Fractal Blog

2004-07-20T13:09:00.000Z

After A Long Absence...

I haven't posted here for a long time now due to health problems. These seem to be resolved (for now). The last time I posted, I mentioned XenoDream. This has become my favourite fractal/graphics program of all that I've tried. The number of images I've done with it (since March), and that are waiting to go on the Fractal Visions site is in the hundreds.

In the mean time, I have renewed my hosting package. I had hoped at this stage to be able to upgrade it too, but it has not been viable yet to do so. So I'm running a little low on server space there. In order to get all the XD images I want to get on site, I have some painful decision making ahead - I have to remove some of the existing images.

For now, the older galleries 1 and 2 have been replaced. They now consist entirely of images made in XD.

2004-05-12T20:14:00.000Z

Fractal/Algorithmic Music and XenoDream

Okay - it's been a long time since I updated this blog. I've had some 'health issues' to deal with. I'm on the mend now. I haven't been idle whilst I've been ill. I now have a substantial collection of fractal and algorithmic music tracks available for free download or streaming at Soundclick.

I've also had a birthday since updatng here. I was given 'XenoDream' as a present, and I haven't looked back since. I was reaching near the limit of my server space on my site, so decided to start removing my older images and replacing them with new ones. So the first two galleries on the site are now newer stuff - and were all done in XenoDream.

2004-01-21T04:23:00.000Z

I added two new images to my gallery at the FAR. The second, called 'Hidden Identity', makes use of Mark Hammond's application for importing graphics files into Ultra Fractal. I used a scanned thumbprint for the bottom layer.

2004-01-17T12:03:00.000Z

I have started a new gallery of my work at the Fractal Artists' Ring. At the moment, it only contains four images, but I will be adding more. Here is the link.

I'm working on my newsletter at the moment. I hope to have it done and sent by the end of this weekend.

2004-01-11T22:52:00.000Z

I am very proud to have participated in the latest guest gallery on Terry Wright's wonderful 'Rooms with a View' site. I am one of ten guest artists, who have each contributed two images to the gallery. I'm particularly pleased with the first of my two offerings 'Angel of the Tides'. If ever any budding or beginning fractalists wonder about the time it takes to render an image, think of this one. On my relatively old machine (AMD KT6 2 processor, 196mb RAM, Windows 98se and nVidea/GeForce graphics card), 'Angel of the Tides' took six hours to render. I could have simply exported it, but that produced too many rough edges for my liking. Here's the link to the gallery - Guest Gallery 6.

2003-12-20T20:10:00.000Z

I just added Gallery 15 to Fractal Visions. I wasn't sure if I was going to get it done in time for the holiday season, but I just about managed to. I'm glad about that as it contains one or two 'seasonal' images. Also new is a link to 'In Dulce Jubilo' - a fractal music variation created using the traditional carol to generate user-defined scales.

Season's Greetings to all.

2003-12-18T22:48:00.000Z

I'm working towards a new gallery for Fractal Visions. I have 17 images completed - another three and it will be a gallery's worth. I'm not sure if I'll get it done before Christmas, although I can hope. Whatever, I will be sending out a newsletter. I'm introducing a new feature. In each mailing I'm going to include a 'Featured Site', highlighting some of the many other fractal sites. I have the first one lined up. :)

2003-12-09T20:46:00.000Z

I did my first image for a while yesterday. I wanted to do a 'seasonal' one for the holidays, but got engrossed in an altogether 'darker' type of image. I've posted it in the Ultra Fractal gallery at the Fractal Artists' Ring.

2003-12-06T18:07:00.000Z

With the recent demise of 'Mp3.com', I have been concentrating on the musical side of things lately. I have reintroduced, on a 'toned down' scale, the musical section of Fractal Visions. It just consists of two pages now. One is a description of the processes used in recent work, with links to download mp3 versions of the tracks. The other is a 'music links' page with links to software, information and algorithmic/fractal compsers' sites. My tracks, as well as a lot more brilliant tracks by other fractal/algorithmic composers is at The CN Fractal Forum Warehouse. There is a strong fractal music community at The CN Fractal Music Forum at Yahoo! Groups.

2003-11-18T13:48:00.000Z

Having added gallery 14 to Fractal Visions, I've decided to slow down a little as I am getting near to the limit of my current webspace allocation.

I've been working more on algorithmic music lately. With the news that MP3.com has been acquired by CNET and will cease to exist as of 2 December, I am looking maybe to upgrade my hosting package for multimedia.

2003-11-06T15:52:00.000Z

I just added a new gallery - number 13 - to Fractal Visions. As usual, it is mostly Ultra Fractal work, although there are a few flames and IFS and one 'Dust' fractal. There are also three more images using Mark Hammond's image importer for UF3. Now I'm going to try and suss out an RSS feed for the site.

