i must be among some cool people if they like fractals as much as i do.  i played with them back in the 80s as i programmed a 386 to draw the mandelbrot...nothing like getting a coprocessor to be a happy camper! then fractint came in and i sadly lost all desire to pound my head programming and just used the great tool they have to explore.  but unfortunately, i lost two of my favorite permutations i created...1st was one that brought two mandelbrots together - as the offset between them decreased, the image grew more and more complex, and you could see effects between them...warping and such, but still the essential mandelbrot emerged.  pretty cool in relation to how to living things might relate.

second program created an arbitrary 3rd dimension and math, and the result ended up being true 3d landscapes that looked like islands, complete with beaches and mountains. 

wish i could play more with this, but if anyone else has the head for programming, let me guide you in how i did it and maybe we can go exploring again!

all best
John

Welcome to the forums John!

Glad to see people bumping into each other again!