Welcome to Fractal Forums

Fractalforums has had a marvelous impact on me and my life. It has helped me to rekindle my love of Mathematics, and to do something about rescuing it from cultural alienation.

I have had a hell of a ride! :surf: And it ain't over yet!        

I have found the forum so inspiring because of the art, the friendliness and the cross section and flow of ideas.

What is your response?

it has changed my life because i am administering it :D

no, the best thing are the recent triplex fractals, whcih also blowed my mind, also because of its simplicity, i am just an observer right now, but i never expected it to flourish this way, and the people are still trying new things, and the art is really going into finer and finer directions !

regards

From just 2 years ago when I stumbled upon this forum to ask if anybody had seen a fractal I had (re-)invented (http://www.fractalforums.com/meet-and-greet/have-you-seen-this-fractal/) to now where I am in the FF staff and doing my first fractal exhibition this week, I can definitely say FF has changed my life  :D

Yes cj and you do a great job of holding it all together!

I have found so many inspiring things in the Gallery it makes me say " Whoah! Don't mess with me, man! I 've seen stuff!.." :nastyteeth:

Are you kidding?  O0

Life will never be the same...   O0 O0 O0 O0
This forum has made it possible to explore new 3D worlds, an occupation that have been obsolete for a hundred years or so.
And until we get a chance to travel in space, this is as close as we get (space might be boring compared to the worlds we will find in fractal universe ;) )

I have said it before but:
Cred to this forum and the friendly environment here, where artists are as welcome as mathematicians and programmers...
...that is fractalforums 4 me!

I also love to read the theoretic threads, most of the time I get half of it, but I learn all the time... That is just a bonus :)

Johan

I know what you mean, Kraftwerk. There is a fabulous scene in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner where the synthetic human programmed to a deterministic life span recounts all the wonders he ha seen in his tour of outer space, just to mark the futility of his life cut so cruelly short! I feel like  Rutger Hauer expresses some times. When i do i can find an inspiring fractal scape here on the Forum.

Gives life spice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOphFl88U-g

I said "maybe" because I'm not sure of the magnitude of "life changing experience" we're talking about.  I have certainly found an artistic medium in fractals that I feel is perfect for me.  And I have been honored to make friends with, and be a part of a community, that is truly the vanguard of this artform (we have some truly amazing designers, artists, and mathematicians here).

I wouldn't put the experience on the level of a spiritual revelation or anything, but I'm certainly overjoyed to have found this place.

The Rev

Yes, it has changed my life - it introduced me to 3D fractals and has subsequently made me addicted to exploring them using Jesse's fantastic program. This subsequently enouraged me to buy a more powerfull PC to render the fractals quicker which has left me bloody broke, so thanks again Jesse ;-)

This forum is also a site I now visit daily checking out folks amazing 'discoveries' and creations, therefore wasting work-time as well as home-play-time..

All in all, yes!

Life Changing? No...War, Disease, Marriage, Divorce, Kids, those are Life Changing

Art Changing? Absolutely

I was a Fractal buff for years now I'm a Fractal Fanatic

Really cool responses!

In todays world of alternatives at least in the west, spiritual experiences seem to be a varied bunch!

I had no definition of magnitude in mind, Rev, just an appreciation of its impact.

I certainly know that i can think more clearly and experience more deeply because i accept fractals and a fractal paradigm. But the Board itself crystallised that all for me, and has given me the opportunity to be fractal!

my everyday life is "sensitive to initial conditions". ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory )
When i read fractalforums, my day is different.

My life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal ) :
* It has a fine structure at arbitrarily small scales. (days (see above))
* It is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language.
* It is self-similar (at least approximately or stochastically).
* It has a Hausdorff dimension which is greater than its topological dimension (although this requirement is not met by space-filling curves such as the Hilbert curve). (or does it ?)
* It has a simple and recursive definition.

So, yes. it change my life when i read it.
it change my life when i don't read it.
it change my life when i'm explaining how fractalforums changed my life.
it change my life when i write that it change my life when i'm explaining how fractalforums changed my life and will change it again in the future.
it changed my life when i explained that it change my life when i write that it change my life when i'm explaining how fractalforums changed my life and will change it again in the future.
it changed my life when i wrote the previous sentence.
it changed my life when i wrote the previous sentence.
...
Woops !

