{"id":1980,"date":"2010-11-29T14:02:14","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T19:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2010-11-29T15:00:14","modified_gmt":"2010-11-29T20:00:14","slug":"journey-to-the-center-of-the-mandelbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1980","title":{"rendered":"A Journey to the Center of the Mandelbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

~Click images to view on original site~<\/em><\/p>\n

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Professor Trafassel leads the way<\/p><\/div>\n

A new and wondrous discovery in the land of 3D fractals has been made by a veteran Fractalforum member, Erp Trafassel (trafassel).\u00a0 You can read the soon to be famous thread<\/a> on Fractalforums.\u00a0 Daniel White (twinbee), who sparked the original 3D fractal quest<\/a> for the “Holy Grail” that resulted in the Mandelbulb had these remarkable words<\/a> to say about Trafassel’s recent discoveries:<\/p>\n

Amazing stuff trafassel. This is surely much closer to what I originally envisaged for the real 3D Mandelbrot than we’ve ever seen before. We’re seeing all kinds of designs, giant 3D connected networks, tunnels, arrays of tentacles, intricate satellites, foamy materials, shapes we’ve never imagined, and of course, the return of the spine also! (closer to what I thought the 3D spine should look like). I love the zoom near the end of your video too.<\/p>\n

If I were to give the Mandelbulb rating of how close I thought it was to the holy grail, say, 5\/10, I would give yours perhaps 7 or maybe 8\/10. I still think there are subtle and not so subtle things which prevent it from being the holy grail which I’ll try to elaborate on soon. In particular, there’s a feeling that many of the shapes have a somewhat IFS feel to them (over-smooth or chopped up spherical surfaces etc.), and of course the overall shape is not what we might expect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“…which I’ll try to elaborate on soon<\/em>”\u00a0 Sound like the game is “afoot” as Sherlock Holmes often said when discovering an intriguing new challenge.\u00a0 Trafassel posted two YouTube videos in which he conveniently compiled a series of images documenting his latest discoveries as a video slide show.\u00a0 This is as much a scientific and technical discovery as it is an artistic one, so look carefully for new structures and imagery.\u00a0 It’s just like a space voyage or the photo stream coming back from a probe sent off to explore a distant planet.\u00a0 Like Tom Lowe’s (Tglad) initial Mandelbox images, many of Trafassel’s images here are quite spectacular to see as well as to appreciate for their technical achievement.<\/p>\n

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I quoted Daniel White just to give you a quick idea of the great significance of what Trafassel has achieved, but it seems to me from reading the thread that Trafassel stumbled on all this entirely on his own while exploring various new parameter settings for the Mandelbox formula.<\/p>\n

It all started on September 21st, 2010 with Trafassel’s very brief and humble opening post to his new thread, Inner view of the Mandelbox:<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/em>The Mandelbox, but seen from the Inside. This means a voxel is visible, if and only if its coordinate is no element of the Mandelbox set.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Screenshots from Fractalforums.com tell the story better:<\/p>\n

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From Fractalforums.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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From Fractalforums.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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From Fractalforums.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Trafassel then goes on to share the parameters and explain them.\u00a0 Which raises the obvious question in most readers’ minds,\u00a0 “What program is he using?”<\/p>\n

Much or all of the 3D fractals currently are being created using Krzysztof (buddhi) Marczak\u2019s Mandelbulber<\/a> and Jesse Dierk\u2019s Mandelbulb 3d<\/a>, and also Ultra Fractal with Dave Makin\u2019s MMFwip3D<\/a> formula.\u00a0 I can’t really tell by just looking at the images to say what they were made with and I don’t actually use any of them myself, either (I’ve been too busy watching what everyone else is doing, lately).<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but it seems to me that Trafassel’s Journey to the Center of the Mandelbox has been made exclusively in a machine of his own design and manufacture?!\u00a0 Yes, there seems to be even more software spinning off of the Fractalforum’s talented group of developers: Gestaltlupe 0.9<\/a><\/em><\/strong> available for Windows developed by Herr Trafassel himself.<\/p>\n

