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In my quest to create 3D fractals, I extended JWildfire to export Povray scenes. Here's some of what I got:

(http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/020/2/3/firstpov___first_ever_jwildfire_povray_mandelbrot_by_ablipintime-d732qfl.jpg)
http://ablipintime.deviantart.com/art/firstpov-first-ever-JWildfire-Povray-Mandelbrot-428429649

(http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/029/f/a/neuvo_flower___jwf_povray_alpha_by_ablipintime-d74ap31.png)
http://ablipintime.deviantart.com/art/Neuvo-Flower-JWF-Povray-alpha-430480765

(http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/045/7/a/jwf_povray_simple_blue_flower___top_view_by_ablipintime-d76hh70.png)
http://ablipintime.deviantart.com/art/JWF-Povray-Simple-Blue-Flower-top-view-434156364

(http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/045/8/8/jwildfire_povray_simple_blue_flower___sideview_by_ablipintime-d76hk6d.png)
http://ablipintime.deviantart.com/art/JWildfire-Povray-Simple-Blue-Flower-sideview-434160229

(http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/039/a/5/3rdfullpov_by_ablipintime-d75mk3r.png)
http://ablipintime.deviantart.com/art/3rdfullpov-432713799

Not the most stunning stuff in the world, I admit.

I doubt Povray can't render 10M spheres like JWF can render pixels (although notably, Povray is faster), I cut the output down on the basis of point-distance and I limited the number of output points. That limits the shape, sadly, and my results aren't going to get the cool iterations you might hope for. I tried using small spheres, and either a) they practically disappear in Povray or b) JWildfire never finishes exporting the file, lol.


Eventually, I'd like to create a smooth surface IFS fractal. I've considered two routes: 1) doing it the 3D way, perhaps by creating a mesh (who hasn't?), and the nice thing about my extension is that I can easily modify it. I used it to successfully export an MQO file, but getting the faces correct requires an algorithm I'm going to have to write myself because I can't find one online. I've also considered parallax mapping for getting a 3D texture, but I kinda doubt that will give my the effects I want.
2) creating a vector graphics file that attempts to draw lines where the fractal is connected. Messy? Yes. Would be nice? Could be; I can envision what the results would look like, but God knows if I can get them. Maybe I should use the old Windows screensaver maze algorithm. XD

Any suggestions are welcome.

If you'd like, the plugin is available for JWildfire 1.20:
http://jwildfire.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1244
(one bug-fix mentioned in the forum not included in the download)

NOTE: Andreas Maschke, the creator of JWF, is changing the layout of JWF. While this extension can still be incorporated into JWF 1.30, there is no guarantee it will be so easily fit into subsequent versions.

If it would help I could provide some API so simplify such work/make it more independ from future changes. Could even imagine - in the far future ;-) - a plugin system which plugs-in certain functionality at different parts of the rendering process.

The mesh-export is a task which is also on my list for a few months now. You are welcome to take over, as I have so many other stuff to do :-)

Looks interesting.
I will give this a go.  :)

I want to just get x y z coordinates (possibly radius) and a colour value. Looks like I can set that in PovrayExporter.java file

I've been experimenting with Tachyon renderer recently.
I want to output code for that renderer rather than Povray in this instance.
Ive managed to get it to render about 3 million+  objects
depending if they are sized properly (certain sizes make the renderer segfault at a high count of objects). May be easy to get much higher counts on  higher spec system though or 64bit system
Just need to output something like.

SPHERE CENTER -1.99944 0.970515 0 RAD 0.01 thetexture

Built in primative      x         y        z     Set radius - RGB value