OpenGL Mandelbulb implementation

[Dmitry Brant]

I was very impressed with the recent discovery of the closest-yet analog to a 3D Mandelbrot! So much so, that it prompted me to write an implementation myself.

For anyone interested, I've implemented a quick and dirty OpenGL renderer of the beast, so that it could be easily observed in 3D:

http://dmitrybrant.com/2009/11/18/mandelbulb

It doesn't (yet) do anything fancy; it just builds a "cloud" of points that approximates the edge of the fractal shape. It uses the naive trig formulas to do the calculations, so the accumulation of points is slow, but the points can be manipulated in 3D in real time while they continue to accumulate.

Let me know if you guys have any suggestions!
(Windows only (sorry))

[cKleinhuis]

hello,

great, a toy to play with ...   

[lycium]

hi dmitri, welcome to the forums; i wanted to post on your page but somehow i couldn't use my google id to post? much respect for the cool infos posted there!

i tried your program, it's interesting to play with but the controls are kinda unintuitively labeled; i think a short video explaining their use would allow users to more quickly get to grips with it

[Dranorter]

This is beautiful, thank you! I like the screenshots you have, too- they show some variation in shape I'd not seen elsewhere. I haven't gotten the hang of the controls yet either.

Why does the program re-render all points on a zoom?

[Dinkydau]

Fun app!