FOTD -- May 09, 2002 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's fractal has been created by iterating the deceptively simple fractal formula -1(Z)-(1/Z)+C, an expression that at first glance would appear to result in no fractal at all when iterated. But things are not always as they appear in the world of fractals, and today's image is a perfect example of the ability of fractals to create something from nothing. I named today's image "Spider-Man Delbrot". The spider-web effect around the central midget inspired the name. The new Spider-Man movie likely played a part also. I decided to give the image a rating of an above-average 7. Whether this rating is deserved is up to the individual to decide. In this particular image I departed from the usual FOTD equal- iteration-band outside-coloring algorithm and tried the alternate outside=summ. The result was not much of an improvement, but the improvement was enough to cause me to temporarily change my usual coloring method. The parameter file renders in 19 minutes on a quaint old P200 machine. The image file downloads from Paul's site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> or from Scott's site at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> in far less time. The news for those waiting with bated breath for the FOTD CD to appear is good and bad. The good news is that the CD is making progress; the bad news is that I continue to find new things that need to be done to make the disk easy to use. The latest task is to change the names of the fractal image files from their present cryptic 8-letter DOS names to names which are the dates on which the images appeared. I can either change the names of the image files or place every day's discussion and image in a separate directory (folder). Right now, the files are organized into monthly directories. Whatever I do, the time required will be several additional days. Take a couple dozen of these unanticipated 7-day tasks and it's easy to see why the CD is taking so long. The fractal weather Wednesday started sunny and mild, but as the afternoon progressed, the clouds moved in. The temperature of 70F 21C must have been just what the cats ordered, because they spent most all day romping in the yard. Tippy set the day's high point when he showed up at the door with a sparrow in his mouth. This was the first bird he has caught in over a year. There's life in the old ex-tomcat yet. Now if Thomas can only catch something other than a ray of sunlight. . . . As for me, I've got work to do, both for money and in the preparation of the FOTD CD. The time will never be better to get started, so until next FOTD on May 12, take care and be happy. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Spider-Man_Delbrot { ; time=0:18:52.84--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=ident passes=1 center-mag=+2.010171243979102/+0.1046890830356033/\ 106079.2/1/167.5/2.3982375016440294e-008 params=-1\ /1/-1/-1/0/525 float=y maxiter=1400 inside=0 outside=summ colors=000GFZUqhRnYQlOOjFNh5SZ0Qa0Nd0\ 0RJ0QM0OO0NQ0NS0MV0KX0JZ0Ia0Gb0Fe0Eh0Ci1Bl19n18p17\ s17t08s08q08p08n08m08l08j08i08h09h09f09e09d09b09a0\ 9`09Z09Y09X0BX0BV0BU0BS0BR0BQ0BO0BN0BM0BM3EO7GRBJU\ FKXKNZOQaSRdXUfaXieYli`nmbqqdssiism`sqRqmOpiNneMma\ KlYJjVIiRGhNFfJEeFCdCBeJ9fO8hU7hZ5id4ji3ln1lt1iu0h\ u0fw0ew0dx0bx0ax0`y0Zy0Yz0Xz0Vz0Uz0Sz0Rz0Qz0Nz0Mz0\ Kz0Jz0Iz0Gz0Fz0Ez0Cz0Bz09z08z07z05z04z03z05z18z49w\ 7Cs9EmBGiEIdGK`JMVMORNQMQSISUCVX8YY4ZZ8aZCd`Fe`Jha\ MiaQlbSmbXpdZqdbtdeuIXl0Nb0Md0Kd0Kd0Jd0Jd0Id0Id0Gd\ 0Gd0Fd0Fd0Ee0Ce0Ce0Be0Be09e09e08e08e07e07e08b08a09\ `09Z3BY4BX7CV8CU9ESCEREFQGFOIGNKGMMGKNIJQIIRJGUJFV\ KEYKCZMB`M9bN8dN7fO5hO4jQ3lQ1mQ0nS1pV1qY1s`3tb3ue3\ wh4xj4ym4zp5zs5zu5zx7zz7zz7zz8zz8zz8zzEzzIzzMzyQzw\ UztYyqaxnewliuimtfqsduqayp`zpaqpbfpbXpdMpdBtbGwaMy\ `Rz`VzZ`zYezYilXSQVB3U0Qe39Z0Gb0YZdRbI } frm:MandelbrotMix4 {; Jim Muth a=real(p1), b=imag(p1), d=real(p2), f=imag(p2), g=1/f, h=1/d, j=1/(f-b), z=(-a*b*g*h)^j, k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE==================================