FOTD -- November 29, 2002 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: The parent of today's image rather closely resembles a rocket flying east. The rocket is a large one, requiring several outzooms to shrink it enough so that it fits onto the screen. Today's midget is located near the tip of the southern fin of the rocket, in an area on the verge of fractal evaporation. I named the picture "Venus Fly-Trap". I gave it this name when the eight prominent elements surrounding the midget reminded me of the fly-catching leaves of a Venus fly-trap plant that I once kept as a kind of floral 'pet', feeding it assorted insects until it could eat no more. No flies are visible in today's image, though I am certain they are there, hiding in the lush growth of fractal mayhem. The iterated expression behind the image adds 0.7 parts of Z^(1.25) to 0.45 parts of Z^(-1.25), then adds 1/C instead of C. The escape radius has been reduced from the M-Mix4 default of 100 to 40, though I doubt that the reduction makes more than a tiny difference in the resulting fractal. The rating of 7 continues my current spate of above-average FOTD images. But I wonder how long the above-average images will continue, considering that in two days I will begin a month-long special of odd Julibrot slices and 4-D chatter. The 9-minute render time is a bit slow, but the image is worth the time spent. And as always, the pre-rendered image file is, or soon will be, available for download from Paul's site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and from Scott's site at: <http://sdboyd.dyndns.org/~sdboyd/fotd/index.html> With a temperature of 36F 2C, the weather Thursday here at Fractal Central was quite chilly, but ample sun and lighter winds gave the dynamic cats a reasonably comfortable half-hour in the yard. In the evening a treat of left-over turkey made them forget any discomfort they might have experienced. This morning I find myself with a backlog of work, so I guess it's time to get busy. The next FOTD will appear in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and enjoy today's fractal. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START 20.0 PAR-FORMULA FILE================================ Venus_Fly-Trap { ; time=0:09:04.80--SF5 on a P200 reset=2002 type=formula formulafile=allinone.frm formulaname=MandelbrotMix4 function=recip passes=1 center-mag=-0.92194009192680730/-1.760409673682221\ 00/1.149573e+008/1/62.5/-3.4353342606152637e-006 params=0.45/-1.25/0.7/1.25/0/-60 float=y maxiter=1200 inside=0 logmap=77 periodicity=10 colors=000LN_POaSPcVQeYRg`SiaTkbUjeRgfOagLVhJPiGJj\ DCkA6k80t`5sbBsdHsfNrhTrjZrldrmikncdoYYoSRpMKpHJlG\ IhFHeEGaDGZDFVCERBDOACK9CH9DLBDPDDTEDXGD_IDcJDgLDk\ NDnOFjNHgMIdLK`LLYKNVJOSJaMC_H6YC0UE2OF4NG6MH7LI9K\ JBJKCJLEIMGHNHGOJFPLEQMDROCSQCTRBRSBPSAOSAMT9KT9JT\ 8HU8GU7EU7CV6BV69V68VAOTEbSHcVJcYMd`OdcQdePbaO`ZN_\ WMYTLXQKVNJUJISGHRDGPAFO7EM4DL1CK3BJ5BJ7AI99HB9HD8\ GF8GH6GH5HH4HH3HHHD`U9sVBrVCqVDpVEoVFnVHnVImVIlVJl\ VKkVLjVNiVOgVPeVQcVRaVT_VUZVVYVWXVXWLZVMYWMYXMYYNY\ ZNY_NY`OYaOYbOYcPYdPYePYfQYgQYhQYiRYjRYkRYlSYmSYnS\ YoTYpTYqTYrUYsUYtUYuVYvVYwVYxZ2yY7zXCzXGzWLzWPzVUz\ b8zaAzaBz`Dz`Ez_Gz_HzZJzZKzZLzYNzYOzXQzXRzWTzWUzVW\ zVXzK0zL2zL3zM4zM5zM7zN8zN9zOAzOBzODzPEzPFzQGzQHzQ\ JzRKzRLzSMzSOzSPzTQzTRzUSzUUzUVzVWzVXzCFzDGzEHzEHz\ FIzGJzGJzHKzILzILzJMzKNzKNzLOzMPzMPzNQzORzORzPSzQT\ zQTzRUzSVzSVzTWzIDzF9zD5z } 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==================================