(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tabletop_roleplaying.png)

In all due respect.. The question sounds like a brainwashing cult is asking for your "testimony"  Mormon  church does it too!  Many things change add to our lives.  But for those who think FF is a major player?  Well they may want to think about getting a life. (just saying)

 ;D ;D

I seem to remember I had a life before discovering FF. No idea where it went though :dink:

That's a bit of BS of course, but I do find myself (too?) much on this forums since I became a member. On the other hand, that may be related to the fact that I need something to do while M3D is busy benchmarking the cooling fans of my CPU... And the fact that the respect and friendliness on this forum has no equal on the internet... And the fact that it's winter, so I don't need to strap on these 20 meter wings to my back ;D

So has it changed my life? More or less, although I would say that M3D changed it more. Would I be lost without FF? probably not. Would I be lost without M3D? Well... I quit smoking, so I can probably quit M3D...  :verysurprised: :verysurprised: :verysurprised:

Silly girl!  Don't you know that if you don't wash your brain every once in a while, you'll get a Dirty Mind!  :devil:


Well, given even that definition, I can safely say Yes.

Fractal Forums has, indeed, changed my life!

Ya see, back in 2006 I got a job working on a website for a model.  She wanted something really colorful and flashy for a banner ad, and I was looking around for stock art I could get for free that would fit the bill.

I kept seeing Fractal Art, but none of it was specifically listed as Royalty Free and OK to use Commercially.

So I looked into getting a fractal generator, and wound up with Chaospro - doing something very much like this for the ad:

(http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/fractalissa.jpg)

She liked it, and I kept trying to find new ways to make content for her site using my new toys.

Then I found this site, and Christian's program Mutatorkammer!  I started showing Lissa "Fractalled" images of her as ideas for banner ads.  That got me animating Lissa's images in silly ways just for fun, but She liked them and some made it to the site.  They even got just as much reaction as some of the more ...  Naughty images!

Yes, I did all the other things a webmaster does for such sites (maintenance, video editing, and design work - plus whatever else came up) but it did start with Fractal Art and banner ads.

So by helping me get Work I can safely say that this site changed my life.  I even got 2 Paying Jobs from being here; One sequence for an independent movie, and one advertising piece.  And always looking for others.

But there's more...

Lissa and I got rather close while I was working for her, as some of you may know.  In fact, we are getting Married in the Springtime!  

While I can't say that this forum and the help I got here blending fractals and images was a huge part of all that, it certainly played a role in it.  And anything even remotely connected to my getting close to Lissa counts as Life Changing!

Congrats Sock! Will we all be invited for the wedding???  :D :D :D

Why not?

Still not sure if it's gonna be in New Jersey, Wisconsin, or Florida - but if anybody really wants to go, I'll let you know where and when it's going to be!

Well yes, but not as much as it might have because I was already a fractaholic :)

In my case the first life-changing event/discovery was programming when I was first introduced to BASIC courtesy of a subsidiary course when doing a Chemistry degree in around 1983 (never completed as it prompted me to switch to programming immediately).
The second life-changing event was in April 1999 when I had some spare time and downloaded Fractint (having heard of fractals but with no real knowledge of them).

Of course the third event was courtesy of ff - it was when I rendered the first detailed view of Daniel White's (and Paul Nylander's) 3D fractal showing that the bulbs had bulbs had bulbs.... (later to be called the Mandelbulb).
Things continue from there obviously - with the introduction by members of ff of the Mandelbox and KIFS plus all the potential hybrids (an ongoing voyage of discovery that I'm hoping will actually accelerate).

Am just finishing an important project at "real" work (i.e. one that may actually earn some hard cash) so I hope soon to be able to get back to spending more time on fractals (initially mainly fractal programming, fractal art is gong to have to wait a while).

i think i know where you are coming from bent winged angel. I did actually give it some thought before i posted the topic. For some people this would be a private matter and deeply personal, i thought; but that is catered for because they do not have to respond.
Others would see this as promoting the board; and that is ok cos the board has much to promote!

I think the quality of the responses show that nobody here is more brainwashed than anybody else in the world, nor more cultish or cliquish or nerdish or anorakish, or sad or ....  whatever, than anyone else.

FF is a major player in some peoples personal life, including my own. It may be in some who have not decided and it definitely is not in some others.  I thought that was a fair set of distinctions, but it seems i can add another if you would like.

You remind me of my wife, BWA  :embarrass: er, just saying!

You remind me of my wife, BWA   er, just saying!

IMPOSSIBLE!  ONCE THAT EGG CRACKED OPEN?????

I also resent that being the UNIQUE CHICKY THAT I AM!  :D :dink:

 ;D

You are so right! My apologies o both of you! :dink: