FOTD -- September 04, 2007 (Rating 7) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: Today's fractal image is a stellar scene on the eastern side of the northern branch of Scepter Valley of the Mandelbrot set. I named it "Scepter Rattling" in memory of the old cold-war days, and rated it at a 7 to reward myself for the extra time I spent working on the moody but lively blue coloring. Almost the entire effect of the image is due to the color palette. Trying a new palette will quickly demonstrate this. I would have liked to give the image a higher rating, but it is hard to find a reason to give such a scene in the overworked Mandelbrot set a rating higher than a 7. The calculation time of the included parameter file is a zippy 33 seconds, which will keep the time and effort to a minimum. Running a parameter file and watching the image appear almost by magic is fun, though not the most convenient way to see the image. The most convenient way is to visit the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> and view the finished image there. I put the mathtolerance=0.05/1 entry into the parameter file as a safety precaution. Without this entry the program could flip over into arbitrary precision math, especially at the higher resolutions, which would increase the calculation time by a factor of over 420, to well over 3-1/2 hours, with no noticeable increase in quality. Absolutely perfect weather again prevailed here at Fractal Central on Monday, which, as the first Monday of September, is Labor Day in the USA. Perfect weather is defined as a deep blue cloudless sky, high temperature of 85, gentle wind, and low humidity. Perfection in fractals is more difficult to define, and for fractal cats, it is nearly impossible. My day was not quite perfect, but it was good enough. The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and keep the fractal faith. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Scepter_Rattling { ; time=0:00:33.72-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=mandel passes=1 inside=0 float=y center-mag=-1.24827499159888600/+0.031915703805430\ 75/8.306274e+011/1/44/0 params=0/0 maxiter=60000 logmap=-8575 periodicity=10 mathtolerance=0.05/1 colors=00000T00T00T00T00T00T00T00T00T00T00T00T40T8\ 0TC0TG0TE0VC0XA0ZA0`A0bA0dA0eA0gA0iA0oE0vH0zL0zP0z\ T0zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzuzzqzzmzzgzzdvz`qzXoxTm\ zPgzLdzH`zCXz8Rz4Nz0Jz0Gz0Gz0Gz0Gz0Eu0Eo0Cg0Cb48V8\ 6PzzzzzvzzsLzqzzmzzkzzg0zezzVzuJzu80z0zz0zz0zz0Hz8\ zzPezPzuNdmLziJCLH00000000000400A00G20J40P80VA0ZE0\ dG0iJ0mL0sN0vG0mAHe2dX0xP6vPEvPLvPTvP`vPz0doAsePzu\ Amz0Vz0Rz0Nz0Jz0Gz0Cz08z04z02z00z00u00k00g00e00d00\ `00X00V00R00P04L0AJ0GG0LE0PX0`m0kz0vx0zs0zo8ziGzdN\ z`XzVdzRkzTmzTmzTmzVmzVozVozVozXozXozXqzZszZuzZvzZ\ xzbzzdzxgzkizXmzJoz4qz0gz0Zz8RzGHzNAzX0zd0zk0zs0zz\ 0zz0zz0zz0zz2zz6zzCzzHzzLzzRzzXzz`zzbzzbzzbzzbzzdz\ zdzzdzzdzzZzzVzzRzzLzzHzzEzz8zz4zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0\ zz0zz0zz2zz6zz8zzCzzGzzHzzLzzNzzRzzTzzXzzZzzdzzizz\ ozzuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzuzzozzizzdzzXzzRzzLz\ zGzzAzz2zz0zz0zz0zz0zz0zz } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================