monologe on free transform fractals

[matty686]

in this post I  will discuss the creation of free transform fractals, how they are relevant to the fractal community, why they are fractals, how to build them with only open source software, i will also deeply discuss the theory behind them  (please note I am not a mathematician  but I will do my best to follow geometry conventions)   

[matty686]

A free transform fractal is a fractal created by manual iteration on a graphics program like inkscape, photoshop, illustrator ...ect.
The idea works like this, let's say we have a image, now we will copy that image modify it and attach it to the original image,
now we do it again.   OK than  we  copy the entire collage of images and attach at various points.

see images for example

please note, some creativity was used in the placement of the copies that is the fun part.

These collage fractals can get very big, and if done right very symmetrical (i will get into symmetry later)    

    

[matty686]

while on the web I came across a fractal type called collage theorem

for some information on it check this link out
http://scimath.unl.edu/MIM/files/MATExamFiles/Snyder_MAT_Exam_ExpositoryPaper.pdf

this idea influenced my art (mostly by looking at the pictures because as i told you I am by no means a mathematician)

    

[matty686]

during my first year as an artist I used photoshop (at the time i did not know about the conspiricy of d.r.m.  http://www.defectivebydesign.org/  )

but any i learned a lot from the the website hear  http://podcollective.com/fora/viewtopic.php?t=579

this website was my inspiration and the fractals i make are a heavily modified version of this idea

[matty686]

I later learned by combining the power of inkcape  and gimp I could make a program better than photoshop 

this is easy to do in inkscape  there is an extension to extract or embed images so you can edit them externaly

please note after editing an extracted image you must embed it or else wen you edit it again it will affect the entire fractal not just the tile you are editing   

[matty686]

while making a fractal collage your images should be in bitmap form  fractals of large size should be built in modules each module should be converted to a bitmap this greatly reduces memory usage for instance a fractal is first  built when it gets big it is rasterized  the raster image is far less memory heavy on inkscape you should use the page size to limit the size and scale anything to to fit within this before rasterizing  if you do this inkscape won't hang  i set inkscape to rasterize at 200 dpi  i suggest you do this to

to recap workflow is like this

build fractal
rasterize
use that as next iteration
rasterize
use that as next iteration

[matty686]

you can reuse part's by saving them as bitmaps to import (fractal seeds)

when aiming for symmetry this becomes ever more important due to the fact that reflecting a single tile requires moving all tiles so the image is oriented for the reflection

see example below   

[matty686]

even with all these wonderful tool your fractals most likely wont be perfectly symmetrical that is why you should build them in modules so you can use gimp to cut them in half and delete one half   than duplicate the half that is left with inscape  

note the symmetry in the bottom image

[matty686]

during your work you may need to cut blur or do other things to tiles

to do this you must have gimp installed and have it set as inkscapes default image editor

during this demo i am going to cut a tessellation slot in my fractal

first i will select it in inkscape than i will go to the extentions menu/images/ extract or embed

i will hit extract just hit ok to all the directory diarrhea (lol) it's just a swap file you don't really need to know where it is (it's in your home folder)

after extracting  the image select it right click on it you should see a new option there (edit externally) click this it should open the image in gimp were you can preform bitmap operations on it after editing the image save it in gimp and exit gimp the image should now update

ok your almost done now go back to the menue  extensions/images/extract or embed this time hit embed and   just hit ok to all the directory diarrhea
good if you did that your image is now back inside inkscape

see image below

[matty686]

I love feedback just don't be mean of post anything negative i will be happy to go over anything again or give people links or examples and answer questions the best I can one thing though don't like tell me they aren't fractals there a form of natural fractal made by people I put my heart into these things

[Sockratease]

Great Stuff here!

I hope you don't mind me moving it to a more appropriate home   

[matty686]

i don't mind as long as people see it thanks by the way

[M Benesi]

In addition to gimp, there is paint.net (freeware) for windows users.

  It has loads of plugins, some of which would be very useful for your free transform fractals.  The various mirroring/distortion/duplication plugins allow one to do similar things to what you've posted above.

[Thunderwave]

Thank you so much for this and your link: http://podcollective.com/fora/viewtopic.php?t=579!
I created this.  For so much more fun I will now make a series of these. YEAH!  Cheers.
 

[Nahee_Enterprises]

   in this post I  will discuss the creation of free transform fractals,
    how they are relevant to the fractal community,
    why they are fractals,
    how to build them with only open source software....

I appreciate "artwork" that has self-similar and repeating patterns, and there are many examples all through history (several have been referenced in various topics of this Forum).

Though I understand the basics of what you are doing, and the references you have given, I am not sure as to whether I would consider the process as being truly fractal in the strictest and/or mathematical definition.

It probably would have helped others in reading your "monologue" to have included punctuation.  I found it difficult at times to know where a sentence stopped and another began.  Or when a phrase should have been separated from the rest of the sentence with commas.  (The misspelled words I was able to get around and understand your intention.)    

   I love feedback just don't be mean of post anything negative i will be
    happy to go over anything again or give people links or examples and
    answer questions the best I can one thing though don't like tell me
    they aren't fractals there a form of natural fractal made by people I put
    my heart into these things

I am very blunt in my responses.  You can take it as being mean or negative if you so desire to categorize them as such.  But this is not a social network where people should come looking for pats on the back and nothing but praise (try the UF-List, Renderosity, or other such places for that).

And I surely hope you did not intend to be telling me what I should or should not say to you or anybody else!!!