Welcome to Fractal Forums

(http://www.pbase.com/duncanc/image/131276656/original.jpg)

The original fractal is a Mandelbrot set rendered as height field using DE data for the height value. (Actually, the adjusted log of the DE data.) The height map was rendered as a 3D shape in OpenGL with diffuse directional, specular, and ambient (non directional) lighting.

It's colored using a color scheme that uses the histogram of the iteration distribution to linearize the color change and make the areas "closest to the set" look less visually cluttered. The iteration-based colors were then interpolated using the fractional iteration value.

Once I had a 3D image, I increased the contrast, turned it into a Kaleidoscope using a Photoshop action, reduced it by 50%, and applied sharpening. The reduction followed by sharpening gives a very smooth, anti-aliased look. (I really need to break down and code oversampling in my app.)

I also converted the same image to a chirstmas ornament:


(http://www.pbase.com/duncanc/image/131291142/original.jpg)

What 3D software did you use to map the image to a sphere? 

(http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/4/3010_22_12_10_10_19_01.png)

I use Ray Dream Studio from time to time (even though it's old as dirt) and it allows you to copy parameters from one shader property to another.  I saw your ornament, and I thought it would be cool to copy the color property (the image map) to the bump property to preserve the surface textured look of the original 2D image.  Hope you don't mind.

The Rev

Rev,

I cheated and did that in Photoshop, to the 2D image output. That's why it looks flat. I could probably fix my app to map my images onto a sphere if I thought about it hard enough.

The image that's mapped onto the sphere is a kaleidoscope image that was created in Photoshop using the 2D image output, so the spherical-looking ornament is at a pretty far remove from the original 3D image.

I've wanted to create an in-app kaleidoscope feature that would create a real 3D kaleidoscope by slicing and dicing the 3D object. The lighting would be much better if I did that, since the apparent light source would be consistent, where my photoshop-based kaleidoscopes have apparent light sources that are all a mess. The problem, of course, is finding the time to do it.

On the other hand, my company has decided to release the app commercially in the soon-to-be-launched Mac app store, so now it may actually make enough money to justify investing some more time on it. So far it's just been a labor of love, and I've invested FAR, FAR too many hours (Months? Years? Probably full work years at this point) in it. In getting it ready for release, I discovered that the help document that I've been shipping with the free version was 33 pages long!


Duncan

Right on!  If I had a mac, I'd buy a copy.  Either way, tho, I wish you luck and great success with your work.  It's always really great when something brings success, especially after one puts a great deal of care, love, and hard hard work into it. :D

The Rev

Rev,

Thanks for the encouragement.

We'll see if it sells.


Duncan