FOTD -- February 17, 2008 (Rating 9) Fractal visionaries and enthusiasts: For today's image I turned the clock back nearly 12 years to May 13, 1997, where I found a fairly harmless fractal named "Martian", which was created by Fractint's built-in 'manzpower' formula. The original intent was to create a fractal that resembled an imaginary scene on the planet Mars. The effect of that ancient effort was only moderately successful. But my fractal coloring has improved in the 12 years since I posted that image, and today's image, which is a slight re- cropping of that old image, has been totally recolored to resemble a sunrise on the same rocky Martian plain. This new effort is far more effective at creating the feeling of a scene on an alien world, this one just before sunrise. I gave today's image the poetic name "Dawn Song", leaving it to the individual viewer to decide who or what might be singing on an apparently lifeless world. Whatever is singing however, IMO the image rates a 9. Those who do not care for other worldly scenes might consider it worth something more like a 6 or 7. The calculation time of only 40 seconds is fast enough to get a space craft to Mars and back in less than a day. This is nowhere near the velocity of light, but it is still fast enough to prevent boredom. Those who prefer to avoid speeding may view the finished image on the FOTD web site at: <http://home.att.net/~Paul.N.Lee/FotD/FotD.html> Partly cloudy skies and a temperature of 36F 2C . . . what could be more typical of mid-February at Fractal Central? The fractal cats didn't question, they simply enjoyed the sun while it was shining and curled up when it was not. My day was typical also. The next FOTD will be posted in 24 hours. Until then, take care, and if one starts with the faith that the world is real, science soon follows. Jim Muth jamth@mindspring.com jimmuth@aol.com START PARAMETER FILE======================================= Dawn_Song { ; time=0:00:40.60-SF5 on P4-2000 reset=2004 type=manzpower maxiter=550 inside=253 center-mag=-0.42022201070671390/-0.000011670951500\ 99/81420.7/2.3247/-5.15/0 params=0/0/3.25/0 float=y colors=000oYamYblXdjXehXggXheWjdWkbWm`Wn_VpYVqjY_b\ YZVYZMXYEXY6XXrY_qY_qY_pY_pZ_oZ`oZ`nZ`mZ`mZ`lZ`l_`\ k_`k_`j_ai_ai_ah_ah`ag`ag`af`ae`ae`ad`bdabcabcabba\ brY_qZZTNYTMYSMZRMZRM_QM_PM`PL`PKaPJaPIaPFbOCcNBcN\ AdMBeMCeMDfLEfLFgLGhLHhLIiMJjNLlOMnPNoQOqSPrTQrURs\ VSsWTtXUuYVuZWv_XvZWsYWpXWmWWkVWhUWeTWcSW`RWYQWVPV\ TOVQNVNMVLLVIKVFJVCIVAHV7GV4GV2HU4IT5IS6JR7KQ9KPAL\ OBMNCMNENMFOLGOKHPJJQIKQHLRGMSGOSFPTEQUDRUCTVBUWAV\ W9WX9YY8ZY7_HpWGnWGlXFkXFiYFgYEeYEcZDaZD__DY_CX`CV\ `CTaBRaBPbWFyXHxYIwZJv_Ku`LtaMsbNrcOqdPoeQnfRmgSli\ TkjUjlVinWhqXgtYfw_ezadzcczeczgbziazkZzmYzoWzrWzzV\ zzVzzTzzPzzXzzVzzKzzIzzHzzFzzDzzCAUBBUABU9CU8CU7DU\ 7EU6ES5FQ4FO3GM2GK1HI0JK3KM5MO8OPAPRDRTFTVIUXKWZNY\ _PZaS`cUbeXcgZeiagjchlfjnhlpkmrmotpqurrwutywryroyl\ kygudZue_sebrffphmcccfUwllwctZercXidO`fERg5Ih7Jh9K\ gBLgEMgGNgIOfKPf00POReQSe } END PARAMETER FILE=========================================