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Hi,

How can I export a 3d mesh from the Mandelbulb 3D software ? or with other fractal software ?
Thanks

Alain

Hello and Welcome to the forums   O0

Only a very few fractal generators actually have that feature.

Mandelbulb 3D does not.

Try the programs by Terry W. Gintz at Mystic Fractal (http://www.mysticfractal.com/).

And the one by Garth Thornton at XenoDream (http://xenodream.com/).

Chaos Pro (http://www.chaospro.de/) also has the feature.

PS to Jesse...  SEE???  I toldja this would be a Wonderful Feature for you to add to Mandelbulb 3D!!!

SEE???
STL? ...not in the near future, of course it would be neat because if i had this transformation, i could use it also in simple openGL for a faster navigator  :)

SSE? already in use, of course SSE2 for double precision, dunno if you meant this

The "SEE?" was just a shortening of "Do you see?" - It probably got lost in translation...

OBJ format would be the most universal, stl format is mostly for 3D Printers - but obj is used by almost all 3D Rendering software out there  (and being a fan of 3D Art, I am always pestering everyone to add obj file export to their software!).

I still think Mandelbulb 3D is a Treasure as it is, and will always be one.  Even it never does any for of 3D file export!

Keep up the good work, and thanks again for such a fine piece of software   O0

Greetings, and Welcome to this particular Forum !!!    :)


Your best bet are QuaSZ (http://www.mysticfractal.com/QuaSZ.html)  and  Chaos Pro.

Though XenoDream is capable of producing 3D meshes, it is not really capable of doing the Mandelbulb, as stated by Garth Thornton himself:

A VRML-Export of the visible surface (from the point of view, resticed to the monitor rectangle) can be done in Gestaltlupe (http://github.com/trafassel/Gestaltlupe). 

I added this export to get an feeling of the 3D structure of the surface of the fractal.

Pressing the Export-Button in the bitmap view of the rendered image starts a export of the 3D Data. Because this export use the same data as the rendering algorithm, the result 3D file is nice if you start with the same viewpoint as the fied of view in the original scene.  If you rotate the 3D object, you see there are lots of "holes", as you see in the following pictures. This holes belongs to the regions, which are not visible from the point of view. If you want to get rid of the holes, you have to combine different 3D exports, generated by different point of views of the same fractal.





 

I've dealt with many odd 3D file formats over the years, but VRML is a new one to me!  I'll have to look it up someplace...

Can it be converted to more useful formats like obj, or other more common types?

I believe Virtual Reality Markup Language came out back in the mid 1990's.  It was something designed to be used for the web, to make vector graphics interactive.  One could create a panoramic landscape view that people could navigate through with their browser.  The files associated with them usually have a *.WRL file extension.
 

Thank you very much for all these reply.

I've heard something about Voxels...
what's this ?
I read that somebody try to convert Mandelbulb results into Voxels via 3D Coat...
???

How ? True ?

Thanks again

Alain

Thanks for the background!  I searched, but it seems all I can find is other people in other forums asking how to convert these files to something useful!

While the format is interesting, it seems quite limited.

I wish I understood what's involved with making an obj file from a fractal...  Then I could be more understanding of people not including the option in software!!

Hi,
for Mandelbulb 3d: create a rendering (a sequence of images) of white slices with black blackground and after that use imageJ; import the sequence into imageJ and use imagej 3d Viewer.
Export surface as WaveFront.
For VRML use Blender, import .wrl and export to .obj.

Thankies!

I'll have to give them a try over the weekend - Blender is a Staple in my 3D Arsenal, but never heard of imagej.  I'll have to see about those 2D slices too...

Yes!  ;D  My first and very crude mandelbulb rendered in Kerkythea.  ;D

Thank you very much for the information about ImageJ...
I try something with this software.

