Fractal analyser

[henk]

hi,
a few days ago i saw a documentation on youtube where a fractal analyser was shown:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/AjdogjBxfco&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/AjdogjBxfco&rel=1&fs=1&hd=1</a>
at 4:20

does anybody know how this works and how this could be implementated?

if you know a programm working like this would help me also a lot.
thanks

[Madman]

Hi Henk,

I think it was Michael Barnsley who invented fractal image compression. I don't think his company exists anymore, but I believe there are still one or two companies left that market a fractal (de)compression tool. Just google fractal compression and you'll get enough hits to take it from there

[hobold]

Despite the enthusiasm initially caused by the idea of fractal image compression, the method unfortunately did not live up to expectations. On the other hand, no-one could generally falsify the idea. So in a way the question is still open, and fractal image compression continues to live on as a tantalizing concept.

The insignificant opinion of this one poster here is that fractal image compression is sort of an overspecialization on one single image type: all those pictures with detail on all scales. For those it works very well. But line art, or flat smooth gradients, or very noisy (i.e. chaotic, non-fractal noise) images, just don't fit the fractal model.