2003-11-04T20:42:00.000Z

I finally got a graphics card from the 21st century yesterday. I have had Fractal Explorer for some time, but have been unable to use its wonderful 'fractal landscape' capabilities because the graphics card I had before didn't support later than DirectX 7.0. I'm happy to be able to use it now.

The Fractal Artists' Ring Screensaver 2003 is now available. It contains a wealth of artistic talent and diversity. It is a big download (17+mb) but well worth it.

2003-10-29T13:37:00.000Z

I've been getting back to basics with Ultra Fractal - running through the tutorials and playing around with the simple Mandelbrot and Julia sets with different colouring algorithms. It's good to go over tutorials and beginner's guides. It refreshes technique and also highlights stuff that I missed first time round.

2003-10-28T17:13:00.000Z

I'm getting close to completing a new gallery for Fractal Visions. I've added a few images to the FAR User galleries. I've left them untitled (although I do have titles for them. It's a kind of guessing game related to a thread on the Fractal Artists' Ring forum. It is a discussion about whether fractal artists start to work with a 'concept' and create an image accordingly, or whether they 'explore' fractals, find something they like and then put a name to it. Personally I usually do the latter. Others don't though - you can see this in the excellent entries for 'seasonal' contests and similar. Some fractalists just use a 'filename' kind of format giving an abbreviation of the fractal software and a number.

2003-10-24T15:36:00.000Z

I posted a new image in the 'Composites' gallery on the Fractal Artists' Ring. I found an adaptation of my first every attempt at computer graphics and imoprted it into Ultra Fractal using Mark Hammond's image importer. The end result is a 'Halloweeny' offering.

I'm trying to learn how to make an RSS feed. I hope to get one on my site soonish - and Phil Jackson is working on one for the Ring (sooner).

2003-10-23T15:39:00.000Z

Doh! Silly me! I discovered that I downloaded the wrong version of Apophysis (Mark Townsend's excellent 'Flame/IFS' generator). I've now downloaded a beta version (2.0), which has a whole lot of enhancements to the original program.

2003-10-23T15:10:00.000Z

Yet another gallery of my stuff added to Fractal Visions. It looks kind of 'Autumnal' - but don't suppose that matters being that time of year and all. I also sent out another newsletter - that's the third this week. I must slow down, I think. I'm going to limit it now to a maximum of once fortnightly.

I've also been made a moderator for the Fractal Aritsts' Ring. We're trying to inject new life into the forums - get some lively discussions going. If you read this and have anything to say about fractals - comments, feedback, questions, expertise - then you would be most welcome to post at the forum. I didn't realise it before (and perhaps it isn't made very clear) but anyone can post there - you don't have to be a ring member (although you do have to register - but registration is quick and easy). I'm still pretty much a fractal novice, but there is a lot of expertise in the ring. If you are interested, make use of that expertise or add to it.

2003-10-21T01:24:00.000Z

I just updated Fractal Visions. The main update was the addition of the guest gallery by Sarah Scotland. As well as that, I have added the links as I already mentioned, and of course, I've updated the home page content too.

2003-10-20T23:22:00.000Z

I've been trying out a program called "Dust". It generates some cool and unique fractals. Hope to include a couple of first efforts in my new gallery (I have 16 images ready, just need another four). I also had a look at "Arcane Fractals" and had a look through the tutorials there. I downloaded "The Gimp". It's a cool freeware graphics app with lots of features - and you can generate flame fractals and some other fractal stuff in it. It also has a plug-in that enables you to digitally sign your images.

2003-10-18T18:16:00.000Z

I've amended Phil Parkman's gallery, and the new version of wallpaper is now in place for downloading. There are also four new images that he created in the program (13-16).

Apart from work on the site, I've been tinkering with 'Apophosys' - Mark Townsend's flame/IFS generator. I updated to the latest version, which now allows you to export images as bitmaps as well as UltraFractal files. It's very cool! I've also been carrying on with imported images using Mark Hammond's program that I mentioned yesterday.

2003-10-17T22:27:00.000Z

Minor additions to the site today - mainly software links. Phil Parkman also sent an updated version of his 'Wallpaper' program, and some new images. That should keep me busy this weekend. Sarah Scotland has also kindly agreed to contribute a guest gallery to the site. I'm looking forward to that.

2003-10-17T14:51:00.000Z

I added a new image to the 'Composites' gallery in the FAR User Galleries. Unlike my other offerings though, it is done entirely in Ultra Fractal, using a cool program by Mark Hammond that imports ordinary images into UF as coloring formulae.

2003-10-16T18:37:00.000Z

I checked every page on my site for invalid links. I had to redo a couple, but nothing major. I have also updated the guestbook and eCard site so that they are relatively consistent with the main site. I've also made minor alterations to the home page. I've updated the 'What's New' section, and I added a bit of Jscript to display a random thumbnail from the most recent gallery.

