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Hi,

I started dabbling with graphics equations in the mid 80s on my Apple computer. The programs were not fractal generators, but interesting. At the time, I had not heard of fractals. I gave it up after awhile, but I never really lost interest. 

In January of this year, I typed these old programs into my son's Turing software and ran them just for run. A lot has changed in 20 years!

I starting reading some of Pickover's books on mathematics and dabbled with some of the programs included in them. (I program computers for a living.) The references to fractals peaked my interest. I had seen pictures of the famous Mandelbrot set and I wondered how they were generated. I had a heck of a time finding source code on the internet that I could rewrite into Turing's syntax, but I managed to do it.

Since then, I have been somewhat obsessed. I've spent hundreds of hours this year programming different approaches to the basic algorithm. I thought this little diversion of mine would be rather eclectic. Wrong! I am truly amazed at the depth of work that has been done by artists the world over. The images I have seen are simply beautiful.

I wanted to upload one of my images, but the 256kb limit is too tight. The smallest image is 1000. The images I have created, as interesting as they are, don't compare to the wonderful art I have seen. I hope that they are at least unique, although I have seen hints of the same algorithms in other art work. The following is a brief description of the approaches I took that I thought might be unique (but are probably as old as the hills).

Plot colors on the grid based on the number of times the coordinate is calculated during the iteration loop.

Plot the color by a ratio of the distance from the 0,0 point to the distance travelled around the grid during the iteration loop.

I dabbled with using 3D coordinates.

I got interested in what happens inside the Mandelbrot set. Very little work has been done in this area. I know of only three math papers on the topic. I read one of them, but not being a mathematician, it was rather hard going.

The potential images that can be generated by fractal programs seems infinite. It is really fascinating on many levels. A mild diversion has seemed to have quickly evolved into a hobby.

Thanks,

KS

PNL,

Thanks. I'm sure to have a few specific questions that might best be answered by a program code example. I will gladly let you know.

After I posted my introduction, I read through the forum and found the reference to how and where to upload images. Will do.

KS