He describes the program, hosted on GitHub.com, as “Representation of tomographic data. This tool can be used to explore the mandelbulb fractal. <\/em>Sounds rather scientific but then this is a machine that’s just gone where no one else has gone before.\u00a0 I feel like I’m living in a vintage pulp sci-fi story or, of course, a Jules Verne novel.<\/p>\n

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Greater sights than this await you in the Inner View of the Mandelbox<\/p><\/div>\n

In the past the pictures illustrated the text, but now the text is merely footnotes to the pictures.<\/p>\n

Yes, as many of us know, fractals can be just as much voyages of discovery –computerized voyages–<\/em> as they can be a way of creating interesting graphics.\u00a0 There’s no better example that I can think of than Trafassel’s recent discoveries here of “inside” the Mandelbox.<\/p>\n

Fractals are still a growing and expanding realm of imagery and science.\u00a0 A place where fresh parameter strings can open the door to another world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new and wondrous discovery in the land of 3D fractals has been made by a veteran Fractalforum member, Erp Trafassel (trafassel). In response, Daniel White (twinbee), who sparked the original 3D fractal quest for the “Holy Grail”, the 3D Mandelbrot, gave the Mandelbulb a 5\/10 in achieving the goals of their quest but gave Trafassel’s recent achievements a 7 or 8. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/031.jpg?fit=491%2C750&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1179,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1179","url_meta":{"origin":1980,"position":0},"title":"2010 Nobel Prize for Fractal Art","author":"Tim","date":"12 May, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"For his work in discovering the Mandelbox formula of 3-D fractals, the winner is Tom Lowe, better known on Fractalforums.com as Tglad. Now some might ask why Daniel White and the Mandelbulb Team weren't this year's Nobel recipients, but while the Mandelbulb discovery was truly the most exciting event in\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1179#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/mandelbox3.png?fit=500%2C451&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2769,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2769","url_meta":{"origin":1980,"position":1},"title":"Will the Old-Timers at the BMFAC accept the new breed of 3D fractal artists?","author":"Tim","date":"16 July, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Responses at Fractal Forums.com to the recent announcement of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest 2011 suggest to me that a lot of things have changed in the fractal art world since the BMFAC was initiated back in... \u00a1Ay, caramba!\u00a0 --2006! ~ Click on images to go to original site\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 8 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 8 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2769#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/comment1.png?fit=580%2C244&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/comment1.png?fit=580%2C244&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/comment1.png?fit=580%2C244&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3973,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3973","url_meta":{"origin":1980,"position":2},"title":"No More Flat Fractals!","author":"Tim","date":"25 October, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Does it seem that no one has any interest in the old, 2D fractal images anymore?\u00a0 And furthermore, does it seem that since the advent of the 3D fractal craze that there are more fractal artists making interesting work than ever before? I'd answer yes to both those questions.\u00a0 Numerous\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3973#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Industrial-Contamination-by-HalTenny.jpg?fit=400%2C225&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2809,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2809","url_meta":{"origin":1980,"position":3},"title":"Give it up for CO99A5!","author":"Tim","date":"27 July, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I just think it's great.\u00a0 It's a strange, surreal place, nice composition, not oversaturated with detail and has nice, subdued but engaging color.\u00a0 Check out the artist's little story about the image: Description: This is a result of an intentional hybrid from the 3D navigator anomaly of combining two different\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2809#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Single-Spies-by-CO99A5.jpeg?fit=500%2C250&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2990,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2990","url_meta":{"origin":1980,"position":4},"title":"A Fistful of Fractals","author":"Tim","date":"16 September, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"~Click on images to view full size on original site~ Mayan Trickster by reallybigname was a great piece of design but this one here by Jesse Dierks is what I would call a great landscape --a fractalscape. It's a classic sci-fi vista complete with a rich, city of the gods\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/A-fistful-of-dollars.jpg?fit=500%2C381&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1227,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1227","url_meta":{"origin":1980,"position":5},"title":"10 Fractals and a Movie","author":"Tim","date":"28 May, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Have I mentioned what a great addition to the fractal world Fractalforums.com is?\u00a0 As someone who likes to review exciting new things in fractal art it's really made my job much easier.\u00a0 Before, I used to wander around Flickr or check out links on the UF mailing list or just\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1227#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/tales.jpg?fit=420%2C607&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1992,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions\/1992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}