I think that will be it for a few days now. The next update will be a new gallery I hope. So it's a switch from cramming on forgotten HTML coding to some intensive fractalling.

2003-10-15T16:41:00.000Z

Added a couple more links to the Fractal Visions site. On the Software Links page, I added a link to where the enigmatic 'Flight from Fractal' program can be downloaded. This link is from a very nice site called The World of Deb. There's some really cool stuff on there - including some JavaScript interactive animations. You need Internet Explorer (4.00 or higher) to view the site though. I've put the link on my 'Other Artists' links page. One more new link on the artists' page should have been there long before now. It's TC Design. As well as being the home for the Fractal Artists' Ring, there are a lot of galleries and stuff on there.

I also created a new gallery in the FAR user galleries. It is called 'Composites' and my contribution was three photo/fractal overlays.

2003-10-14T17:14:00.000Z

Well - a sleepless night and the job is done. Whether Fractal Visions looks better or not, it certainly seems to be easier to get around than it was. I have sent out the newsletter, and already got some very nice, positive feedback from Mindy Sommers, who is a strong driving force behind the Fractal Artists' Ring. It is praise indeed! Her site - Peapod Design has the kind of look I aspire to for my site.

2003-10-14T03:14:00.000Z

Sitting here at 4.00am, uploading a completely redesigned 'Fractal Visions' and wondering why I didn't leave it until tomorrow. Oh well, seems like a good time to kickstart this blog. The site looks completely different now. Apart from the individual image pages that is. I think it is much easier to navigate around too. The home page was far too cluttered.

I have a new gallery almost ready too. Just have to make some adjustments to the image pages, make the gallery page and then it will be ready to add. Meanwhile I just sit here waiting and hoping that the links work and that I've made no serious gaffs on the site.

2003-05-14T17:05:00.000Z

Fizzer Worm

If you haven't heard about the Fizzer Worm, then you should have. I hadn't until today when an email newsletter directed me to Ziff-Davies' "eWeek". Although the various virus alert sites seem to brand the worm as 'medium' threat, the article "Fizzer Worm Is On The Move" makes the virus sound particularly nasty. It sends itself through the Windows Address Book on an infected system. It sets up a webserver on the system and also works through mIRC programs to open the infected system to commands from the attacker. It also spreads itself through Kazaa.

For detailed information on the Worm, plus a downloadable tool to remove it, check out this article at 'Symantec Security Response'. Apparently the latest updated virus definitions from Norton protects against the virus.

2003-02-26T13:09:00.000Z

I was very pleased to receive a minor criticism in my guestbook on Fractal Visions last night. Mainly because it confirms my feelings about the home page being too 'cluttered'. I need to greatly extend my knowledge of HTML so that I can come up with a sleek design - maybe a graphcial navigation image on the home page, with links to galleries, news, links and about me. I think I will keep the individual image pages the same - plain black background, and the automatic format from the image page generator I use for the purpose. Other than that, I think a simplification of the other pages is long overdue. A great example of a much simpler approach (aesthetically at least) is the 'Fractal Gallery by KPK'.

It really boils down to what people want to see on a web site. Personally, on a digital art web site, the main thing I want to see is images. If I like the images, then maybe I want to see biographical info about the artist(s). If it's a style of art I'm unfamiliar with (as fractals were not so long ago), then I might like to see information on how they are produced and some background on technique, history, etc. If I'm curious enough to want to have a go at producing my own images, I would want information on any software that is available - and of course, if it is freeware, even better. Okay - my site provides all of that, but the flaw is the home page itself. I personally don't want to wade through masses of information before I find the galleries, the biography, the links. I would rather have the information 'pigeon-holed' so that I can click to it.

2003-02-11T16:01:00.000Z

I had an email from a lady who is writing a book about 'The Floral Dance'. She had done a search on the web, and it had come back with one of the images on my site (called 'Floral Dance', surprisingly enough). In her email, she asks if she can use the image in the book. What a compliment! Apart from the actual praise for my site in her email, there is another good thing implicit in her request. After I moved the web site to its own domain, I was no longer on any of the search engines. The fact that she was taken there in a search means that I am. Good news!

2003-02-11T14:47:00.000Z

I have just visited a site that I have never seen before called 'Fractal Gallery by KPK'. I got the link from the Ultra Fractal mailing list. It is very impressive. The geometric shapes in many of the images by Klaus-Peter Kubik give a fresh outlook to fractal art. There is also a section called 'Wooden Art Exhbition' which uses wood-like gradients and colouring very effectively. I have only been to Germany once, but when I was there, I was lucky enough to visit the cathedral at Trier. Whilst I was there, I saw some wood and ivory artwork - mosaic-like panels with ornate designs made from different grains and colours of wood and enhanced with ivory. KPK's wooden art reminds me very much of those panels.

