Real life fractal animation in the wok! Jupiter storms alike

[Dinkydau]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/04Zh5KG5qR8&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/04Zh5KG5qR8&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1</a>

This effect is a combination of oil and soap which shows very well how the water flows in the pan. It looks very similar to a fractal animation with waves and gnarls.

[slon_ru]

Way! Photorealistic! 

[Apophyster]

I found a video from 1969 that shows the oil on water projection I mentioned to you at YouTube.
I couldn't seem to comment on your yt video page though.
Anyway...
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TW733Ut5zE0&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/TW733Ut5zE0&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1</a>

I kind of wonder if the advanced math people here could work out some algorithm to imitate the effect.
It would take a lot of physics-type math involving viscosity, probably, and the pressure of the petri dish on the water surface, maybe the friction between water and oil, and I don't know what else.

It's too bad the technique was overwhelmed by lasers and other lighting effects.
The main problem at the time was that the oil would slowly break up and dissolve into the water and the coloring would lose it's distinct outlines.  Probably there are better materials that could be used today than the oil and water used over 40 years ago.
Fred

[cKleinhuis]

ehrm, what is causing the deformations in the oil film ?! it moves great, is it electrically trigerred !?!??!

[Apophyster]

I assume the question about deformations is about the '69 lightshow clip.
It's a very authentic piece of film.  I haven't seen anything like it for about 40 years.

And... it was a very mechanical process actually.  The only electricity involved was what it took to power the overhead projector.
It would be an overhead projector something like this:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-q-0fnNAE8Jw/T1ky-LAmGMI/AAAAAAAABkM/-CGJvCQhZnE/s1600/Desktop_Overhead_Projector.jpg
(I borrowed that image from a search, it's not my blog.)

On the body, where usually people write stuff to project, the lightshow people would have a large, kind of shallow bowl filled with water, and on top of that, colored oil.
Then they moved a large petri dish over the surface of the water... manually.
The curved bottom of the dish would force the oil to the sides - oil floats on water so it sought the highest level in the water - as far from the bottom of the petri dish as possible.
Sometimes the operators would move the dishes in circular motion, sometimes up and down.
Usually the operators would do their best to synchronize with the music. 
In fact, since it was all done manually, that part of the lightshow was very synchronized with the music. 
There were other effects that weren't so synchronized, like 16 mm films and newsreels and also still images projected with slide projectors.

IMHO, the oil on water effect seen in the lightshows had a profound influence on the concert poster art of the time. 
Look at just about any of these and I think you may agree:
http://www.olsenart.com/fillava.html
(Sorry, I'm not affiliated with the site, but it's hard to find those old posters anywhere besides sites that are selling them.)

I wouldn't say the old poster art is necessarily fractal, but they were surely the most intense graphics I remember seeing that long ago.

Fred