Mandel Machine, Mandelbrot set
The overall shape was made by using the same technique as in
Trees Revisited. It gives a kind of self-similarity that I like a lot. Notice that the "tree" in the center also appears all around itself. The accuracy of that effect is only limited by the depth and render time I could reasonably accept. The render took more than a month (including glitch correction) because of heavy shape-stacking.
There are 3 layers of stacked shapes here. It is the first time I have applied 3 layers in a "deep" zoom so that makes it something special, at least for me personally. The first layer is what the trees are filled with: curly morphings that started with an elephant julia set originally. The second layer allows the trees to have clear boundaries and the third is the boundary of the main shape itself. Maybe you can see that the first two layers have the same shape. The first layer has a lot less contrast than the second which is something that happens in general. It makes it hard to find applications of 3 or more layers. Making the last layer look good can easily make the first layer almost invisible. A lot of shape-stacking AND depth also drives the render time up like crazy which is why I have never done this before.
It is simply because of how shape-stacking works. One way to do it is this: If you have an idea for a zoom, you can first go to a minibrot, think of it as being the Mandelbrot set itself and perform the planned zoom from there. That's it. The shapes resulting from the zoom into the minibrot are then filled with patterns that were seen before the minibrot. By choosing a minibrot the stacked pattern can be influenced. The recurring patterns are the iteration bands of the minibrot. The number of iterations required normally is therefore multiplied by the (max) difference in iterations inside the pattern - the "iteration count" of the minibrot - called the period. You can think of it as composing two zoom paths, one to the minibrot and then another one (to, say, a deeper minibrot). The period of the composition is the product of the periods. That's why it's so hard to do shape-stacking at great depths and it's the reason deep zoom videos never continue after reaching a deep minibrot. It's just too computationally intensive.
Shape-stacking can be done because minibrots have exactly the same features as the whole Mandelbrot set. It's one of the things I love about the Mandelbrot set. Once you find a minibrot, you can, at least theoretically, start all over again.
Magnification:
2^3216.392
1.7000817826179882903331171189311 E968
Coordinates:
Re = -1.749365089130713355136630080718347789559672431892481991549752887987257790534288948852686176092823166880490367584365537241402861301051987572756134885766638315030733184102356683745567733704732242336955716689374220053239462271783286969695153138595960968290613096949326592408278551176423296957665693781278222135957297409064817652373422135574657112969716927947485486819016815962443472752011902737416089338071774841485991253273631345957163307488029852241047470109385772255147111632339006553554769628100546684622495780340381355203792634585520532761334503955692314908107291929614735326860054327591263812484743920329421708025534820190742048371429639420053196044998160293387459457173088444684708887203035147442894047082313460968372046848337015731658271372561131887628465964557653463317650999148237981158362626539221835897659252524262512209501785961590731030815348889046456268071858340927774884222761306721255869200087387892697348047269984941762337148007330658012362815577473768915429790
Im = 0.000000749338763025441077635067897843290324328364823725106652774163469955659130000553036152692348499586259211773488938327142632275497110083700087625810153356917154351213845759552072775573138870307623452220908006924373386358851662101475560714902845049069557710671495531000214771157708102117014124261161460873019872562499024280227792829384747412179007566059304454037672086576578431671511987764318814190590560786798393590730745886310081445382254877137292162499001064519808832805042668998490623157561409593714128196422705485718006062939517024762567595955043641585945566334004032551810905620950364643187700183288907723485916230573975063135198454571171623145315843288678780241131693068481538731006056464310869184858150811508962009441974266124120904462670554045286020287151700359927450985717710570585083311930785250338126621250447636233137838208798719630214780937239875875238050692819292432690046739868306452339999403349451922613923505714140121592722817731635276657757981771752651230