The site design is nice too. To look at, it is very simple, but menus created in 'Flash' make it fun to navigate too. Without copying the design, it is similar in feel to the kind of look I'm hoping for with the overhaul of 'Fractal Visions'.

If you stumble across this weblog and are interested in beauty in digital art, I can not recommend the site highly enough!

2003-01-30T18:18:00.000Z

I am reviewing a lot of the fractal software that didn't run properly on my old system. I am finding that a high proportion still has problems. I have to say the Ultra Fractal runs much better on the new one. It is faster and I can produce much larger images more easily. I am trying to find a program though, that will produce Quaternions and Hypernions without producing the windows classic faults - Invalid Page and General Protection faults.

Post-Processing

I am starting to experiment with post-processing - further editing of images in graphics software other than the fractal generating software. It is a subject of debate. The fractal community is torn between the 'purists' who say that fractals aren't really fractals if they are post-processed, and the 'aesthetes' who say that the end result should be aesthetically pleasing - whatever it takes. All the work I've done so far with fractals - most of which you can see on Fractal Visions - have not been post-processed other than the signatures. This is not because I am a purist, but it's because I am not an accomplished artist. I have done non-fractal digital artwork, which has been presentable, but it has taken me far longer than it would take someone with more skill. However, I now have access to Photoshop 6.0 for the first time. It is hard to resist 'fiddling' with images to enhance them.

2003-01-26T04:17:00.000Z

I've had a very generous offer from an online contact who visited my web site. It is too good to pass up.. So I will probably be moving my web site again, although I will keep the domain name. The offer is in my guestbook - if you want to take a look Click Hiere

I also upgraded my internet account from free during evenings and weekends to free at any time. It was getting to the point where the weekend was not long enough to do everything I had to. Now I can work online any time without feeling pressured by worry about how much extra it is costing me.

2003-01-25T06:42:00.000Z

Lost Links - Grrrrrr!!!

I am kicking myself quite regularly at the moment. Here's the story:

Just after Christmas, I upgraded my PC. It's a second-hand PC, but infinitely better than the one I had before. The hard drive from the old system was taken out and put on the newer one as a slave. I didn't do too badly at transferring data, except that I lost my favorites. I put out a cry for help in all my regular newsgroups and mailing lists. I got one or two responses, which were very useful, but I have by no means restored all of them yet. Luckily I have many of them on my site at Fractal Visions. I am currently going through the list and re-saving the links.

Actually, when I say I lost my favorites, it is more accurate to say that I lost the data file from the software I use instead of favorites. I started using it when I discovered that the ratio between actual space used for the favorites links and the space allocated (in other words wasted space) was huge. So I made a determined search to find a freeware program that stored links in the single datafile, ensuring less waste. Eventually, I found 'Webmarks' by Barnstormer Software which did the trick. Unfortunately, I can't put the link here as the site is no longer where it was, and when you click the link for where it is supposed to be, it goes to some shopping site.

Anyway, I am gradually building my bookmarks/favorites back up now. There are a lot of links there - if you want to have a look, have a look on Fractal Visions. There are links pages for fractal art - information, galleries, software etc. There are also some links pages to do with fractal music.

After a couple of days, I had problems with the system and had to reformat and reinstall. What a nightmare. Anyway, I managed to work out what was wrong - and I worked out that it was something I did. So at least I won't be doing it again! This time I managed to lose my address book. I was quite lucky there though. I had most of my important email addresses stored in the software I use to send out my newsletter.

2003-01-25T02:54:00.000Z

I got an email about an updated fractal site, so I checked it out. It is a good site with fractal galleries, 3D galleries and more. It's well worth a look. The site is called Fractal Realm

I also updated the formulae for Ultra Fractal today. There is a new colouring algorithm among them called 'Spirograph'. I had a play around with the parameters, but need to learn more about it. Some of the parameters posted on the mailing list use the formula. It is intriguing. It does produce images similar to the old spirograph of my youth.

2003-01-24T03:34:00.000Z

Welcome to my fractal weblog. Although I have a links page at my web site Fractal Visions, there isn't space there to add much comment about sites, software, or anything to do with fractal art and music without 'cluttering' the pages. So this is the place where I comment on sites that if not new, are at least new to me.

I also want to create a kind of journal of my progress in creating fractal art and music. I wish I had done so from the start. I've been fanatical about fractals for just over a year now, and although I am getting better at predicting the effects of actions on the images, I am still in the dark as to how fractal formulae and parameters work. So, although I don't think of myself as a beginner still, I do consider myself to be a novice.

I've tried many different programs for generating fractals. As I have progressed, I have reached the stage where I use Ultra Fractal almost exclusively. The program unlocks creativity within a fractal framework.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the ramblings that follow.
Marc