Alain

Hi,
I'm new to the forums so please forgive me for a silly question.
I'd like to make a 3d object as well...to integrate into other programs. I've managed to use some low res slices I found about the place and make a blubby obj mesh using ImageJ (great program!).
Some posters above mentioned using Mandle3d to make the slices, which I'd like to do at a higher res. Is there an automatic way to make these slices.....is there a set of parameters thats needed and the animation function that will create slices without manual work??
Phil

Render an animation of your object in 2D using the Z tool for setting start and end parameters.

Is tehere any new way of exporting  a 3d fractal from MD3D to another software???

This topic is about 3D Meshes, not parameters.  A 3D Mesh gets imported to 3D Modeling / Rendering software like Carrara, Blender, Maya, etc.  

Do you use 3D Software, or are you referring to exporting parameters from MB3D into another Fractal Generator?

I don't think the parameters are compatible, but progress may have been made in that area.

Here's what I mean by a 3D Mesh in a 3D Package like Carrara :

(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/sockratease/cowbulb_zpsbec7bc40.gif)

The Mandelbulb was made into a 3D Model, then imported to the Cow Rendering Program  (in my case, Carrara) for this image.  Other people like using the meshes for 3D Printing or Video Game Making.

But it is (in my opinion!) (and very likely only in my opinion!!) best suited for interaction with cows.

So when you say "exporting a 3d fractal from MB3D to another software" you leave room for ambiguity.  I'm not sure if you want to mix 3D Models with 3D Fractals, as above, or render the same parameters in another program.

I've just embarked on a journey into the possibilities of using fractals in my everyday animations in Maya and Cinema 4D.    I work in the VFX industry and find it really sad that there is no effort to get these meshes out of these amazing fractal generating pieces of software into the wider world of the 3D modelling and animation.

I wonder if it's in large part because once these gorgeous easily generated shapes become 'mainstream' it will make them so widely available as objects that they will become diminished somehow.

Anyway,  I'm putting it out there that someone into coding and development must surely find the impetuous to get the 'export to OBJ' function inbuilt into these programs!

(voxel image stacks are not good enough and produce awful quality meshes).

I shall now get down off my soap box...

Thanks!
Luke.

See the tutorials they are sticky in this section. You of course can get an obj file, just not directly from the software.

Else... well a single fractal object "mesh" or obj would occupy thousands of gigabytes... to be rendered in a decent quality :D

What would be needed is a Plug-In for every 3D Program one wants to do these things in.  The main reason we can't "get these meshes out of these amazing fractal generating pieces of software into the wider world of the 3D modelling and animation" is that there is no mesh to speak of.  In 3D Terms it's more akin to a Volumetric Cloud than any 3D Model at all.  Consider asking to export an obj file from a volumetric cloud in Bryce (or any other equivalent software).  It's just not a thing which can be done easily or with anywhere near the quality of the original.  As you know, one cannot even export volumetric clouds and similar things from Maya to Cinema 4D or Bryce, Carrara, Max, or any other 3D Program.  They are considered Native to each program and it's just the way it is...

And even if the Plug-In were somehow written, it would remain a meshless part of the process, so no real Physics could happen, and UV Mapping would never happen easily.

Think of these things more as very dense "Point Clouds" than actual objects.

The Mandelbulb assaulting the Cow above is about the best we can do until computers get a generation or 3 better   O0

That said, it is possible to get a decent mesh from a voxel stack, it will be a couple gigabytes and choke most software, but it can be done!

I'm sorry to just now notice this - but I forgot to mention the many fractal programs with this feature already implemented!

Just not so many for Mandelbulbs.  But try ChaosPro, Xenodream, Incendia, JWildfire, Any of the MysticFrcatal programs, or possibly even things like K3DSurf.

There are trade-offs involved in all of them like fractal types vs mesh quality and free vs paid functionality - but the feature is out there and quite common.  Just not so for the Mandelbulb due to it's nature and not due to any conspiracy to keep these things from anybody   O0