FOTD -- October 26, 2007 (Rating 6) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: With the number of video cameras, cell phone cameras, etc. now in circulation, why has no one yet produced a clear photograph of an alien space craft? I want to believe, but I have nothing to believe in, other than fractals, that is. And I'm not even sure I believe fractals are real. For today's fractal adventure I mixed Z^(0.996) with Z^(-0.996), added straight C and cut the escape radius to 90. To me, the resulting parent fractal resembles an alien flying saucer lying on its side. Some might see Bozo the Clown or maybe Popeye the sailor, but whatever one sees, the whole fractal is on the verge of evaporating, which is the reason for the name "The Vanishing Point". In fact, I had to reduce the bailout to 90 to keep the part of the parent where today's image is located from slipping into the imaginary fractal world. My efforts were rewarded with an FOTD that rates a 6. It could have been better, but it also could have been worse, so I can't complain. Today's image is located on the north shore of the parent fractal, at the point where the bud-filled chaotic shore ends and the smooth shoreline begins. I added extra interest by rendering the scene with the inside set to 'fmod' and the outside set to 'summ'. The calculation time of 8 minutes is slightly slow, but still well within reason for an image that has never before been seen and never again will be seen. And an even faster way to see the image is to go to the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and view the image in finished form there. The Thursday weather proved un-notable here at Fractal Central of central Pennsylvania. The high temperature of 61F 16C was fair enough, the partly cloudy skies were fair enough, and the mild wind from the east was fair enough. The fractal cats agreed as they kept a sharp eye on the pigeons roosting under the eaves of the house next door. I had a rather busy day working on a menu for a local restaurant. But the work went smoothly and the task was completed with ample time remaining for the day's fractal. The next fractal will be posted in 24 hours, more or less. Until then, take care, and it would be great if aliens from other worlds actually were flying around the earth in their alien space craft. Maybe they could teach us a thing or two about fractals. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= The_VanishingPoint { ; time=0:07:59.95-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandAutoCritInZ function=ident passes=1 center-mag=-0.7429016609182963/+0.5321247063450321\ /6.34773e+008/1/42.5/-6.18e-005 params=1/0.966/1/\ -0.966/0/-10/0/0 float=y maxiter=12000 inside=fmod proximity=0.1 outside=summ periodicity=10 colors=0008V_8V_8UZ8UZ8TZ8TY8SY8SY8RX8RX8QX9QW9PW9\ PW9OV9OV9NV9NU9MU9MU9LT9LT9KT9JS9JS9IS9IR9HR9HR9GQ\ 9GQ9FQAFPAEPAEPADOADOACOACNABNABNAAMAAMA9MA9LA8LA8\ LA7KA7KA6KA6JA5J72E93HA5JC7LD9NFBPGERIGTJIVLKXMMZO\ O`PRcRTeSVgUXiVZkXamYco_eq`gsbiuelxckzbkzajz_jzZjz\ YizWizVizUhzShzRhzQgzPgzNfzMfzLfzJezIezHezFdzEdzDd\ zBczAcz9bz8bz6bz5az4az2ay1`x0`w0`v0_u0_t0as0_r0Zq0\ Yp0Wo0Vm0Uk0Si0Rg0QetXYtcWthUtuTtuStuStmSteSt_SpTS\ gVSYWSOXSHZSJ_SM`SObSQcSTdSVfSXgSZhSajSckSelSjsThp\ SgmSekSdhSbfSacS`aSZZSYXSWUSVSSUPSSNSRKSPISOFSNDSO\ DRPDRPDROEQOFQNFPNGPMGOMHOMHNLINLIMKJMKJMJKLJKLJLK\ ILKIMJHMJHNIGNIGOHGOHFPHFPGEQGEQFDRFDREDSECSDCUDBV\ CBXCBYCC_DD`DEaEFcEGdFHdFIdGJbGKaHL`HM_INYIOXJPXJQ\ WKRVKSTKTTLUTLVSMWTMXTNYTNYTOZTO_TP`TP`TQaTQbTRdUR\ eVRfWSgXSiYTjZTk_Um_Un_Vo_Vq`Wr`Wt`Xu`Xw`Yx`Yy_Zx`\ Yw`YwaYvaYuaYubY8X`8W`8W_ } frm:MandAutoCritInZ {; 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)+(p4)), k=real(p3)+1, l=imag(p3)+100, c=fn1(pixel): z=k*((a*(z^b))+(d*(z^f)))+c, |z| < l } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================