Fuchsia WIP

Here's another one with some interesting potential. Check out these flowers with a hummingbird checking them out.

More on Ultrafractal 5

I still haven't spent enough time on it, but every time that I do use it I like it more and more.

I think that the class doohickeys and image import capabilities sort of distract from the powerful new features of global modifications of common parameters in multiple layers and layer grouping.

For example, the bird in this image consists of three layers. I had to play around with the Julia seeds and trap location parameters to get the birds located in a decent location and orientation. The old way would have been to change a parameter in one layer and then copy and paste into the other two. That's a PITA. The new way is to select multiple layers with a control-click and modify the parameter with the explore window. Only one layer appears in the explore window, but the common parameters in the other selected layers are changed along with it. That's more efficient.

I had to remove some birds around edges. To do that I like to use layer masking. The old way would have required 3 identical layer masks applied to each layer. The new way is to group the 3 layers together and then apply a single mask to the group.

UF 5 is good stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to do more with it when I don't have so many other priorities.

Hummingbird WIP

This has potential. The original image came from here

Dahlia 3

Playing with the image import functionality in Ultrafractal 5. This is the same flower that was used for the images in this blog

Fractal Art

This is the time of year that I think about submitting fractal art to one of the big fairs in my area. I am not going to do it this year. My fractal flame has dimmed a lot, but I still like to reflect back on past experience with that fair. Here are some random thoughts about it.

It's a pretty big art show. I don't remember the exact number, but I think that last year there was around around 600 entries accepted. It does not include a photography category but it does have oil, sculpting, watercolor and several others, including computer art. Again, I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I think that the computer art category had around 30 entries, so it was about 5% of the total show. Out of the 30, there might have been 2 or 3 fractal based pieces, so let's say that fractal art comprised of less than 1% of the entire show.

I have told this story before, but I think it is worth repeating... I'll never forget the time that I had a fractal based print in that show. I was standing next to it when a couple approached it. The first thing that the man said was, "that's just Photoshop". He was a pen and ink artist and it was obvious to me that he didn't have a lot of respect for "computer art". I had heard about that computer-did-all-of-the-work attitude before and that day I saw it face to face.

Let's face it, when it comes to fractal art, the computer does do a lot of the work. I wonder what impact that has on fractal art being accepted as legitimate art? I am thinking, probably not as much impact as that less than 1% number. Out of 600 accepted entries, only 2 or 3 were fractal based.

What is fractal art anyway? I don't know. I don't think that there is a clear definition. I also don't care. I am content with a computer category. At least there is one of those. Besides, with only 2 or 3 entries per year it would not make sense to create a separate category for fractal art.

Fractal art is a tiny spec on that world of art. It practically doesn't exist. It seems like there are thousands of fractals posted every day on the community sites, so how can I say that fractal art practically does not exist? I am looking at it based on my (limited) experience in context with traditional art.

I still believe that the best thing that anyone can do to promote the art of fractals is to get it printed and out there where it can be seen sitting next to traditional art. I still do not believe that the Internet is the best way to promote it. The community site are especially ineffective at promotion, at least outside of the community.

Last year I noticed a fractal in the judges section of the gallery. It was just a simple black and white Mandelbrot. At least that judge knew what a fractal was, but I think that he is an exception. Most people do not know what a fractal is . Even those of us in the middle of it cannot put a definition on "fractal art".

I'm OK with that. It's wide open. We can define fractal art as we go along. The people who do print and promote their own art have little to no competition. Take advantage of it.

Ultrafractal 5 - a little overwhelming

I bought the animation edition of UF 5 and I have spent a couple of hours trying understand the new object oriented formulas. They are a new way of thinking that is going to take some getting used to. There are many combinations and I find that I am second guessing myself all the time, wondering if I am using the classes in the way that they are intended to be used. They sort of remind me of Toby's monster coloring formulas. With so many parameters, it takes a while to find a combination that works.

I am getting the impression from the formula writers that the idea is to do a lot of exploration and try all sorts of combinations. This could open up things that have never been seen before.

My biggest complaint is that the pull down menus have been replaced by classes. For example, with trap shapes I like to scroll through a long pull down menu by highlighting it and then using the up or down arrow keys to find what I like. It takes a couple of mouse clicks to pick an object oriented trap shape.

Obviously there is a trade off between new possibilities and the old way of doing things and I don't have the experience to make a good judgement on that trade off. Overall though, I am excited about the new possibilities.

I have played some with the image importing capabilities. I'll write something on that later.