{"id":6565,"date":"2026-09-02T13:01:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=6565"},"modified":"2026-09-02T18:57:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T22:57:46","slug":"a-better-mars-fractal-space-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=6565","title":{"rendered":"A Better Mars: Fractal Space Exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Better Mars<\/em>, 2008, Made in Inkblot Kaos<\/em> and a mixture of photoshop filters, text added in XnView<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The iterative, recursive nature of fractal formulas creates not just fascinating images but entire worlds.\u00a0 Even 2d fractals –by their very nature– had a 3d feel to them because one could zoom into them in a fractal program just like one zooms into a microscope slide by increasing the magnification.\u00a0 It gives a feeling of depth even if the fractal formula is a “flat” 2d type because fractals –by their very nature– always have a little more than just 2.0 dimensions even if they don’t have 3.0 –a fractal dimension.<\/p>\n

So it’s not surprising that from the very first fractal images rendered by Dr. Mandelbrot back in the late 70s the theme of exploration has been a big part if not the largest part of what today we call fractal art<\/em>.\u00a0 I posted about Dan Will’s own exploratory work back in 2009 even calling him a Fractal Columbus<\/a>.\u00a0 At his old Blogspot site, UltraIterator<\/a> he continued his voyages<\/em> doing what a lot of fractal artists do, which is, first of all, just explore fractal imagery.<\/em><\/p>\n

With the advent of 3d fractal formulas this has taken on a deeper meaning because now we have imagery that has all the spatial attributes of the world we live in and creates much more vivid spaces to explore.\u00a0 I stumbled on this new world of exploratory possibilites while trying out the program Fractal Imaginator<\/em> and –at long last– discovered my own Better Mars.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
lunarville16<\/em>, 2026, made in Fractal Imaginator, click for larger version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I wrote about the exciting rendering style of these images and how they resemble engravings and line drawings in my last posting, Engraver’s Paradise<\/a>. The coloring palette which is an inbuilt one is also just as artistic and gives a truly Red Planet<\/em> look to these images that is pretty much like the real Mars (which is farther, more expensive, more delayed and not as much fun, either).<\/p>\n

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A detail of a panoramic shot of the Real Mars by the Rover probe<\/a>.\u00a0 Not as close, as cheap, as quick or even as much fun, either in my opinion.\u00a0 And I don’t like the palette as much as Terry Gintz’s.\u00a0 But it’s real.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it’s real…\u00a0<\/em>Are fractals real?\u00a0 Since Mars is real<\/em> you can return to the place you were and it’s still there, exactly the same.\u00a0 But actually you can do that with fractals too.\u00a0 Load the same parameters into the program and everything is exactly as it was when you left it.\u00a0 Doesn’t that sound like something permanent?\u00a0 And as I mentioned, you can zoom into even a 2d fractal and see more of it, and with 3d fractals that imagery can be rotated in the same three dimensions we rotate around in all day in the “real” world.<\/p>\n

I would say that 3d fractals are as real as the images sent back from a probe (and… cheaper, closer, etc…).<\/p>\n

Chesley Bonestell, the famous outer space artist, made this painting.\u00a0 It’s probably one of my favourites from his extensive sci-fi illustration works.<\/p>\n

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Mountains of the Moon<\/em>, 1944, sci-fi painting illustration by Chesley Bonestell. Look at those celestial mountain tops!\u00a0 Elegantly framed by the dark, craggy ridges in the foreground.\u00a0 Reminds me a bit of the cloudscapes in many Chinese paintings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alright, now compare that superb, other worldly, space exploration image with this from Fractal Imaginator,<\/p>\n

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Lunarville09<\/em>, 2026, made in Fractal Imaginator<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or with this one I posted in my last posting which has a lower resolution, grainier, line drawing look:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunarland01, made in Fractal Imaginator. I find the colors match Chesley Bonestell’s Mountains of the Moon painting better.\u00a0 Especially the tops of his mountains reflecting that bright, celestial, sunshine of outer space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don’t tell me I can’t go to the moon.\u00a0 I’ve already been there!\u00a0 See, I took these pictures.\u00a0 Better than any of those gritty grey ones the astronauts took.\u00a0 And mine has mountains!\u00a0 You won’t find mountains, real mountains like this<\/em>, anywhere on the real moon.\u00a0 Or on Mars either apparently.\u00a0 Which just further proves that my Mars is the Better Mars!\u00a0 I think I just slapped the man in the moon’s face!<\/p>\n

Chesley Bonestell was credited with (or criticised for) the depiction of all alien worlds as rough, craggy, mountainous scenes.\u00a0 The moon for instance is actually pretty smooth and dusty and even the craters are only relatively rough when compared with the vast lunar plains of moon dust.\u00a0 There are mountains of a sort on Mars.\u00a0 Olympus Mons<\/a> is apparently twice the height of Mt. Everest although it’s a very large shield volcano which is just a huge oozing of lava that has piled up although it appears to have some steep ridges along the edges.\u00a0 My mars has that too, don’t you think?\u00a0 Not just oozed but also a little whipped and sculpted.\u00a0 Once again, better<\/em> than the real thing.<\/p>\n

