Love sci-fi? Check out these easy-to-use apps that let you go all Spielberg on your imagination
Have you always been fascinated by those massively intricate alien cityscapes from those Ridley Scott Movies, or the ultra-detailed other-worldly objects like the Death Star? There used to be a time when these fantastic depictions of science fiction was something reserved only for digital artists with gobs of supercomputing resources at their disposal. With the proliferation of fractal mathematics into end-user apps and personal computers that do a fine job of running them, that has changed.
First a quick primer: what is a fractal? If you’ve ever noticed natural phenomena like the geometric symmetry of a snowflake or recursive structures of a fern leaf, you’ll note that these objects consist of repeated patterns. And these patterns continue to repeat even at smaller scales. Basically, if you were to zoom into them, you’d still see the same level of detail.
That’s the (oversimplified) explanation of what a fractal is. The underlying fact with this concept is that detail does not get lost no matter how far from or close to the object you are. And that’s particularly intriguing when applied to 3D graphics. Having more detail that can be generated on the fly enables the creation of ever more complex objects and sceneries.
Fractals have spawned a branch of mathematics, where these shapes and designs can actually be defined by formula. And when these formula are run recursively--on themselves--subtle changes to even the smallest variables can result in fantastic new outputs.
There are numerous resources online into which you can delve to learn more about the subject, should be be so inclined. But even if you’re just keen on playing around and seeing what you can come up with, there are are several nifty little--many of them free--apps that you can install and take for a spin on your computer.
First, a look at what these programs can do. Here’s a particular mesmerising, creepy, fascinating example of 3D fractal graphics at its best.
Surface detail from subBlue on Vimeo.
Keen to jump right in to apps? Check out the open source Mandelbulber (available for Windows, Linux and Mac) and Incendia (for Windows only).
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