strong the effect of the variation will be unrelated to the weight of other variations.

To give you an idea of how linear works: it's the most simple transform as it simply copies the fractal that's already there an infinite number of times along a line. At the same time, the whole fractal is always made of copies of itself, so if you have a fractal and add a linear transform, it will not only copy the fractal you already had but affect the fractal you already had as well, ending up with a new fractal that once again consists only of copies of itself.

There are variations like blur that are somewhat special because they transform the fractal in such a way that it's not recognisable anymore and if you use many variations or transforms at the same time, you will often not be able to see the self-similarity.



Density is a measurement for iterations. A density of 1 is not 1 iteration. Actually it's more like thousands already. I don't know exactly how many, but that's not so important.

In Apophysis which uses the fractal flame method, iterations work out differently. How this works exactly is extremely complicated, but what it comes down to is that the more iterations you use, the more points it will calculate. To get a nice picture you have to use a high enough density, otherwise the picture will be extremely pixelated/grainy.

All points have a certain thickness, the filter radius. Usually 0.4 is a good value. I personally never change it. The filter radtius makes the points that are calculated visible, as of course, only points are 0-dimensional and not visible. This thickness if important, because the thicker the points, the less iterations are needed to fill the image. But thick points also make a rather blurred image. A filter radius of 0.4 combined with a high density give the best results.

To determine how high the density should be, you can render the fractal you have with a quality of 100 or something and see how pixelated/grainy it is. Then you will have to estimate how high the density has to be to get a nice and smooth picture. There is no way to find out what works but to try. Remember that in theory there is never enough density. Higher is always better.



If you find that other people are using variations you don't have, that means you are missing those plugins. There are many plugins available for apophysis that are usually made by fractal artists who are good at programming and like to try out something new.

You can find many plugins and tutorials on deviantart. I think almost all apophysis content can be found there. Unfortunately I can't tell you much about the 3d variables. I've done some 3d things but they all suck.

THANK YOU so much for your words.  ;D

I've been downloading some plugins and scripts in DeviantArt after your explanation about it (I was using some default ones, but I had no idea what they were doing).

Your info really helped me to clarify and understand this incredible program a little bit more.
But I wonder... were did you get this information? From experience? Or did you get it somewhere? It would really be nice to have some kind of manual to read... or some videotutorials about this. I've searched some videos on youtube, but all of them were basic lessons.

Thank you again for your golden words, they really helped me a lot so far  :D

It's both experience and things I read, usually short messages on deviantart or elsewhere. I've also gained some insight in the aposhack on deviantart, which is a chat about fractal art:
http://chat.deviantart.com/chat/aposhack

I've found a manual above the aposhack. It will probably be useful if you need to know something:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20949676/ApophysisUserManual/index.html

It is really useful to me. Thanks a lot Dinkydau.