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Olympus Mons taken by the Mars Express orbiter 2023. I like the coloring better in this one. Almost as good as Fractal Imaginator’s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alright.\u00a0 Enough of an introduction.\u00a0 Let’s check out my Better Mars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunarville17, 2026. That object in the “sky” is Deimos<\/em>. Yes, that’s right, Fractal Imaginator’s mars has moons just like the real one does. And, seriously, the real moons of Mars look like asteroids like this one does. They are believed to be asteroids that were caught in orbit around Mars. That’s the real Mars, I mean. It’s easy to confuse them isn’t it?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in false color<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No “false color” used in my “Orbiter” photos.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0 a little creepy how much my mars is like the real one.\u00a0 Fractal space exploration has a lot more thrills in store than any real space exploration.\u00a0 And so much faster.\u00a0 You think a couple days rendering time is a big wait?\u00a0 Consider how long it took the New Horizons probe to reach Pluto in 2015 and take this interesting “bowling ball” photo.\u00a0 I can come up with a Better Pluto<\/em> as well I’m sure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pluto as photographed by the New Horizons probe in 2015 as it went past. Seriously, drill three big finger holes and it doesn’t look much different than a bowling ball.\u00a0 Still, it does have some interesting fractal like details to it.\u00a0 But then so do the real bowling balls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunarille12, 2026. One of my favourites. Note the shadow and the bright sunlight on the distant slope. Almost as nice as Bonestell’s “celestial” bright, outer space, sunlight.\u00a0 Click to see large version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunarville15, 2026.\u00a0 This is the only one I tried to anti-alias (2:1).\u00a0 This is quite a deep crater on the better mars.\u00a0 It’s quite challenging to get these shots without falling in.\u00a0 There can be real dangers in fractal space.\u00a0 Never get off the boat.<\/em>\u00a0 Never step off the program!\u00a0 I wouldn’t be surprised to find a few unlucky fractalnauts down there.\u00a0 Or a Sarlacc<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunarville20. Reminds me of a trip to Arizona and the Petrified Forest in the Painted Desert region. In the real worlds you know what you’re going to see when you go on vacation because it’s all planned out ahead of time. In the Fractal Worlds you have absolutely no idea what’s waiting out there for you when you arrive.\u00a0 Click to see larger version.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunarville23-fine90. I just had to take a walk over to that big rocky outcropping and get a closer look despite how hot it was that day. This was taken using a rendering setting that makes the object smoother. It’s usually set at 10 or 20 and goes up to 99.\u00a0 This was set at 90. It’s almost like I’m telling you the camera settings I used to take a photo on my vacation. I can post the parameter settings files if anyone’s interested. Can’t do that with “real” vacations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lunar18-300steps. I call these dragon teeth. Since I’ve just discovered them, I’ll be a good taxonomist and call them Draco Dentes -Hodkinsonia<\/em>. Hey, I could name the whole planet while I’m at it too since I discovered it. “P5.A6”<\/em> After the list number for the two functions that were added together and then divided by 2 to produce this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, I hope that was fun.\u00a0 Fractal exploration will probably be as endless and extensive as the real universe is supposed to be.\u00a0 But closer, cheaper, no waiting.\u00a0 Did you know it would take 8,000 years to reach the nearest star to Earth, Alpha Centaurii, travelling at the fastest speed of any man made object today like a space probe?\u00a0 That’s too much rendering time for anyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The iterative nature of fractal formulas creates not just fascinating images but entire worlds.\u00a0Exploration of these “worlds” has been a major theme of fractal art from it’s very first days back in the 1970s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1179,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=1179","url_meta":{"origin":6565,"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":4552,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4552","url_meta":{"origin":6565,"position":1},"title":"3D Printing: Will this be Fractal Art’s Big Break?","author":"Tim","date":"7 March, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"With 3D printing technology, fractal art can cheaply and easily enter the domain of sculpture.\u00a0 It's an exciting development and offers the ever dazzling world of fractals another venue in which to capture that proverbial and elusive, \"mainstream\" audience.\u00a0 Will this be fractal art's big break or just another demonstration\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4552#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/674x501_897361_839458_1361914708.jpg?fit=447%2C494&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2875,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2875","url_meta":{"origin":6565,"position":2},"title":"Rebooting Fractal Art: Part 5","author":"Tim","date":"15 August, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The future of fractal art Well, bluntly stated, there is no future in fractal art.\u00a0 At least not in the kind of fractal art that most artists are making today.\u00a0 That's the stuff I called Parameter Art in my last posting, Part 4.\u00a0 What we've all seen is what we're\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2875#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3009,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009","url_meta":{"origin":6565,"position":3},"title":"Fractals: A New Medium","author":"Tim","date":"22 September, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I've found a better way to explain what makes fractal art so different than other art forms.\u00a0 The differences are there simply because fractals themselves are a different medium to work with.\u00a0 Fractals are different than paint and canvas or chisel and stone. In fact, fractals are probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Zon9.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4108,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4108","url_meta":{"origin":6565,"position":4},"title":"Arvinder Bawa’s Fractal Exhibition in Spain","author":"Tim","date":"8 November, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Arvinder Bawa recently had a showing of his fractal artworks in Laredo, Cantabria, Spain at the Sala Ruas gallery.\u00a0 The poster explains it best: ~Click on images to view full-size on original site~ Arvinder has written an interesting explanation to accompany the exhibit.\u00a0 I like his simple language and layman's\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/arvinder_cartel_mail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2769,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2769","url_meta":{"origin":6565,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/lunarville17.png?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6565","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=6565"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6631,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6565\/revisions\/6631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}