; Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 10:01:34 -0400 ; From: Jim Muth ; Subject: [Fractint] FOTD 25-10-04 (The Big X [4]) ; Id: <1.5.4.16.20041025100245.0d5711ea@pop.mindspring.com> ; --------- ; ; FOTD -- October 25, 2004 (Rating 4) ; ; Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: ; ; I almost gave up on the next formula in line, the julia(fn||fn) ; formula, a formula that uses the value of mod(Zn) to determine ; which function to apply to Zn+1. I spent nearly an hour trying ; different functions and different shift values, mostly getting ; nowhere. I found that when both functions are set to 'sqr', the ; well-known Z^2+C Julia sets result. It became immediately appar- ; ent that there could be no interesting function shifts when the ; two functions are identical. ; ; I kept trying different functions until I stumbled upon the ; 'recip-cos' combination while the shift value was set to 1 and ; the C parameter was set to 0.28, a point in East Valley of the ; Mandelbrot set. The resulting image was not great, but at least ; it was a fractal, so I searched it until I found a scene that ; barely makes the status of FOTD. That scene is today's image. ; ; I named the image "The Big X". When I chose the name, I might ; have been thinking of the movie 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad ; World', where everyone was running around, looking for money ; buried under a mysterious 'big W'. The name is not totally un- ; justified. Some of the feathery elements actually do form a ; kind of big X on the right side of the image. ; ; I could rate the result at only a humble 4. The lowly rating ; is not the fault of the formula, which certainly has much more ; potential than I was able to find in it during the 3/4-hour or ; so that I worked with it. It is a complex formula that takes ; time to become familiar with. In fact, I am so certain that I ; have done the formula an injustice that I will use it again as ; the source of tomorrow's FOTD. ; ; Perhaps the best feature of the image is its very brief render ; time of 1-1/2 minutes, which combines with the rating of 4 to ; give an overall worth of 266 -- not such a bad value. And the ; minor task of rendering the image can be dispensed with entirely ; by downloading the finished GIF image from the FOTD web site at: ; ; ; ; Off and on rain kept things wet and the fractal cats sullen here ; at Fractal Central on Sunday. The high temperature of 50F 10C ; helped not a bit. A generous treat of tuna and turkey was ; needed to make Thomas stop staring me in the eye blaming me for ; his bad day. Tippy merely hunkered down for a good sulk until ; the tuna and turkey appeared. This morning is starting cloudy ; and chilly, but dry. I have hopes for a better day among the ; cats. ; ; The fractals keep coming, and the next one, the second to be ; created by today's julia(fn||fn) formula, will appear at this ; same spot in 24 hours. It almost certainly will be a better ; one. Until that wonderful moment arrives, take care, and ; fractals not only spring eternal, they winter, summer and fall ; eternal as well. ; ; ; Jim Muth ; jamth@mindspring.com ; jimmuth@aol.com ; ; ; START PARAMETER FILE======================================= The_Big_X { ; time=0:01:30.36--SF5 on a P200 reset=2003 type=julia(fn||fn) function=recip/cos passes=1 center-mag=-0.19876011638408430/+1.733781\ 852621153/38720.9/1/-60/3.05664410449324464e-010 params=0.28/0/1 float=y maxiter=1200 bailout=6400 inside=0 logmap=36 symmetry=none periodicity=10 colors=000YGK_IKaKKcMKeOKgQKiRKlSKoTKrUKuVKxWKzXKz\ dKzlKzrKzqKzoKzmKzkKziKzgKyeKxcUwacv`muZwtXzsVzrTz\ qRzpPzoNznLzmKzkNziQzgSzfVzdXzb_z`az_dzYfzWizVkzae\ zh_zoUzvOzzJzwLzrMzmOziPzdQz_SzVTzRUzMWzHXzDYzGZzJ\ ZzMZzP_zS_zV_zX`z_`zb`zeazhazkazmbzpbzsbzvczyczzcz\ zczzazz`zyZzwYzvWztVzrTzqSzoQznPzlNzjMziKzgJzfIzdI\ zbIz`IzZIzaLzcNzfPzhRzgSzgTzgUzgVzgWzgXzfYzfZzfZzf\ _zf`zfazebzeczedzeezefzefzfezgezhdzidzjczkczlbzmbz\ nbzoazpazq`zr`zs_zt_zuZzvZzwZzsWzoTzkQzgNzcKzePzgU\ ziZzkdzmdzndzpdzrdztdzvdzwdztdzqdzodzldzidzgdzddzb\ dz_dzXdzVdzSdzPdzNdzKdzIdzKdzMdzOdzQezSezUdzVdzXcz\ Zcz`bzbbzdazeazg`zi`zk_zm_zoZzpZzqYzqYzrXzrXzsXzsW\ ztWztWzuVzuVzvUzvUzwUzwTzxTzxTzySzySzySzxUzwWzvYzu\ _ztazsczrdzqdzpdzodzndzndzmdzldzkdzjdzidzhdzgdzfdz\ edzddzddzbdzadz_dzZdzYdzWdzVqzUnzSlzRizQfzOczN`zLZ\ zKWzJTzHQzGOzFLzDIzCFzBDz } ; END PARAMETER FILE========================================= ; ;